Christian’s Point

Saturday February 9, 2013
Site T-15 Flamingo Campground
Everglades National Park

 

Beautiful Sunrise this morning.  I love being able to get up at dawn and walk or bike over to see the sun rise over the water.  This campground gets a 9 for sunrise ease.   You can only get a 10 if the campground is right on the water.  If I were still a tenter, I would for sure have a spot in the walk in campground which is, right on the water.

 

Barely dawn – heavy clouds beyond the islands but the fisherman is out.

 

 

The sun burns a hole in the clouds and the day begins.

 

We’re on the Christian’s Point Trail by 8:30.
As you can see from the map, the trail walks along the dividing line between the mangrove habitat and the Coastal Prairie.

The map doesn’t  look like the trail goes into the mangrove at all, but it does.

 

In fact, it starts in the mangrove.

 

First we see what we call the “pencil points” of the black mangrove.  These apparently provide the same function for these mangroves as the cypress knees provide for the cypress trees.  They are thickly covering the ground all over.

 

Further on we find the red mangrove roots reaching down to take a hold and do away with the hike path.

 

And then we’re out in the prairie.  We turn around to look back at the mangroves and get this portrait.  Looking good aren’t we??

 

If it were earlier in the season, or later, this path would be mighty muddy.

 

All kinds of interesting plants on this prairie.

 

 

The muddy path leads into a hammock which we were not expecting.  There are more habitats here than the map led us to believe.

 

 

Because we are the first ones today to walk this trail, we run into a lot of these webs.  So many that I pick up a stick to move them out of the way and keep them out of my face.

Wow look at the web weaver.

 

 

Back out in the prairie, this would be serious mud in other months.

 

 

But now, during mid winter, you can see just how dry the area is.

 

 

 

 

We reach the goal and even at low tide, David is standing as far out as we can go without sinking up over our ankles in mud.  We haven’t worn our slough slog shoes so we pass on wading out for a better view.

Here’s who was around with us at low tide.

These guys were in a hole at the bottom of a black mangrove tree.

 

After spending time sitting on the bench whose picture I wish I’d taken since it was nearly new, made out of recycled plastics and tied with a strong rope to the fiddler crab home tree, we retraced our footsteps.  By this time it was after noon and the sun on those prairies was mighty strong so we didn’t dally.  We hoofed it back for lunch.