Camping

Camping in the Everglades

Ever since we visited Everglades NP several years ago and I found out there’s a campground 38 miles from the entrance, I’ve wanted to go. I finally got my wish! I was able to book a site with electric for 5 nights.

Let me start by saying that the drive to the campground was nothing like I thought! My only memory of the roads were of the smaller side roads…I completely forgot that the main park road is paved. Plus, once you leave the main entrance area and start on the 38 mile trip to Flamingo, the speed limit goes up to 55!

I have visions of driving 38 miles down a typical campground road….

Drive to Bear Lake – this “road” ends at a “parking lot” and there was a rather overgrown trail that we did not hike.

One of the things I was worried about was the lack of water hook ups. We’ve camped with no sewage hookup and have a portable sewage tank in case we need to empty our black and/or gray tanks. However, using our potable water tank is something we’ve never done. In fact, the only time it had water in it was when Hurricane Irma was heading towards us and we filled it to weigh the camper down a bit and to have fresh water if we needed it. We didn’t, Irma was barely a category I when she got to us. The other concern was food…I was not interested in leaving the park to go grocery shopping (although we did….)! We (7 of us, 4 adults and 3 teenagers) were there for 5 nights and we didn’t run out of milk (that’s huge in our house!). We also didn’t run out of water. We filled our tank when we got to the campground and it lasted us the whole week (we actually had water leftover). We had bottled water for drinking and cooking so the potable water was mostly for washing dishes/hands and flushing the toilet. There were cold showers at the campground so we used those.

Sunrise in the Everglades — Sunrise at Flamingo Campground

The campground itself was great! The sites were huge and it was peaceful being so far from civilization! We stayed in the T-Loop, which has electric in some sites. We have Verizon Wireless and we lost service about 9 miles from the campground. That was fine – we knew beforehand that cell service was iffy and we warned our teenagers!

One day, we decided to hike to the ghost town of Flamingo. According to what we’d read, it was about 4 miles from the campground and there was a trail…one that isn’t currently maintained (which we didn’t know ahead of time).

The hike there really wasn’t too bad. The path started out fairly wide.

Then it narrowed down and stayed this way for most of the hike.

We hiked out until we found the survey marker. Some place out there is a flag pole and some old walls, but we were ready to head back!

The survey marker for the original town of Flamingo.

We found this on the ground….we propped it up on the nearby post where we assume it was supposed to be.

It was pretty wet even though it hasn’t rained in a while. Our boys were glad they wore hiking boots!

On the way back, the sun was out and had dried all the dew. These plants (picklewort?) seemed soft on the way, but on the way back the constant brushing against our legs got to be painful!

We also discovered that the campground used to be much bigger! Currently there are two loops – A and T plus a tent camping area near the bay. There was also a B and C loop at one time prior to a hurricane (I’m not sure which one). They are pretty overgrown now although you can still see the roads and the bath houses are still there.

There was so much to do there! We checked out the visitor’s center, hiked almost all the trails, and kind of wished we had brought our kayaks (I’m iffy about kayaking with gators, and there’s crocs in the Everglades!).

We went on the Nike missile base tour one afternoon. It’s history brought to life!

We’re always on the lookout for alligators.

Highlands Hammock State Park

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We spent part of spring break camping at Highlands Hammock State Park. The corona virus was starting to cause shut downs and we weren’t sure what would happen (they did end up closing the campground after we left). However, camping is the best way to isolate yourself (well, besides staying home, but camping is more fun!).

Campground at Highlands Hammock State Park — Our home for a few days.

We love Florida State Parks! They’re well maintained and the campgrounds are always nice. This one was bigger than what we normally stay at, and there wasn’t a lot of green space between campsites, but it was still nice. They only have water and electric hookups and there’s a dump station. We try to be careful how much water we use in the camper and use the campground bath houses. We did take our blue boy (which happens to be gray) so that we could drain our tanks if needed.

We almost always take our bikes – it gives my boys something to do at the campground aka burn some of their neverending energy. Lots of times there are nice bike trails around the park as well. The trail here was a nice hard packed one with several geocaches along it.

Bike Trail at Highlands Hammock State Park

They also have nine hiking trails in the park. My favorite was this one although it’s currently the dry season and the swamp isn’t very, well, swampy.

Once you get to the swamp, this is the boardwalk. I can’t imagine what it must be like during the rainy season (we are planning to go back).

