Day 21: Ochopee to Big Cypress Bend Fakahatchee Boardwalk, and back: Not much of a rest day!

February 23, 2015

As is the case with most privately run "campgrounds" there is a large contingent here of semi-permanent residents. In general this lowers the tone of a place, since a trailer park is not a very upscale address. On the other hand sometimes it can afford a chance to meet some local-ish residents.

Last night we were sitting in the laundry room, charging some electronics, when a young man came in to actually do some laundry. He commented that it felt quite cold to him, since he was born and raised here and was used to generally warmer temperatures. He said he had worked in Homestead in citrus greenhouses, where the temperature was routinely 120 F. Now, however, he was working as a deck hand on a stone crab fishing boat. Crab fishing is something we know just a little about, since we have a friend back home who had owned a crab boat. We found the young man had the same appreciation that we do of the cost of licenses, tendency for equipment to break down, and the relation between all the costs and the price the product brings in. We talked about how hard a stone crab can bite, the fact that only the claws are taken at sea - with the crab being thrown back to regrow another one, and so forth.

When the conversation turned to where we had cycled, and when that included Miami, our young man allowed that he would not go to Miami unless armed. So now we talked about the Canadian vs American approach to carrying weapons. The idea of being unarmed was completely alien to our young man, and he said he would never go to Canada because they won't allow weapons to cross the border. Then he recounted the many times he had been threatened or attacked, though all these seemed to be with knives. What finally totally freaked us out was when he ran through a list of about eight friends who had been shot. After naming each one, he told where the bullet(s) had gone and whether the friend was alive or dead. About four were dead. When I pointed out that these deaths had been brought about by guns, he replied that the guns were likely stolen and had been misused in the hands of gang members or other criminals.

Our new friend concluded with the assertion that he would never cycle in Florida, or in general, and certainly never, unarmed, in Miami. I did not sleep well after that. It was not that I was wondering what model of gun I should buy or where. It was the brush with a culture and mentality that we find viscerally distasteful. It made me think that the drivers that pass too close to us on the road are only doing a fraction of what their culture and thinking could allow.

Well all that notwithstanding, today was sort of a scheduled rest day for us. A rest day, though, never means actually resting. It only means that we may end the day in the same place that we started. So we set off west, toward the Fakahatchee Strand, where tomorrow we have an appointment to go on a trolley tour. Our first step was to go into the little town of Copeland and scope out where the tour would be leaving from. It was easy, because we had crawled over the place so much in the company of the little orange man from Google maps. We also ran into some Big Cypress Preserve volunteers, and they showed us exactly where the meeting point was.

The Fakahatchee Strand is a State Park that is 30 km long and 8 km wide. It is a "strand" or linear forest, and it is very jungley. It came to our attention first from the book The Orchid Thief, by Susan Orlean. The book was the basis for the movie "Adaptation", which was very poor overall, except for a brilliant portrayal of the central character, the Orchid Thief, John Laroche. With the help of Miccosukee accomplices, Laroche removes Ghost Orchids (and others) from the preserve. I am not sure just how famous the Ghost Orchid was before the book and movie, but they sure are famous now. Our tour tomorrow is called the Ghost Tram tour.

When I first read the book, the name "Fakahatchee" seems so terribly remote and strange. I assumed that it would not be shown on any normal map. Since then, as with so many storied places in the world, we not only know exactly where they are, but we have actually been there.

We knew of another way to penetrate into the Fakahatchee, and that was on a boardwalk that departs from along the Tamiami Trail, on the Strand's south edge. So today we headed there. We underestimated the distance, and had to abandon another plan, to go to Everglades City for lunch, but the boardwalk was worth it.

From the photos (when uploaded) you should be able to see that this really was a wonderful, and jungley experience. One bit worth mentioning outside of what is in the photo captions is our picnic, at the end. There was a table a few hundred meters in, and all was fine when we passed it, going in. But when we got back, a gator had hauled out of the water and established herself quite close to the table. So, picnic, or not? Dodie decided that if she sat up on top of the table she would be ok, because the gator presumably would not climb. I was braver, and just sat normally. That is, until the gator got up and walked a few steps toward us. That put me up on the table too! I can't say the picnic was really all that enjoyable or restful, though having Dodie as a lookout was pretty good.

Returning by way of yet another visitor centre, I peppered the ranger with requests to identify things I had snapped on the boardwalk. Don't want a repeat of yesterday's woodpecker debacle!

And oh, there were at least a dozen Manatees in one wider stretch of water beside the road. Since Everglades City is on salt water, we must have been in a brackish water section. The manatees were just hanging out, and only surfacing ever so briefly for a breath of air, so no really good photos. They are so weird!

captions still to come;

The smallest post office in the US, at Ochopee. This is an absolutely mandatory photo for everyone.

This is all of the manatee that we could see

The famous intersection of 41 and 29. Last year, with pneumonia and a broken camera we were forced to go straight through, despite really wanting to turn right, into the Fakahatchee. This year, thankfully, is different!

These trees with long pine like needles we have seen only here near the Fakahatchee. They are Casuarina - the so called Australian Pine. They are a nuisance plant here, apparently.

It should be easy to catch fish here, you can see so many just looking into the water. The lady identified this as a chiclid - which is an invasive species.

Steve the Magpie picked up another iPhone. This one has a smashed screen and only 2/3 of the display working. Still, I could contact the owner, ecept the phone is locked...

The dark colour of the water comes from tannin from the fallen leaves and bark.

Not a Cottonmouth, but only the non poisonous Everglades Racer.

A great example of the Strangler Fig. Looks like a scene from "Alien"

The Resurrection Fern, dries up and looks dead in Winter and springs back to life when the rains come.

Deep in the Fakahatchee - at the end of the boardwalk

Some sort of wasps, working in a fallen palm frond.

A smug looking turtle in the water, Fakahatchee Strand

Between the 29 and 41 intersection and Naples, the shoulder surface is poor. Plus, some genius designer put rumble strips and reflectors across the shoulder, to keep the cyclists awake.

This image of the Ghost Orchid was in the movie shown at the visitor centre. I just snapped it as it went by.

I always try to shoot the Purple Gallinule, because it is so striking. It seems cruel for it to also have the dull name of Common Moorhen. Postscript: Marilyn Dennison points out that the Purple is actually different from the Moorhen!

Today's ride: 53 km (33 miles)
Total: 989 km (614 miles)

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