QC11-08 Monument Lake

February 7, 2011 (Mon) Ortona Lock CG to Monument Lake CG (89/2197 miles) 63/88° - After we sent the news letter out last night Joy happened to look out the window and saw a man doing a very strange thing. He was aiming his flashlight on an object in the grass and walking (side stepping) around and around it about 8 feet away. Every once in a while he would step closer and lean down then jump back and begin to circle again. It was almost like watching a ritual dance of some kind. We concluded that he must be looking at some kind of small animal so Mark went out to investigate. It was a snake. Poised to strike!! Mark went back to Q to get his camera but the snake was gone when he got back.

We left Ortona Lock at about 9:20 this morning and after doing some shopping in Labelle, made our way south into the Big Cypress National Preserve.  For the last several years we have been hoping for a campsite at the south end of Monument Lake where Q's orientation would provide shelter from the prevailing wind - it seems to always be blowing here - and shade from the afternoon sun. The 4 sites have always been occupied. When we pulled in today about noon, all four were empty, as was the very nice site at the north end where we were last year. And they remained empty most of the rest of the afternoon - except for the one we took, of course.

February 8, 2011 (Tue) Monument Lake CG (2) 60/75° - The wind was blowing at a good clip when we went to bed last night but not hard enough to be of any big concern. That changed. Around midnight we woke to the sound of the bathroom vent and TV antenna rattling and the awning, though only out a little way, flapping. We got up and battened down - even to the extent of lashing the bicycles together and bringing in the "welcome" mat. Then, snug in our little motor home, we went back to bed.

Loop Road: a challenge and a half, but good photo ops. When we took Q on Loop Road, a 23 mile road into the Everglades, seven years ago or so the challenges were mainly negotiating low hanging trees and finding wide spots to pass oncoming cars. The road itself was what you'd expect of a single lane gravel road, some washboard and an occasional pot hole but that's it. No place for a motor home, maybe, but not too bad. When we went out to Sweetwater Strand (a wildlife viewing spot) with Bob and Pat in their toad a couple of years ago there didn't seem to be any particular issue with the condition of the road. Today it was nearly impassable for the whole 18 mile gravel portion. It was not unlike driving on an Olympic skiing mogul course and a real "off road" challenge even for our CRV. There were many places so bad that we could have gotten hung up on a high "speed bump" type mounds across the road or stuck in a mud hole if we weren't careful. 3 MPH was our average speed.

A couple passing in a Chrysler stopped us a mile or so onto the road and asked if we really wanted to continue. The fellow said "There are 15 miles of this and there is nothing to see." We told him that we had done it in a motor home a few years ago. The look on his face was priceless. We think he may not have gone the whole way because there was plenty of wildlife to see. Most of the 5 or 6 cars we passed were SUVs and one big wheeled pick-up camper, probably 4 wheel drive, but some should not have been there at all. Toward the end of the gravel section a fellow (actually 3 fellows) in a low slung car stopped us to ask if it got any better. We said it was a lot worse than where we were right then. He said that the 11 miles they'd just come were very bad but he was going turn around and go back. Actually he'd only been 3 miles.

 We did stop at Sweetwater Strand, the most beautiful spot on the road and spent an hour or so enjoying the atmosphere and taking pictures.  It was so quiet (no cars came by during that time) and the sounds of the various cranes, herons and egrets was wonderful. So In spite of the road we got some great pictures of birds and scenery. 

When we opened the back door of the CRV to take out the camera equipment at one view point there was a tiny green frog curled up between the door and the door jam.  We took him out and put him of the side of the car thinking that he would move on but when we came back later he was back inside the door jam.  We got him out on a small stick and left him on the road near the water.  He reminded us of the little frog that got caught in our vent last year in the Everglades.

