1/15 Midway Campground, Ochopee, FL

This is one of my favorite campgrounds in Florida, in spite of, and maybe because, it has almost no amenities.   Or at least no amenities that many people look for in a campground.  

It can clearly be said to be "in the middle of nowhere" because it is in the Big Cypress National Preserve, on Highway U.S. 41, aka Tamiami Trail, and located half-way between Miami and Naples, FL.   The nearest gas station, along with a convenience store, is located about 20 miles away in the Miccosukee Indian Reservation.  If you want a real supermarket, you need to drive about 50 miles to the Publix store in Marco Island.  

Mostly, there are just a lot of birds and alligators around this place, plus a black bear who occasionally visits the campground, so you need to keep food inside your RV or in a bear-proof storage box provided for you if you are tenting.  It is also very quiet here, especially at night when most of the highway traffic is gone.  It is also extremely dark here, as Big Cypress is a dark sky area, so you are asked to not turn on any outdoor lights at night, so fellow campers can see the Milky Way and millions and millions of stars.  

As you drive past on the Tamiami Trail, you might easily miss this campground sign.  There are other small campgrounds along this road, but this is the only one with electric hookups, so it is very popular.  

 

Basically, the campground is a loop that circles an alligator pond, shown below.  Alligators do come out on warm, sunny days, to increase their body temperatures so they can digest their food, which is mostly fish from the pond. 

 

You are asked, however, not to take pets for a walk on the grassy area between the roadway and the pond, and it is strongly suggested that you take a flashlight if you go out after dark so you do not trip over anything.  No picnicking here also, for obvious reasons.

 

This is my motorhome across the pond.  I took this photo on a daily walk I take around this loop.  

 

A closer view of my campsite.  It is paved and with both 30 and 50 amp electrical hookups.  I can easily look out my front window at any happenings around the pond. 

Mostly, I just watch birds  like this wood stork who hangs around the pond.

 

There is also a tent area without electric hookups.  It is empty in this photo, but most of the time it is full of tenters.  On the left side of the roadway, you can see a trailer at the water fill station, which is near the station for dumping tanks.

 

Almost every camping spot has a palm tree next to it, but this one has been surrounded by a strangler fig, so you cannot even see the stem. 

One interesting thing to do is to walk out to the highway and walk across to the long ditch that was created when the Tamiami Trail was created.  They needed rock and sand to build the roadway up high enough to pave, so they dug a ditch along almost the entire length of the roadway and piled up the removed material to make a road.  The result is a very long water-filled area for alligators, fish, and birds.  People also fish here. 

 

 

This is what this long pond looks like just on the other side of the guard railing.  The water is extremely clear and full of life.  

 

 

Two other views of the long ditch.  

Even though you cannot get gas or groceries nearby, there is a famous art gallery about a mile west of the campground. 

 

The gallery is actually the old home of Clyde Butcher, who is known as the Ansel Adams of the Everglades.  He is in his 90s now, and lives in Naples near another gallery he owns.  His art is not cheap, but it is beautiful.  You can buy a calendar or other items made by local artists.  

 

I had to stop and take a photo of these two little guys.   The one on the left, I think, is a Florida reef gecko.  The one on the right is a Florida scrub lizard. Unusual to get them both in one photo.

And right next to the parking lot is an alligator that you are not supposed to feed.  You are also supposed to stay at least 15' away from them. 

A closeup of this very awake fellow. 

 

 

1/12 Big Cypress National Preserve & Kirby Storter Boardwalk

The Big Cypress National Preserve includes 729,000 acres of the western part of the Everglades, but it is NOT part of the Everglades National Park.  This does not mean that it is a lesser place or has lesser beauty and diversity of animals.  It was created in 1974 to preserve land that was likely to be developed for a Jetport, homes, and businesses in the huge Big Cypress Swamp.  It encompasses parts of the Seminole and Miccosukee tribal land, as well as some of the most beautiful ecosystems in Florida. 

I discovered this area when I first started full-time RVing and was unhappy with a nearby state park that was cramped and buggy.  I left early and headed east along US 41, which is otherwise known as Tamiami Trail, and found Midway Campground.  Midway is one of my favorite places in Florida, even if it is 25 miles from a gas station and 50 miles from a big grocery store.  I have come here at least once or twice every time I come to Florida because it is so beautiful and there is so much to do, assuming you are interested in birds and animals.  (If you prefer camping "resorts" with pools, kiddie activities, and hot tubs, you need to go elsewhere!)  

