Recent Hikes in Florida's Preserves

Unlike the rest of our nation, we have been enjoying unusually warm weather here in Florida, until the last couple of days.  Last week we hiked Booker Creek Preserve, a wonderful wilderness area of pine flats and wetlands.  We certainly saw a lot of cypress and tupelo trees.

The preserve, being a large wilderness area of 8,700 acres, has a lot of wildlife.  However, when John and I were there, we saw only a solitary anhinga. 

Two days ago we visited Weedon Island Preserve, a much smaller area of 3,700 acres.  John has been there before without me and came back excited about all the wildlife he saw there- from gopher tortoises and a racoon to shore birds and a kingfisher.  We saw nothing when we were there.  Well, we did see a gopher tortoise hanging out in his hole.  Maybe he and his cohorts somehow realized that cooler weather was coming in and were already settling in for the night, which was going to be quite cool.  John and I did find the nature center at the preserve quite interesting.  There was an exhibit about the Native Americans who had inhabited the island about 7,000 years ago- their artifacts have been found in the area, including a pine canoe estimated by archeologists to be about 1,000 years old.

The length of the canoe is 39 feet, it is Florida's longest prehistoric dugout  used in a saltwater environment.  It was found in 2001 and the logistics involved in exposing this boat to the outside of its watery home were so involved, and needed to be resolved, that it took until 2007 before it could be removed.  It was discovered near the shoreline of Old Tampa Bay on Weedon Island.

Speaking of boats, we saw many kayaks below our trail ( we walked boardwalks for many of the paths).  In the 1960s canals were dug in the island for mosquito control.  This allowed small fish to come in from the bay to eat the larva.  An idea which really did not work and drastically changed the ecology of the island.  As a result large numbers of mangroves now inhabit the island.  They do well growing in saltwater We saw many dense strands of red, white and black mangroves.  Along with their prop roots they present a tangled mass of limbs and leaves along our path.  Quite a difference from our hike of last week where we saw many cypress trees and their knees protruding from the swamp!  One knee covered with moss seemed appropriate for the season.  It looked like a Christmas tree!  Hopefully we plan to return to both of these wonderful preserves.