After leaving the loop road we drove over to Shark Valley to check it out, and then stopped at the Miccosukee (Indian) Restaurant across the road for a late lunch.  Along with some heavily battered and fried grouper, we also tried a piece of alligator meat - an "Alligator bite" they called it.  It tasted like a combination of chicken and calamari, with the same texture as calamari.  Well, we can say we ate alligator! And the stop was definitely a "been there done that" experience.

February 9, 2011 (Wed) Monument Lake CG (3) 50/80° - Everglades City and Chokoloskee were our adventure destinations today. Well that's not exactly true. Our destination was the Kirby Storter boardwalk into the swamp but we decided to go on to the junction of US 29 where we knew there was a gas station. When we got there, we saw that the price was $3.49/gal and we thought we could do better in Everglades City. It was $3.39 there - not good but better. Everglades City seems to be looking better than the last time we were there. We couldn't remember if we'd ever been to Chokoloskee at the end of the peninsula so decided to do some exploring.  We found it to be the place where the bigger motor homes come to play. There were several very fancy campgrounds and marinas (and campgrounds with marinas). Both Chokoloskee and Everglades City have restaurants worth investigating sometime.

On the way back we stopped at the Big Cypress Welcome Center to look for a birthday gift for grandson Shane. The volunteer naturalist was just starting her 15 minute tour and talk. Her subject was the manatees that winter in the water behind the park building. Although we've seen manatees several times, this was the first time there was someone knowledgeable talking about them. We learned some very interesting things. For instance alligators and manatees share the same waters - peacefully.

We decided to save the Kirby Storter walk for another time.

February 10, 2011 (Thu) Monument Lake CG (4) 66/81° - This was a day to sit around and read. While we were enjoying the peace and quiet, a couple from Michigan stopped by in their Chinook. They were on their way from Naples to Fort Lauderdale and came in to see what the campground was like. We had a good talk.

February 11, 2011 (Fri) Monument Lake CG (5) 63/71° - Today was the day we were going to take our bicycles over to Shark Valley but the weather forecast was for 30% rain. We pictured ourselves being on the trail 7 miles into the Everglades when the skies opened up so we stayed home. It never rained although the wind was bad. We did take our postponed walk on the Kirby Storter boardwalk though. Saw an Eastern Bluebird, a little green heron and some deer.

February 12, 2011 (Sat) Monument Lake CG (6) 49/63° - The predicted rain came during the night, or I should say in the early morning. The skies were overcast and rain threatened most of the day with heavy winds, so sitting or doing much outside was uncomfortable. But it seemed like a good day for a quick trip over to Midway campground to refresh Q's sanitary and water systems. That done, we spent the rest of the day waiting for the wind to die down and the sun to come out.

The park's campfire program tonight was a volunteer singer/guitarist singing and talking about Big Cypress - its history, its wildlife, its beauty etc. We bundled up in several layers of cool weather clothes (all our cold weather clothes are up in the pod) and walked over. It was quite interesting and just long enough, considering the cold.

February 13, 2011 (Sun) Monument Lake CG (7) 49/72° - It was cold and windy again this morning but the forecasts promised that more normal temps for south Florida were on the way.

Turner River road goes about 20 miles north into the Big Cypress Swamp to the Bear Island (free) campground. The part we negotiated today was all rough wash-board gravel. We had thought we'd go all the way and check out the campground as a future destination but after 7 miles of brain (and suspension) rattling, we gave it up and took a left turn onto another gravel road that would eventually take us back to civilization. Rough ride aside there was plenty of wildlife to see and photograph. We probably won't be camping at Bear Island any time soon.

At one stop we saw a gator we were watching plop into the water with a large black snake in its mouth.  Lunch!!!

Tomorrow we pack up and head down into the Everglades. We will be out of phone/internet/TV contact for the week we plan to be there. If the mosquitoes are bad like they were last year, though, we won't be "toughing it out" we'll come back here. While we are there we can be reached by calling the Flamingo campground.

Q073334 Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP #2 dry $8.00 B (x7)