This mama gator and her baby were perfectly content to just watch us from across the swamp. I imagine if it was the rainy season we would’ve seen a lot more gators!

This turtle was catching some sun. There was another one swimming around munching on some leaves.

The other boardwalks at the park are equally as nice. They are easy to walk on and have plenty of benches so you can sit and relax.

Some of the other trails do not have boardwalks.

One of them leads to this amazing 900+ year old oak tree!

We always look for an ice cream place when we camp – preferably a locally owned place. We weren’t sure anything would be open because corona was in full swing and groups of ten or more were discouraged. Fortunately, Sebring Soda and Ice Cream Works was open. They had a nice variety of sodas in glass bottles and lots of ice cream flavors!

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Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Par

On our recent camping trip to Key Largo, we took a day to check out Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park (say that ten times fast!). It is a former quarry that provided stone for Henry Flager’s Overseas Railroad in the early 1900s. Then it was used to produce Keystone (decorative stone). There are five trails that are numbered and there’s a tour guide book that you read as you go.

Self guided tours come with a tour book that's numbered — Our tour guide

Even though some of the trails are shady, it was still really hot hiking in the Florida summer! We brought water with us plus we refilled our bottles everytime the trails took us close to the ranger station.

The depth of the coral was amazing! In some places it was almost 8 feet!

The equipment they used to work here is pretty impressive!

This is black ironwood. We were amazed at how hard it is – can you imagine trying to lift a board made with this?! 80 pounds/square foot!

We “climbed” all the way to 18 feet above sea level!

What boy doesn’t love climbing a coral wall?

The leftover pieces of Keystone are huge!

It was $2.50/person to get in which was totally worth it! They are closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Find more information here.

Kayaking Adventures – John Pennekamp and Indian Key

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One of the things we’ve recently started doing (recent being in the last two years or so), is kayaking. We figured out how to take them with us in the camper. Because our camper has beds that fold out, we are able to slide the kayaks in from one end and they fit in the open space. We also put the two smaller kayaks in the very back of the camper standing up (bungeed in place).

Our big green kayak is a three person kayak, but we normally only put two in it. Three’s definitely a crowd! I have my own one person kayak so I normally carry all the stuff (water, snacks, etc). We bought both of them used.

We have two of these 6 foot kayaks (which we bought new) that are perfect for our boys. If they get too tired, we loop a rope through the handle at the front and pull them along for a bit. As they’ve gotten more experience, we haven’t had to pull them as much. These little kayaks didn’t have hooks for seats and the boys biggest complaint was the lack of a seat. I found some clips and rivets online and they were super easy to install. The seats were also bought online.

I watched these seats until they went on sale – I paid $27 for them.

These are the loops I bought. Please note that you will need a rivet tool to install these.

The mangrove tunnels at John Pennekamp were fun to explore although some of them were a bit narrow!

One thing I’m always intrigued by is abandoned/closed things (buildings, trails, towns, whatever) and at John Pennekamp there’s a trail that’s been closed for several years. It’s called the Mangrove trail and you can only walk a couple steps down the boardwalk before you’re met with a gate and a sign that says it’s closed. The written literature says that it’s closed while they repair it, but we asked a park ranger once and it seems that it’s permanently closed. Of course that just adds to my curiosity. I’m not willing to ignore signs and do anything illegal, but I was very curious as to why it was closed.

On our kayaking travels around the park, we checked out an area that we thought would take us near the mangrove trail. We found the trail, or what was left of it!

It was pretty clear why the trail was closed!

It was damaged by a hurricane and a large portion of the boardwalk washed away. I can’t imagine the effort it would take to rebuild it!

Being told it’s closed for repairs is one thing. Actually seeing what’s left of it is so much different! For now my curiosity is satisfied. On to the next kayaking adventure – Indian Key Historic State Park.

Paddling to the bridge towards Indian Key

According to our geocaching app, Indian Key is about 1/2 mile from the launch point. That seemed like a doable distance – it was a clear day, the water was smooth.

Paddling under the bridge toward Indian Key

We paddled under the bridge and into the boat channel. For me that’s always the worst part, especially in open water (when we’re paddling around smaller bodies of water, the boat channels aren’t as deep or wide). We quickly paddled across it and then slowed down to enjoy the sea life.

My youngest was super excited to spot this sea urchin.

