Journey through the Everglades: Part I

Endless trees peer over the horizon.

When planning to travel through swamps, marshes, or river grass, one needs usually two things: time and patience. With both securely on my side, I set out to experience the natural life that exists in Florida’s greatest ecosystem, and most prominent National Park, the Everglades.

Trekking South down Interstate 75, I unlatched the top of my Jeep and let the sun blanket me for the five hour drive that patiently stood ahead of me, like a shadow in the early morning. Just driving through the Everglades is a spectacle in itself; with many species of wildlife that can be seen from the road, it often becomes difficult to focus on the one lane highway. Alligators abound along the damp forestry that is spread through the state along I-75. This stretch has appropriately been named, “Alligator Alley.” I stopped at a rest area to stretch my legs and paused to view a wall mount of poisonous snakes indigenous to the area.
 

 

After returning to the road, I realized that as I crept closer to my destination, it seemed to only move further along on my map. I decided to find a campground, early, since the sun was starting to set. I turned South down Route 29, from I-75, and paced myself through several Indian villages before I came upon a quaint campground on Monument Lake. This was part of the Big Cypress National Preserve.

As I began to setup camp for the night, the sun fell over the river grass and painted the Cypress Palms with a fluorescent color that I had not yet seen. The clear blue sky faded into a deep purple fabric blanketing the horizon, which left me in awe. I started a fire and grilled chicken skewers, for dinner, while I finished a bottle of chardonnay that I brought for the journey. There were several lightning bugs dancing atop the palm fronds, emitting an incandescent glow from their abdomens, while the crescent moon sat sharply above the clearest sky in days. 

 

I suppose that a man in solitude finds peace, and in finding peace, finds a piece of himself. There could be no more serene atmosphere than my first night in the Everglades. Spanish maps made by cartographers, who had not seen the land, were the first to name this portion of Earth’s menagerie. “They named the unknown area between the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of Florida Laguna del Espíritu Santo (Lake of the Holy Spirit).The area appeared on maps for decades without being explored. Writer John Grant Forbes in 1811 stated, "The Indians represent [the Southern points] as impenetrable; and the [British] surveyors, wreckers, and coasters, had not the means of exploring beyond the borders of the sea coast, and the mouths of rivers.” I knew that the morning was sure to come soon, as my journey South would continue—into the Everglades.