Edge of Everglades Trail

Edge of Everglades Trail in a rainy day. West of Miami, Florida - Photo: Still Gravity. Florida.
The beauty of the Everglades in a rainy day - License our images here.        

This trail is on the southwest boundaries of the city of Miami, Florida. It runs through the limits of Everglades National Park. Little over six miles long - we started from the trailhead at the entrance of Chekika Recreation Area. The ride was around 13 miles round trip. 


Trailhead of Edge of Everglades Trail at the Chekika Recreation Area. South Florida - Photo: Still Gravity.
The trailhead of Edge of Everglades Trail at the entrance to Chekika. 

The Edge of Everglades Trail ends at the Levee L-30N on the canal C-30. Following the levee north will add six more miles to the trip. L-30N ends on the Tamiami Trail west from the Miccosukee Indians Casino. We didn't do it this time.  

Edge of Everglades goes through somehow remote areas. It's very rural and to the west you will keep the company of the "River of Grass"- the Glades. There is no cover from the sun, potable water, or facilities. Carry all you need. 

We didn't find a soul in the trail. The water level of the Everglades was high with the daily rains and happy frogs gave us a loud concert in some sections. 

There were homes and farms on the west side of Edge of Everglades Trail long ago. Satellite images show old lots and roads - check here. Now these lands are part of the national park or owned by the Corps of Engineers of the US Army. Most are underwater after the mitigation works to improve the flow of the Everglades. We saw old traffic signs covered by lush vegetation.

Old traffic sign by Edge of Everglades Trail, South Florida - Photo: Still Gravity.
Where is the road? Nature took over. 

Herons, egrets, and big grasshoppers were the wildlife of the day. We also found a small dead snake. Alligators were out of sight. 

Collage of images of wildlife in Edge of Everglades Trail. South Florida - Photos: Still Gravity.
Not much wildlife today - blame the rain.  

On the way back rain came to refresh us. Nice touch from nature. 

We have a short video of this bike ride in Edge of Everglades Trail. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chekika: Forgotten spot of Everglades National Park

Image
During our last visit to Chekika ( map ), we found closed roads and dilapidated buildings. This was our fourth time here. Little by little, nature is coming back. Wilderness taking over what was always its property.           The closed entrance to the Grossman Hammock -  License our images here .  Everglades National Park closed indefinitely the Chekika Day Use Area in 2013. They claimed budget constraints. One year later, Chekika was on the news when a juvenile Nile crocodile was removed from the area - the animal was captured in a canal north from the Grossman Hammock. Two others were caught in 2009 and 2012 further to the east. You know the script with invasive species: they escaped or someone released them.  The Everglades already have the mighty Pythons running wild. I don’t want to imagine the River of Grass ruled by “man-eaters” crocodiles that can reach up to 17 feet. That would be madness. 
»

Google search and the little blog

Image
Many small websites are going dark like the sands of the desert at nightfall -  License our images here .   Little blogs are dying. They are jailed in a dark and remote dungeon of Google organic search, the non-index dungeon. The mighty gatekeeper, like Saturn , is devouring its children. Betrayed for money, the good old-fashioned blogs are the collateral damage of their "helpful" content update. Long gone is that 2004 when Loren Baker wrote: Google likes Blogs. Blogs do well in Search Results Listings on Google. This is because Blogs contain fresh content and are richly interlinked, despite their relatively small audiences. Some would go so far as to say that Google over-represents Blogs. (Source:  What if Google didn't like blogs? ") That's ancient history. A jump to 2022 shows a different picture. According to Sandy Maguire: The Internet is dominated by a few big websites. Out of social, the amateur opinion is vanished. (Source: " Why Is the Web So Monoto
»

The last hike before the accident

Image
Cheaha Falls: A tiny waterfall in the mountains of Alabama -  License our images here .    After an easy mile of hiking through the Chinnabee trail, we reached the little waterfall.  The water was pretty low for a summer. We expected something bigger. A real waterfall, not a shower. But anyway, it's a cute waterfall with a tranquil pool at its base. We didn't swim, but it's said that many locals do.  Last picture of C before the accident.  The best part was that we were the only ones there. C seated on a big flat rock and grabbed a snack from her blue backpack.  She loves these quiet places. Immediately, she got lost into herself surrounded by the sounds of nature and the smooth hammering of falling water over ancient rocks. Who knows what she was thinking. I didn't.   We left for another day the hike down to Devil's Den Falls and Lake Chinnabee. There was time for them. Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. We had some days to spend camping in this forest .  How coul
»