QC11-10 Monument Lake revisited

February 17, 2011 (Thu) Monument Lake CG (2) 55/80° - Those of you who have been here at Monument Lake will remember the road - a two track crushed coral pathway really - that extends into the Big Cypress swamp at the north end of the campground. In past years it has been closed to unauthorized vehicular traffic but OK for foot traffic. This year there is new signage stating "Service Trail" "Authorized use only" "The area beyond this sign closed to public use" which seems to imply that we can no longer go there even on foot. There have been several truckloads of crushed coral going through the campground and out the road every day that we have been here. Another change from the past is the curtailment of overflow camping. There have been times when every available piece of real estate has been utilized for RVs after all designated sites are occupied. They are turning away people this year. A couple of questions for the host sometime.

February 18, 2011 (Fri) Monument Lake CG (3) 55/81° - Shark Valley is essentially a 15 mile paved loop trail into the Everglades. The first 7 miles is straight south along a small, somewhat stagnant, waterway to an observation tower. There is plenty of wildlife to see and photograph, and plenty of impressive photo equipment to record it with - for the first mile or so. There was no wind, barely a breeze, when we got up and as we ate breakfast - and no forecast of rain - so we decided that today is the day. We took off at 9:00 only to discover six miles down the road that Mark had forgotten his wallet with our Golden Age Pass in it.

The parking lot is relatively small and fills up fast after its 8:30 opening but there were still plenty of spaces when we got there at 10:00. The wildlife was not as plentiful as we remembered it from previous visits but there was plenty and we got lots of pictures. About five miles into the loop Joy wandered off the trail and fell off her bike.  Luckily there weren't any alligators sunning themselves right there! Other than scraping some skin from her ankle and bruising her legs in a few places she was good to continue. We counted about 60 alligators (80 last year), saw all kinds of ducks (including gallinules), herons, egrets, anhingas, ibis, cranes, fish (including gar) and turtles (one very interesting looking one - the Florida soft-shell Turtle). At one point we heard what sounded like a very loud fart in an echo chamber. It turned out to be an alligator advertising for a mate. Mark tried to get a picture of him with his mouth open but he stopped bellowing by the time Mark got his camera out. The last 8 miles was grueling, as it always is. The wind had increased, a head wind, of course, and there was less wildlife in the more open environment to keep us distracted .

February 19, 2011 (Sat) Monument Lake CG (4) 54/79° - President's day weekend and the campground has filled up, not just the RV sites but the tent sites as well. There are kids running around and the sounds of a horse shoe game off in the distance. A father and his two young sons are paddling around the lake in their canoe and kayak. As we were sitting out on our "patio" by the lake this afternoon a young family came to our shore to fish. They were a mother, father, a girl about 12, a boy 8 or so and a little 4 year old girl with a pink fishing pole. The boy wore a bright yellow T-shirt and was holding his fishing pole with the line in the water, the girl, in a baseball cap on backwards with her blond hair coming out from under the bill was baiting her line. Mark took what might have been a prize winning photo of them if he had had the camera set properly. The shot was not only unsalvageable but unrecognizable as a picture!

February 20, 2011 (Sun) Monument Lake CG (5) 53/78° - Another quiet day sitting by the lake.

February 21, 2011 (Mon) Monument Lake CG (6) 55/82° - Are we finks? Early this afternoon a rented RV stopped at the recently vacated site on our port side and clipped the orange reservation ticket stub to the picnic table indicating that the site belonged to them. Then they took off, sightseeing or something. About 3:00 a small VW Passat sedan pulled into the site without first checking with the host as required and 3 young men (in full camouflage outfits and acting as if under the influence) got out and started setting up a tent. They could have been friends of the folks in the rental RV but again they might not have been. Either way we felt very uncomfortable about them so Mark decided to check with the campground host. He said no they should not be there and went right over to talk to them. They packed up their tent and left the campground! In talking with the host later we learned that he had only told them that the site was already occupied and that there was a specific tenting area they could use. They were shocked to learn that they would have to pay $16 for "a couple hours of sleep". The host said that he thought they were the same fellows who have done the same thing before - come in, set up camp without paying and joined later by 2 or 3 other car loads of kids for a (loud drinking) party. They would then leave in the wee hours before the host made his morning rounds to register late arrivals. Finks? yes but we are glad. It could have been a long sleepless night. If they'd gotten fully set up and agreed to pay, the legitimate occupiers might have been asked to select another site.

Tomorrow we are going back to Ortona Lock on the Okeechobee Waterway. (Electricity!! Hooray!! )

Q073586 Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP #2 dry $8 B (x6)