My friend George, who lives in Siesta Key, suggested that I stay at his place for a weekend so I could hit the parks in that area of the state. He was even game to go with me one of the days on my State Parking adventures! I thought that was such a generous offer and I could not pass that up.
We woke fairly early in the morning and headed down to the first park which was in the Everglades. Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park is the largest of the state parks and it has several separate access points. We arrived at the part of the park where Janes Memorial Scenic Drive was located. There were different hiking trails but we chose to just take the six mile dirt road and see nature that way. The ranger did mention a cool spot where we could see an abandoned cabin and some gators hanging around it so we made it a goal to search for the trail that would take us to that cabin.
On our way to the hiking trail we got to see some wildlife that I am happy we encountered from the car. We came across the biggest gator I had ever seen in my life just sitting on one of the hiking trails. I would have died if I would have come across that gator on a hike. I was scared getting near it in my car. George and I took advantage of the cool photo opt with the gator and then rolled down the road. We found a hawk just hanging out at a small pond, with a smaller gator, and tons of birds in another little pond on the side of the road.
We arrived to the entrance of the hiking trail that would lead us to the cabin, eager to see the site. We were stopped just about seven steps in. We were COVERED in mosquitoes! George and I looked at each other, spoke briefly about the attack we were under, and headed for the car. That site was not worth the torture of getting there. Instead of following the road further we turned back the way we came, admiring the wildlife on the way out.
While we were on the road we noticed another sign for Fakahatchee Strand Preserve so we pulled into the parking lot to check it out. We were led to the Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk that winds through the Fakahatchee Strand swamp. As soon as we arrived we saw a cute little gator. Even though it was small I still kept a tight hold on Casey. When we started our walk down the boardwalk a man told us there was a good size gator just hanging out on the boardwalk. I held Casey tighter and off we went to see the gator. We did not encounter that gator on our walk but we did see a couple of birds and a pretty coral snake way off in the distance. It was a really nice park but I would suggest wearing lots of bug spray before going out in the wild in that part of the state.
Before you visit, make sure you check out the parks website for all of the up-to-date park information: https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/fakahatchee-strand-preserve-state-park
