Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, Okeechobee, Florida
We began our day early, just after sunrise, about 7:15am as we took on the roads and trails on our bikes. It was foggy. It was beautiful!
A bit cliche, but Blaine likes it.
However, we noticed there were a LOT of spider-webby things, as well as spider webs, all over the vegetation – the trees, prairie grass, palms – every where! Certainly will make us think twice before stepping off the trails now!
There’s our campground.
On down the road to ‘our spot’, where it was so wonderful, we spent more than a few minutes. 😊
Here’s a couple of videos so you can enjoy the serenity for a few seconds. The second one I was zooming in on the birds across the water. They were everywhere.
And then there were the baby gators! Why do they look so cute? They look just like the grown ones – – who don’t look so cute. . . .
Some ran into the water just as we approached.
I count six in the picture. How many do you see?
Once we pulled ourselves away, we took off down the road encountering . . . .
Vultures on a fence post! These were a bit more amicable to having their picture taken, so I was able to get pretty close!
One decided I was getting too close and took off – – but only down a few posts.
That’s as close as I got before . . .
. . . . this one left too.
About 10 minutes later, we ran into a dead end and had to turn around.
As we approached our spot, Blaine spotted the baby gators again. This time, there were about a dozen of them that scampered very quickly into the water! With the exception of one who was either very brave, very lazy or very sick.
He’s not really trying to feed it, just posing for the camera.
We spent a bit more time in the area, checking things out and spotted some deer, but no picture. They were too far away.
This is the highest point he could find to stand on. : )
Probably good he’s standing up there. Look at what’s in the water.
I promise you, that’s no baby!
Look at all the sand on those tires!
Then we rode down the road. . . . . 😊
And encountered a prescribed fire brigade on their way to start work. There must have been about a dozen vehicles of all kinds heading down to the far end of the Park. They were actually driving down a hike/bike trail and one of them stopped long enough to tell us they were doing the burn, so we couldn’t go down there. Shoulda asked him if we could watch!
And right there on the corner where they were turning in, was a gopher tortoise!
Here’s some info on them, just because I haven’t looked anything up for a couple of days. 😊
The majority of the remaining gopher tortoises are in the state of Florida where the mpopulation was estimated in 2003 to be under 800,000, but in steep decline. It is the only tortoise in the eastern part of the country.
Gopher tortoises are one of the few species of tortoise that dig burrows. These burrows can be up to ten feet deep and 40 feet long, and are as wide as the length of the tortoise that made it. The burrow is integral to the tortoise’s survival. It provides shelter from the sun, stable temperature and relative humidity, protection from predators, a site for laying eggs under the sandy soil at the burrow mouth, and it is a crucial refuge for the tortoise and other species that are adapted to the fires that naturally occur in the tortoise’s native ecosystem.
Other species that use the gopher tortoise burrows are called commensals, and they include nearly 400 mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects, such as the eastern indigo snake, Florida mouse, gopher frog, burrowing owl and gopher cricket. ~ taken from defenders of wildlife website
What’s the difference between turtles and tortoises? I’m so glad you asked!
There are three main differences: 1. Turtles are aquatic, tortoises stay on land. 2. Their feet – turtles have flippers or webbing so they can swim, tortoises do not. 3. Turtles are omnivorous, tortoises are vegetarians.
We left the fire brigade to their work at around 9:45am and turned back in the general direction of home.
Twenty minutes later, we were behind the Visitor Center getting ready to walk the 1.5 mile Hammock Trail. We were going to ride our bikes, but when we stopped to read the information board, we saw a “NO BIKES ON THE TRAIL” sign. So we parked and we walked.
Turned out to be a good thing, as shortly after we began, we encountered two deer grazing right beside the trail. And I mean right beside!
There were some other interesting things to see (including more deer – – or were they the same ones?) and some markers to read (and take pictures of).
We think this is the live oak behind the sign.
The tall one is the Sabal Palm
After a 5 mile ride and a 1.5 mile walk, we went back home to relax in the heat.
I had an unintimidated visitor. : )
We can see the prescribed burn in the distance.
A much larger area than we would have thought.
We had decided to have an early dinner, so Blaine was out grilling beef kabobs without the skewers. He ate a salad while he was out there) and I was taking him a glass of water. I’m getting to the point, don’t worry.
I opened the coach door (the air was on) and stopped mid-step when a couple right in front of our coach said, “Look at that.” In a normal voice.
I looked. It was a snake just across the road. And not just any snake.
It was a diamondback rattle snake!
It was at least five feet long!!!
I called Blaine over, and now there’s four of us watching it slither ever-so-slowly down the road and seemed to not care that we were in its face taking pictures. Soon a couple on bikes came down the road and we stopped them to look. So now there’s six, and still he doesn’t seem to care.
He’s turned away from the road now and heading towards the car across the street. It seems this is a single guy camping in his car . . . and there was some debate about whether we should warn him because no one wanted him to come out his door and step on it! But we didn’t think he was home.
And now, there’s this tiny bird who keeps taunting it by hopping around in front of it. Snake turns his head once or twice to look at it, but keeps going. Seems he has a destination in mind . . .
And it’s right through the tent-campers site!
They’re out here watching now and expressing signs and symptoms of nervousness. They were preparing to cook dinner, but now they’re just hoping it turns and goes somewhere else. Anywhere else!
But no. It heads right into their campsite.
They invite their neighbors across the street from them to come and look, so now there’s 10-11 people and he still doesn’t seem to care.
Once it gets to their picnic table, Blaine announces dinner’s ready, so we leave the spectacle.
Amazing! Gorgeous! A little bit scary!
Dinner was terrific, by the way.
Once it gets closer to sundown, we get ready to leave for our favorite spot again to watch the sunset.
I’m waiting for Blaine (That’s a miracle in and of itself! Usually he’s waiting for me!) The tent campers are out and I holler and ask them if our friend headed into the brush. Much to my surprise, they told me he’d bedded down for the night (seemingly) right beside their campsite! I asked if I could come see and they graciously agreed. So off I went! There it was, in its tight little coil.
I walked towards home thanking my hosts, and asking if Blaine could come see, too. No problem. He brought his phone and walked up close and took a great picture!
We heard the next morning that a ranger came and relocated it. Good thing!
In the Jeep we go, and off to watch the sunset!
It was incredible!
The fire still burning in the distance.
Blaine moved the bench from the pond side to the sunset side.
Blaine took two panoramic shots. This one and the next.
Once the sun got down low enough, we could see a fire’s glow in the prescribed burn area. We were surprised that they’d still have that kind of action at sunset. Wonder how long it takes because now it’s about 6:45pm. You’d think they’d start before 10am.
While we were looking around, Blaine thinks he saw a gator catching and wrestling his food. He didn’t see it catch anything, but witnessed it rolling around like the do!
This video and picture shows the alligator . . . . after his meal?
The lovely sunset was a beautiful end to a great day! God is so good to us!
TOTAL HIKING MILES: 2
Year To Date: 139.5
Daily Average: 3.17