Biking through the Glades

February 23, 2022

Everglades day #1

Along with the mosquitoes, the other drawback of staying at this campground was that there was no internet and no phone coverage (although people who had AT&T said they had coverage). We also had no TV so it's going to be a quiet stay here.

After we ate some breakfast, we sprayed on some bug dope and headed out to do a ride. We first rode around another section of the campground where there were a lot of tents. I felt sorry for them with all of these mosquitoes.

Next we went over to look at the bay where there was an amphitheater and some Eco Tents that you could rent like a motel room, but a tent. I peeked inside of one and saw that it had 2 beds, chairs, dresser, and fan. No air conditioners, though. We've been running ours all the time as it's been quite hot.

We saw a paved trail that took off through the trees, so we followed it until it ended by the marina. Don stopped by the concession stand to check on their canoe and kayak rentals, but after I sat it them, found both to be quite uncomfortable. No thank you!

But they also offered 90 minute narrated boat tours of the bay and back country. We bought tickets for the bay tour for tomorrow since the other type was sold out From here we continued out onto the road.

There was only the one route to ride here - the road we took to get to Flamingo, so it was just an out and back ride. There wasn't a shoulder on the road but traffic was light so that wasn't a problem.

I thought it would be a boring ride as many miles had nothing but thick trees on either side of us. Every once in a while there would be open areas where we could see swampy land.

Actually it ended up being an interesting ride as we were going slow enough to see the details of this area from blooming Bromeliads, wildflowers, different types of trees and some birds. There were many clouds today with some looking like rain, but it never did anything.

However it was quite windy and humid out, and the mosquitoes were bad anytime we stopped. It reminded us of biking in Minnesota where the skeeters attacked you when you weren't moving on the bike.

But Don was the target today with huge horseflies biting him everywhere. They seemed to care less about the Deet he had on. He'd try to swat one and the bike would swerve all over the place. Good thing there wasn't much traffic!

After returning from our ride, we spent the rest of the day reading, trailer projects and cutting each other's hair. Don tried a shower but came back saying it was cold water! Nope, think I'll pass.

This was a view of the Florida Bay near the campground.

If you don't bring your own tent or RV, you can rent one of these Eco Tents. They're equipped with 1 or 2 beds, dresser, fan (no airconditioning here!) . The view is great - right on the bay - but you have to share a bath house and cooking area.

For the first part of our ride, we took this short paved trail from the Eco Tent area to the marina. The skeeters were bad here!

In 2017, a hurricane wiped out the lodge and restaurant. The park is currently rebuilding a new facility used refurbished shipping containers. Quite unique I say!

Our ride today was an out and back one on the main road to Flamingo.

We spotted lots of blooming Bromeliads in the trees.

Sometimes we had expansive views of the swampy grasslands in the Everglades.

We saw lots of different wildflowers along the road but I have no idea what types they were.

I believe these long roots are part of a Straggler Fig plant?

Another unusual plant had these interesting seed pods.

Most of the Everglades is swamp except for occasional islands with slightly higher ground. Those are called hammocks, and have trees like oaks and mahagony growing on them.

Today's ride: 25 miles (40 km)
Total: 1,253 miles (2,017 km)

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