On my way here on Tuesday, I stopped at Kirby Storter Roadside Park, which is about 45 miles east of Naples, FL. This place looks like a regular rest area, but the key thing here is a one-mile round-trip boardwalk that takes you through various types of swamp ecosystems. 

I discovered this boardwalk when I was staying at Midway and could not get cell phone service there.  I was teaching online college classes, so I would have to drive out once each day either to this place or the nearby Oasis Visitor Center to get a signal for my Verizon hotspots so I could upload and download student papers and check my email.  Sometimes, I just stayed parked in the parking lot, but other times I would enjoy a walk on the boardwalk to see what birds were hanging around.

First, some photos of the boardwalk.  The part closest to the parking lot is mostly dry and has smaller cypress trees in it because it is a foot or two higher than other parts of the area.  These cypress trees, by the way, are a lot older than they look because they are dwarfed.  They are called "bald" cypress because they lose their leaves in winter, so look "bald."  (FYI - "Live" oaks are called "live" because they have leaves on them all winter, in contrast to some other Florida trees like the cypress.)

About halfway in, the ground is lower, so there is often a lot of water here, and water attracts birds in the swamp because there are fish and mollusks to eat.  And by the way, it is not full of mosquitos because it is not "standing" water and also because tiny fish eat any larvae from mosquitos!! 

Surprisingly, the soil here is very shallow because the limestone rock is not very far from the surface.  Because the tree roots cannot penetrate the bedrock easily, the cypress trees roots are spread out to better support the trees. 

 

 

The green stuff floating on the water is not "pond scum."  It is a couple of kinds of tiny water plants that turtles and other animals eat.  

This is a particularly pretty anhinga.  They dive for fish, but their feathers are not waterproof, so they have to hang them out to dry between dives. 

 

 

And this cute guy is a green heron.  He is not very big, but he is a good fisher of smaller fish, using his long, sharp beak to spear his prey.  Note that his feathers are green, brown, and grey, with some white stripes. 

 

And this is a juvenile white ibis.  I know this because of the curved shape of his beak and the color of his legs.  He is also beginning to turn white in a couple of places.  They are common wandering around yards and parks in Florida, looking for insects in the grass.  

 

It was a surprise to see this bird here because he is an osprey and most often seen in tall trees and on light posts along lakes and more open ponds.  He sat on this branch about 15' above a group of people for at least a half an hour before he flew off.

 

 

He looks mean in this photo. 

 

 

 

One way to identify a bird as being in the hawk family is by his or her hooked beak, which is clearer in this photo.  The better to tear up prey!  

 

 

There are not very many plants in bloom yet, but this is a cardinal air plant, and it is very close to blooming.

These small ferns on the tree branch are called resurrection ferns because they dry up most of the time, and only turn green for a day or two after a rain.  If you see a lot of dead-looking stuff on top of tree branches, check back after a rain and be surprised.

 

This, believe it or not, is a sleeping tricolor heron.  It was hard to identify because it has its beak completely tucked into its shoulder, and its long neck of curled up and appears shorter than it really is.  If it woke up and stretched itself out, it would look a lot like a smaller great blue heron with a white breast, but as long as I watched it, it stayed in a deep sleep!  Must have had a rough night! 

 

 

I THINK this is also a heron of some sort, probably a great blue or a tricolor, but he is hiding behind a branch and has its neck tucked up.  The bit of yellow makes me think it might be a tricolor heron, but hard to tell, so for now it is a mystery bird.   

 

 

This is a Florida softshell turtle.  It can be identified by its flat shell and its long "pig-like" snout that it uses to breathe through while remaining submerged.  Its feet also look like paddles. 

This is a mud turtle.  It shell is rounded and smooth, its head has a blunt snout, and it has some yellow stripes on its head and legs.  This one's shell is also covered with algae so it looks green.  (Correction:  This might be a cooter of some sort.  Hard to tell because pattern on shell is covered with algae.)

 

 

A little later, a different softshell turtle tried to crawl on the same log as a mud turtle, but was quickly shoved off.

 

Another very pretty little green heron.  He is staring down into the water, looking for small fish to stab.

Another neck-tucked-in tricolor heron.  

