Big Cypress National Preserve - Monument Lake

 

Monday, January 29, 2024 - Today we were going to ride our bikes around the Shark Valley Loop, in the Everglades, which is about 30 minutes from our campground.  We did this bike ride 2 years ago, when we were here and we loved it so much we thought it would be fun to do it again.  We didn't get there until 1:30, and the sign out front said that the parking lot was full, so we had to come up with an alternate plan.  We hadn't been to the Big Cypress Visitor Center yet, so we stopped in there and watched 2 of their videos and then decided to drive the 24 mile scenic loop.  The loop isn't paved, so it was a long drive.  There were quite a few alligators, and birds, but we probably wouldn't do it again.

The sunrise over the swamp behind our campsite

Kev's ready for a morning walk

There was a boardwalk at the Big Cypress Visitor Center, where there were a lot of alligators.  I thought this guy looked especially comfy, just floating with his legs just hanging

Nice print of Cypress trees, at the visitor center

an alligator on the scenic drive

It feels like we're back in Alaska, with the condition of this road

I loved the Cypress trees along the drive

another gator and a bird, seems like they're a little too close to each other, but neither one seems to mind

sunset walk around Monument Lake

Tuesday January 30, 2024 - Today was a day for exploring.  First we went to Ochopee for lunch at Joanie's Blue Crab Cafe.  It looked like a great place for seafood, and I was interested in having some gator (which was quite good).  After lunch we headed to Fakahachee State Park, but the boardwalk we had planned to do, was under construction, and the only other thing was an unpaved scenic drive.  We decided we'd had too much scenic driving on gravel roads, so we headed to Everglade City.  There was a small grocery store there, where we picked up a few things, and then we went to the Museum of the Everglades.  This was a small free museum that told the history of Everglade City.  Baron Collier, who loved this part of Florida, (and bought a lot of property here) facilitated the building of the Tamiami Trail, which connected Tampa to Miami.  This was quite a feat, at the time, since a big part of this was through swampland.  A canal was dug and the dirt from the canal made the road.  It was completed in 1928.  Everglade City was where the workers lived that worked on the road.

Another foggy morning over the lake

sunrise behind Tiny

Our workout room

The Ochopee Post Office (the smallest Post Office in the US)

There's only room for one person to work at this post office!  It was originally an irrigation pipe shed, which was turned into the Post Office when the original one burned down in 1953.   It has been in continuous use since then as a post office and as a ticket station for the Trailways bus lines.

At Joanie's we started with fried green tomatoes

Then onto a plate of blue crabs & gator bites

we enjoyed lunch on the back deck

This was the front of the Museum of the Everglades, which was originally a commercial laundry built in 1927

We saw a few swamp buggies in peoples driveways in Everglade City

another beautiful sunset at Monument Lake

Wednesday, January 31, 2024 - Since we didn't get to do Shark Valley 2 days ago, today we got there at 9:30!  The parking lot was pretty full when we got there, but we found a spot.  There was a small visitor center there, and a tram ride that makes the 15 mile loop.  It's a wonderful bike ride, since there aren't that many people that ride the loop.  We counted 44 alligators on our 2 hour ride, a hawk, lots of blue herons and a few cormorants.  We stopped at the tower that's half way around the loop and had lunch and walked to the top of the tower with a bunch of school kids.  It was the perfect day for a bike ride, with a high of 73 and not much wind.  

 

When we started our morning walk this morning, one of the lake's alligators was right in front of our campsite

not too much fog this morning

we're finally riding the Shark Valley loop.  It's named Shark Valley for 2 of its estuaries, the Shark River and the Little Shark River (nearby waterways that are home to several shark species)

an alligator hiding amongst the lilies

this guy was close to the road

Kev's checking him out

There's the tower in the distance

Such a pretty structure, built in 1964

pretty grasslands

stay on the other side of the road when passing any alligators

We stopped at the Clyde Butcher Gallery on our way home from Shark Valley.  Butcher is a nature photographer who is famous for his photographs of the Everglades.  I liked his photography, but especially liked the alligator bench

Every day we've been here, someone from the park service goes to "work" using some type of swamp buggy and they unload it right next to our campsite.   Kev was especially jealous of this cool looking thing.