The Florida Trail and Big Cypress National Preserve
By David Gant
The
news anchor was talking about water use restrictions. We were
not allowed to water our lawns or wash our cars except
on days that corresponded with our home address. The dry season
typically begins in January for South Florida and lasts into
April, but this year was unusually dry as evidenced by the
water restrictions. This came as no surprise to my wife, Loren,
and I. We had been hiking in Big Cypress National Preserve
the prior weekend and were able to access areas few people
are able to see because the ground was dry and the hiking was
easy. I had been hiking there several years prior, but was
forced to turn back because it was too wet. Given the recent
lack of rain we planned our hike for a segment of the Florida
Trail contained in Big Cypress National Preserve that I hoped
would be dry enough to provide easy access. The weekend arrived
and we traveled Interstate 75 about 55 miles west from our
home in Fort Lauderdale and were awarded with an amazing opportunity.
The Florida Trail starts
at the southern end of Florida in Big Cypress National Preserve
about 50 miles west of Miami’s
International Airport and travels North to the Suwannee River,
then bends West traveling through the Florida Panhandle to
end at the Gulf Islands National Seashore near Pensacola. A
total of 1,400 miles of trail is now included in a network
of primary and spur trails that allow hikers to experience
the diversity of Florida from cypress stands in the Everglades
to rolling pine forests in North Florida to powdery white sand
beaches on the Gulf of Mexico.
The Florida Trail began
as the dream of Jim Kern, a Miami resident who returned to
Florida after hiking the Appalachian Trail
with a desire to develop a long-distance hiking trail closer
to home. Today the trail is marked by a series of orange
blazes appearing on trees along the way. These orange blazes
first
appeared in the Ocala National Forest where the first segment
of trail was developed in 1966. Today volunteers from all
over the state of Florida help maintain and promote what has
been
federally designated as a National Scenic Trail. Detailed
information about the trail including access points and terrain
descriptions
are presented on their website: www.floridatrail.org
My wife Loren and I left our home in downtown Fort Lauderdale
and drove west on Interstate 75 to a rest area at mile marker
63. This rest area provides a convenient place to leave your
car, especially if you are planning an extended backpacking
trip. Access to the trail is via gates located on either the
north or south side of I-75. Identification of these trailheads
is made easy with the display of the Florida Trail’s
logo on a sign above a trail log. Because of the dry conditions
we decided to enter the south gate and hike south into Big
Cypress National Preserve. A quick glance on the trail log
told me what I already knew; most hikers opted for the trail
on the north side of I-75 because the trail on the south side
is knee-deep with water for most of the year.
Big Cypress National
Preserve abuts Everglades National Park on the park’s northern boundary. The current boundaries
of Everglades National Park only contain one fifth of the original
area of this ecosystem. The remaining area is now contained
in a mix of federal, state and privately owned land. Fresh
water flows south from Lake Okeechobee in a giant sheet through
the 729,000 acres of the Big Cypress Swamp before entering
Everglades National Park enroute to its final destination in
the Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. During most of the
year Big Cypress lies under a large sheet of water. But during
the dry season limited rain does not replenish the constant
flow south and earth is revealed. This provides access to the
Florida Trail, which travels 45 miles through Big Cypress.
As the trail leaves Big Cypress north of I-75, much of the
trail is dryer and can be hiked more often during the year
because it was built on abandoned roadbeds elevated from the
surrounding area. This portion of the tail travels north out
of Big Cypress National Preserve and through the Seminole Indian
Reservation before continuing on toward Lake Okeechobee.
Loren and I arrived
in late March after a prolonged dry period. I knew from the
watermarks on the cypress trees that it was
usually knee-deep along most of this trail. As the water
receded a variety of animals had come to drink at the deeper
pools.
Preserved in the now dry mud was a virtual guest list of
animals that had visited the pool. From their tracks one can
easily
identify deer, raccoons and a variety of wading birds. The
trained eye will also see alligator tracks, otter tracks
bear tracks and maybe signs of the rare Florida panther. About
3
miles from the gate at I-75 the trail entered a dense stand
of cypress trees. Their shade had allowed a few small pools
to remain on the trail, and we were startled by a baby alligator
that had taken refuge in one. It ducked its head under water
in hopes we would not see it as we passed by. We paused for
lunch in the cypress stand and then made our way back to
the trailhead. On the way back we had the pleasure of seeing
a
rare everglades mink. Overhead we saw a swallow-tailed kite
and several turkey vultures appear to float on breezes that
kept us cool while we hiked.
In addition to the signs of animal life we were surrounded
by an incredible diversity of plant life. The trail in Big
Cypress travels through pine scrub, oak hammocks, cypress
stands and grass prairies that look like the African Serengeti.
An
amazing collection of plants can also be seen including bromeliads,
orchids and beautiful wild flowers. Very few people are able
to experience this beautiful area because access for most
of the year is restricted to travel by either airboat or
swamp
buggy. During the extremely dry period, however, we were
able to easily walk deeper into Big Cypress than I had
ever been
before and see a wonderful diversity of life.
