Friday, October 9 – We had another nice drive today up FL-997 on the Westside of Miami to the Tamiami Trail through the Everglades. The Tamiami Trail is a beautiful road to travel. We are in Ochopee, FL, at Big Cypress National Preserve which is about 30 miles East of Naples, Florida. We are at the Midway Campground. Big Cypress honors the America the Beautiful senior pass which provides 50% off the campground cost. Our site is $15 per night. That's pretty amazing for Florida.
Midway Campground has paved roads and sites with 50 amp electric ONLY. There is a picnic table and grill provided at each site. There is a nice grass berm between the sites which are also nicely spaced. The only draw back could be the mosquitos. The ground is pretty wet as witnesses by the track left in the grass where we went off the road backing into our site. We are in the Everglades after all. There is a dump station which we already took advantage of getting rid of 7 days of black and gray water from our stay at the Keys Elks Lodge. There is only one other motorhome here. We are scheduled to be here three days if the Deep Woods Off mosquito sprays holds out :-)
Site #13
Looking left. That is our truck parked in the site next to us.
Looking right.
The sites are on the outside of the loop with a very nice pond in the middle.
After we completed our set-up procedure, we hopped in the truck and drove down to the Oasis Visitor's Center. We talked to the rangers about some hiking trails but unfortunately other than a one-mile boardwalk, the other hikes have spots where they are under water. Chest high in some areas. Yeah, we want to hike in chest high water in alligator country. :-)
There are several back road driving trails they recommended as an alternative so we took a 16-mile truck tour. We did see a couple gators and quite a few birds. We'll do the board walk another day.
The road for our first truck tour.
Can you see this biggie under the water?
What about this one?
Beautiful ducks but have no idea their name.
Beautiful cypress trees.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!
We stayed there, also! We really enjoyed it. The main road was just lined with alligators as we road back and forth to Shark Valley. Sorry to hear there is so much water. Have a great visit.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your time there, hope them skeeters dob't carry you away!
ReplyDeleteyour ducks are not ducks at all... common moorhens or common gallinules is what they are...
ReplyDeleteheyduke beat me to it. ;)
ReplyDeleteYou can keep those alligators right there, thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteWhen are you going be around Bushnell? We will be in Daytona form the 15th to the 18th. Hope we can get together while your in Florida.
ReplyDeleteYou also don't want to hike around there with all the snakes either. Watch where you walk for sure.
ReplyDeleteWe would have bet that a little water and gators would not have stopped you guys.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't sound like you two are candidates for the swamp walks. I cannot believe there are actually people who do them.
ReplyDeleteGreat campground, but check the outside with a flashlight before you step onto the ground at night:)
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