3/20 Midway Campground, Big Cypress Preserve, FL

First, some negatives to this campground:  There are no pools, activities, bingo games, or even showers.  There is a small convenience store maybe 20 miles away, but a big grocery store is 50 miles away and a gas station is 25 miles away, so you need to make sure you have everything you need when you come.  

On a positive note, where else in Florida can you sit in your RV and watch the local alligators in the pond across from you?  And at night, assuming most people keep their lights off, you can see the Milky Way and those "billions and billions" of stars.  There is also an art gallery about a mile down the road, and lots of things to do, assuming you are a bit adventurous.  Clyde Butcher's Gallery offers wading tours through the swamp, and you can ride an airboat or take your bike down to Shark Valley.  

I discovered this place 10 years ago after getting very frustrated at Collier-Seminole State Park near Naples.  Collier-Seminole was an older campground with horribly overgrown and difficult to get into sites.  Anyway, you might wonder why someone would want to camp so far from civilization, but that depends, of course, on how you define civilization.  

Midway Campground is on old Tamiami Trail and is located "midway" between Miami and Naples, FL.  

 

The campground consists of a paved circle around a pond, with sites on the outside of the loop.  All sites are paved and have electrical hookups for motorhomes and trailers.  It had rained earlier the day I arrived, so these were the residual puddles.  Most of the Everglades area is made up of a limestone base that was originally sea floor with a few inches of soil on top.  It does not drain very fast, but the limestone also means you can drive over it without sinking in. 

This is the view looking across the pond from my front window. 

Good idea not to feed the alligators!!  Even better idea NOT to walk at night without a flashlight, or take your small dog anywhere near the edge of the pond, even in daylight. 

My motorhome from the opposite side of the pond. 

This alligator was only about 3-4' long, so it was pretty young.

Tamiami Trail (aka Alligator Alley) was constructed out of the Big Cypress and Everglades in 1928 by using a lot of dynamite to break up the limestone in a long ditch.  The stone and resulting gravel was piled up to make the highway higher than the swamp water level.   In most places, the original ditch still exists and makes a good place for birds and alligators, turtles, and fish to live.  This is a section of it across the highway from Midway Campground.

 

 

 

The next few photos show the big fish living here, which are eaten by the resident alligators and birds.  You can see the limestone bottom. 

These are gar, not pike, as I had originally thought.  (Thanks for the correction, Sondra.)  They are about 2' long.  There were also some fatter but smaller fish and some that fed on the algae on rocks.

And a couple of the alligators hanging around the ditch.

Back across the highway to the campground. 

 

 

This large snake greeted me as I was hooking up the first day.  Not dangerous.

 

This guy decided to come out for a stroll one day, but everyone started taking his photos, so eventually he headed back to the pond.

This is a yawn, by the way, not a threatening growl!  I think he really just wanted to take a nap and not be bothered. 

Obviously, he had had enough of the photographers.

If you drive about three miles west, you will find the Oasis Visitor Center.  It has a nice boardwalk that is ALWAYS filled with alligators! 

 

The obvious reason for the alligators is all the fish. 

 

Some big alligators. 

 And the boardwalk.

Some pretty plants in the ditch. 

Hated to leave this beautiful place, but the mosquitos and hot, humid weather is getting to me, so I am making a U-turn and heading north to chillier places.