Still Gravity

Mack's Fish Camp in the Everglades west from the city of Miami, Florida - License our images  here . This is a small rustic place on the banks of the Miami Canal, a waterway that flows from Lake Okeechobee to the Miami River - a 77 miles journey. There is only one road to reach the camp. One way in, one way out.  In Mack's Fish Camp survives the old culture of the Glades. The place opened in the 1930s. Trailers, cabins, a general store, and a walking bridge across the canal are still portraits of a simpler life. They also offer airboat tours of the Everglades. We hiked from Krome Avenue to the camp through the dirt road across the canal. The one and a half-mile walk was easy, so we kept going an extra mile for a deeper look of this area of the Everglades. There were birds and there were alligators.  Ready to cross the bridge to visit the Mack's Fish Camp. 

We found a dead centipede hiking in the Glades - License our images  here .  Rarely you can see a centipede hiking in the Everglades because this animal is mostly nocturnal. We were lucky to find a big one - even if dead. These creepy crawlers don't have a hundred legs. They can have less or more. The number of legs varies from individual to individual. This animal bites and injects a venom that may cause an allergic reaction to some folks. There are many species of centipedes and some lack eyes. Strange creature.

Sunset on a dirt road of Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area - License our images  here . This Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is on the western boundaries of Miami by the Tamiami Trail. It's big, covering land of three counties. The "trails" are the levees that run along the canals. The rest of the expanse is grass and water. The "River of Grass" of  Marjory Stoneman Douglas , a popular name after her book  The Everglades: River of Grass  - link is affiliate to Amazon.   Enjoy some pictures from our hikes in Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area.  The canal across Coopertown by the Tamiami Trail.          The "River of Grass". The grassy flats of the Everglades.  Lake adorned by spring flowers

The Tamiami Trail closed for hours - License our images  here . After riding bikes in Shark Valley - the northern entrance of  Everglades National Park -, we got stuck in the Tamiami Trail because of a terrible accident. The crash involved three vehicles, one of them a motorhome. People were airlifted to a Miami hospital, and we remained stranded in this remote road for four hours. Serious accident.          This is the problem with this South Florida route: when something serious happens, there is no escape. It's the only road across this part of the Everglades.  Killing time, I took this rare photo of a completely empty Tamiami Trail - it always has traffic.  Empty. No traffic in the Tamiami Trail. 

The Old Ingraham Highway in Everglades National Park -  License our images here . No more vehicles in this route from the past. The Old Ingraham Highway - or what remains of it - is now the longest official trail of Everglades National Park.  This road from the 1920s was the land connection to Flamingo before the national park. It crossed through an area of farms called the "Hole-in-the-Donut". Some of the old farms are still visible in satellite images - check here  and  here .  After the government bought these lands and left them under the rule of nature, the invasive  Brazilian Pepper took over. They are still trying to eliminate these trees since the 1990s.  Wetlands seen from the trail.  The main road of the national park completed in 1957 didn't use this section of the Ingraham Highway. It went through