We awoke early at 8:30 am and were driving down I 75 by 9:00. After a stop at Mickey Dees we were at the Fak by a little after 11. Driving in, along the gravel road, we were treated to a young snapping turtle attempting to cross the road. Kev carried him to safety. A little further on we saw an Everglades Mink, which is on the threatened species list. This was already shaping up to be a good day.
Kevin wanted to see snakes and gators and I was up for sighting some wild orchids (and hoping for the famous Ghost Orchid). Orchids require a warm, very humid environment and it's here. They are epiphytes (which live on a host tree and are nourished by the air and rain.).
The "Fak" (Fakahatchee Strand) is a swamp, 20 miles long and about 5 miles wide, which drains into the Everglades. It holds the largest population of wild orchids in the country. When they were logging the old growth Cypress here in the 1940's, they created a matrix of slightly elevated paths all through the swamp called "trams" to get the trees out. (The trees have all grown back, but only a few are over 50 years old.) These trams are now the main hiking trails, although many are overgrown and virtually impassable. But to see the swamp in it's natural state, you need to get off the trails and "wet hike". The water is clear and cool.
After parking the car on a small grassy area, we proceeded along one of the side trams for a couple of miles. About a mile in we encountered a large 10 foot aligator who was guarding the path. He was stubborn, but we finally got him back into the swamp. Continuing on the trail, everything became more overgrown and impassable, so we decided to go back and try the other side of the main trail. Bubba was waiting in the exact same spot and was unafraid of us, but we bothered him until he went into the swamp again. A yellow rat snake was our next encounter. Kevin was able to hold him up for a few photo ops. Further on, I wasn't paying attention, and missed stepping on a 7 footer on the tram by 2 steps. That could have ruined my day.
Back on the main trail we found a good spot to go "wet" and waded in. Kevin spotted our first orchid growing on a Pop Ash tree and I photographed it. It was a small leafless orchid with small flowerets growing out of a few stems. I can't identify it yet. There are 44 different species of Orchid in the Fak.
After an hour we decided to return to the main trail. But whoa, it's not that easy. Wading in required us going around obstacles and under low hanging branches and create our own trail. And everything looks the same. So the way back was not at all obvious. Fortunately, we had a compass. But without one, on a cloudy day, one could get himself seriously lost!
Driving out we stopped at the ranger shack again and told him of the rare mink we had seen. He had seen the same one, but was excited to have an independent sighting. He got the time of day and location of our sighting and asked for our names. So I think our names might get published in the "Friends of the Fakahatchee" newsletter next month---"Master Naturalist Skip Maskol and Biologist Kevin Maskol spot rare Everglades Mink during research trip to the Strand" ----or something similar.