Sea Urchin on the way to Indian Key Historic State Park

Our easy paddle quickly became hard when we realized that it was low tide! We struggled through some really low areas where our bigger kayaks were dragging and then just when we thought we had made it, we noticed a sign that said the area was protected and you couldn’t land there. The kayak landing was around to the right of the island. The sign was leaning back and we couldn’t see it until we were ready to pull up the kayaks. The ground was so soft – like sink to your knees soft! We finally managed to drag, I mean paddle our way around to the kayak landing.

Welcome to Indian Key Historic State Park

After catching our breath, we set out to explore. Indian Key was home to Jacob Housman who was a wrecker in the early 1800’s.

The island was laid out with streets and landmarks identified similar to what it would’ve been while it was inhabited.

Street Sign Indian Key Historic State Park

Imagine, a hotel on an island 1/2 mile off shore!

Tropical Hotel Indian Key Historic State Park

This was our favorite part of the island.

Mystery Feature Indian Key Historic State Park

Kayaking back was much easier – the tide had come in a couple inches and that made all the difference! After we arrived back at our launch point, the guys decided to cool off before heading back to camp. The boys thought it was fun to float with their life jackets (plus it’s good for them to know that they really do work).

After all that hard work, ice cream was definitely a much needed reward!

Do you kayak? What was your best adventure?

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John Pennekamp/Key Largo Camping Trip

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Several years ago we drove to Key West and made some stops along the way. One of them was John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. We were quite taken by it and quickly made reservations to camp there. We had such a good time that we planned to come back. Life conspired against us and here we are almost three years later and we’re just finally making it back there.

We took along our kayaks, goggles (no snorkels though), and our underwater camera (that we bought right after our last trip there…we also bought a floating strap for it). We left around 11:30 and planned to take our time driving across the state. We drove across on 41 which cuts through the Everglades. There are so many places to pull off, but with the camper behind us, I’m reluctant to pull off unless I’m sure I’m not going to get stuck. We did stop at the Big Cypress National Preserve visitor center. They had rv parking spots that were perfect for easy in, easy out, no backing up.

RV parking at Big Cypress Visitor Center

It’s funny how you forget little things, but when you see them again, you immediately remember. These lubbers were one of those things. My kids instantly remembered them and were fascinated by them…well, all except my daughter.

We learned a lot about Big Cypress and the different habitats there. There are also plenty of photo ops at the visitor center.

It was looking pretty stormy, so we decided to focus on getting across the state and only making a stop for gas when we got to a convenient station. Along the way there was a detour (which we knew about) and instead of following the detour signs, I listened to Siri. I’m not sure why – I had been following the detour signs, but for some reason when Siri said to turn, I did. Then I realized that I was supposed to be following road detour signs instead of listening to Siri. So, we got a tour of Homestead. Eventually we made it back to the right road, found a gas station, and continued on our way with no major problems.

The campsites are long and narrow at John Pennekamp. We’ve been spoiled by the larger sites at other Florida state parks. However, we don’t plan to spend much time at our site, so it doesn’t matter.

There are a couple swim areas roped off. Last time we didn’t have anything for the kids to float on – although they can swim, we spent a good portion of time where it was over their heads and they tired out quickly. This time we took along a couple noodles and took turns holding on to them. It also makes looking at the plant/animal life easier since you don’t have to worry about staying above water. This time there was a lot a seagrass that had washed in and the water wasn’t nearly as clear. It didn’t slow us down. My boys still wanted to swim over the deep part (there’s a drop-off in the main swimming area and normally it’s pretty clear and you can see lots of fish).

My daughter is a cat person and was thrilled to discover a campground kitty. It was a little skittish and she didn’t get to pet it, but she did convince me to buy some treats at the store.

Turns out campground kitty has some friends!

There are two hiking trails that are open. The first one we checked out was the citrus grove trail. We loaded up on bug spray (they don’t spray for mosquitoes so they are ferocious!).

It’s a nice walk and ends at, you guessed it, a citrus grove. It is still maintained and some of the trees had fruit on them.

We didn’t stay for long since the mosquitoes were out in force. We took a quick stroll around the grove and then beat feet back to the camper.

At the end of each day, we walked to the docks and the main swimming/concession area and enjoyed the peace, looked at the boats docked, and looked for fish.

Stay tuned for our kayaking adventures…

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