Everglades in Florida

[moss13]

I just got back a few days ago from visiting my brother and his family in south florida for a winter break. I have always wanted to see a portion of the Everglades and this was my chance. We went on an airboat ride and were lucky enough to see 4 alligators in thier natural environment. It was very cool to see them up close like that. The Everglades cover a HUGE area and they even have areas you can camp in. Since it is pretty much all wetlands they have platforms up in trees where you camp for the night. They even have canoe routes on the map. It is such a different world from the Northwoods I am used to but I am glad we went there.

Great idea on this subforum Fonix! Here are some pics of Gator Country.







My one year old niece with a baby gator















Blue Heron

[Backpacker534]

Looks like you had a great trip. Those are some nice photos of the alligators. Must have been an impressive feeling to be that close to them in the wild.

[Kevinl]

Green grass! Open water! Those folks down there don't know what they're missing.

Thanks for sharing. Made me wish I went along. It's such a huge park.

I have a friend that lives south of Naples. What great fishing.

[PatrickBDunlap]

Born and raised in Florida (have now lived in Michigan for 17 years) and loved camping there. It is a lot diffrent type of camping in that it is mostly flat, sandy, lots of palm bushes and trees with spanish moss. Most of Florida is a lot dryer then many people think and sandy soil is the norm for camping. We use to see alligators all the time when we canoe but it is the water moccasins that were the trouble. They would swim up and try to get in your boat or drop from the low hanging branches of the trees on the side of the water. Very poisonous snake. I think Florida has 4 of them, the coral being the most poisonous, seen a few cotton mouths (red next to black is a friend of jack's - red next to yellow can kill a fellow).

Ha, I used to see alligators in their natural environment, the drainage ditch on property we owned. They are everywhere that there is water.