This is the platform overlooking the deep pool at the end of the boardwalk.  Such pools are dug and maintained by alligators so they have a place to crawl into during dry periods.  These pools also provide homes for fish and a lot of other birds and animals.  It is also a very pleasant place to sit on a bench and relax for an hour or so, as I did!!  Weather-wise, it was a very pleasant day with a slightly cool breeze.

A great blue heron.  This one has a major squabble with a great white heron over ownership of a small, slightly deeper hole. The blue heron won. They are VERY noisy birds, by the way! 

And another anhinga, showing its coloring on its wing. 

On my way back into the campground, I took this photos of the two types of vultures who live in Florida.  They were in the grassy area next to the campground entrance.  You will no doubt recognize the brown vulture with the red head as a turkey vulture.  Near it are three black vultures, who live only in warm areas along the south coasts of the U.S.  They are entirely black, but have the bald head and neck like turkey vultures.  This keeps their heads clean while sticking them into large carcasses.

You can't tell by this view, but black vultures are smaller than turkey vultures, and frankly, I think they are the prettier birds because of their glossy feathers.  They are said to have a poorer sense of smell and weaker abilities to open large carcasses than turkey vultures, so they follow the bigger birds when searching for dead animals.  Turkey cultures tend to hunt alone, while black vultures hunt in small flocks, which means when a turkey vulture finds a prey, it often will lose it to the more numerous black vultures.  

However, I have often seen both types of vultures eating on a carcass, and the turkey vultures appear to be well-fed and healthy, so this seems to work for both types of birds.   You can see, however, why black vultures are said to be the smarter birds. 

More on the campground in a few days. 

 

1/5 Ortona South Lock & Dam Campground

This is another one of my favorite places to stay in Florida.  It is along the Caloosahatchee Canal, which is the river that flows west from Lake Okeechobee.  Lake Okeechobee was raised 20' almost 100 years ago to provide more irrigation water to farmers, and since it is a navigable river, it acts as a shortcut across southern Florida for boaters. It also attracts people who like to fish.  No swimming, however, as the river is full of alligators.  

Anyway, here are some photos of the campground and the dam and lock.  Sites are paved with water and electric hookups.  They are also long enough for a large 5th wheel and truck:

The campground has two long arms along the river, with the dam in the middle, so it is easy access for campers.  The locks are open from 7 am to 4 am, and you can walk across the dam during those hours. 

We had rain last week, so there was a lot of water being sent over the dam. 

 

The lock  is on the far side of the dam, and there is a viewing area there.

This is some of the mechanism at the lock doors.

 Looking back towards the closed west lock door.

 

 Looking at the open end of the lock towards the east. 

 

This large fishing pier is on the western side of the dam where water is headed towards the WP Franklin Dam & Locks and eventually to Ft Myers, FL. 

 

In the upper right of the previous photo, you will see a small bridge over a stream that enters the larger river.  In this next photo, I am standing on this small bridge, looking at the fishing pier and the rocky area where a family of river otters has lived for many years. 

 

A better picture of the little pedestrian bridge where you can stand to watch the otters.     

The little stream goes through the farm fields, with the amount of water released controlled by a dam upstream.  A lot of birds like this area because there is fish in the river and they are easier for wading birds to access in the shallow water.  There are also otters up this stream at about the area it makes a bend.  In fact, people have seen the older parents with a litter of young otters here. 

 

Whether you see the otters or not is pretty much up to chance.  I check once a day, but have only seen this one so far during this visit.  By the time I got my camera out, I could just catch him from the rear as he was heading into the stream.  The bird in the photo is a limpkin, and I suspect he was following the otter with hopes of getting free fish scraps. 

 

 

The otter very slickly slipped into the stream and headed out into the larger river. 

 

 

 Some other birds fishing in the stream.  This one is a little blue heron.

And these are white ibis.  They wander around the grassy areas in small groups.

 This is an anhinga, drying his wings on the opposite side of the river.  

 

This limpkin seems to always be hanging about.  He likes to stand in very shallow water or on a rock watching for fish. 

And this beautiful little bird is a snowy egret.  He/she can be identified by his white color, black beak and legs, and orange feet.  These birds were made almost extinct because they were hunted for feathers for ladies hats.  They are doing much better now.   Oh, and by the way, he really has a long neck, but has it folded down so he can better see small fish and crustaceans.