For many of us on the East Coast that love the Everglades as much as I do this spot on SW 8St and SW 177Ave marks our “Gateway to the Glades” it is an amazing feeling that you get once you cross. Here is where my mind and body enters on a very unique and joyful state as I travel West on Tamiami Trail (SW 8st), I can enjoy the wonders of the saw grass full of all kind of our very own native birds that fly over as you drove by. Just a few miles after you will come the magical and enigmatic Big Cypress, full of amazing trees, an ancient forest in which I had many wonderful adventures, a place where I grew up as a hiker. This area if full of our local South Floridian history, with many quick stops for you to enjoy the amazing trees which give the name to the region.
As you get closer to Highway US 29 you will come to a tough choice make as to the North you will come across the mysterious Fakahatchee Strand or as many of us calls it “ The Florida’s Amazon”. Here you will encounter a land forgotten in time with our very own flora and fauna at one of its most primitive environments, lots of saw grass, native rare plants, amazing flowers, big cypresses, Pop ash trees, unique bromeliads, alligators, rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, tortoises, wading birds, hawks, barred owls, bald eagles, panthers, black bears, an assorted variety of insects including our friendly mosquitoes. A place strongly recommend for those with a great spirit of adventure.
And now to the South you will find Everglades city, a place where you can enjoy great food the best way to reach the famous 10,000 Islands, an area where many of my kayaking adventures had taken place among many of my crazy geo friend, here you can paddle your way through amazing islands in which you will see wild dolphins just swimming along your kayak, as well huge sea turtles, sharks and many native birds. Nothing like setting up camp and sleeping over their white sand while looking up to the incredible night sky that this region will offer you. Many mysteries had taken place in the past over these Islands and they are well worthy of exploration.
Just to closed this amazing gateway as you keep on driving West you will arrive the great Collier State Park which holds many great memories for me; and awesome place where to bring your family which it will allow them to connect with Mother nature in a mild to expert level of geocaching, this place has a lot history as well beautiful sites where I will recommend you not to be shy and let your geo spirit run loose and wild.
I hope you enjoy this “trail” as much as I do every time I put on my boots and drive off to a new adventure, and you will come back home with new wonderful memories as I do every time I am done adventuring on it. But one of the most important reasons why to be grateful for this Getaway to the Glades is that at the end it connects us to our great geo friends from the West Coast.
