The Savage Traveler: Winter Travels 5

February 6-11: Myakka State Park was surprisingly dry compared to other years when we’ve visited. Our campsite was right across from the bathroom which was nice because with the hot, humid weather we enjoyed a bedtime shower every night, and doing our laundry on site.

Our campsite served us very well and we could dump our tanks at the site before we left.

Only about a half an hour from Oscar Scherer, Myakka is like a different world, with no phone or internet signal at our campsite. About three miles down the park road, on the shore of Upper Myakka Lake, there is a store and food grill up on stilts, where they also sell tickets for the tram ride and air boat ride, rent bikes and small water craft, etc. They used to also have internet service there that doesn’t seem to exist now, but we found we could get a phone signal and LTE signals there (and on the end of the Bird Walk even farther into the park!) so we satisfied ourselves with riding down there with our devices when we needed to communicate. This year they also offered a special evening at the grill, which usually closes at 4:30, when they had a duo playing guitars and singing up on the deck and a special menu which included prime rib and blackened snapper. They had flowers and candles on the picnic tables and wait staff to take and serve our orders. Marv and I shared a table with Ray and Judy, whom we met earlier when we biked down to the river, and a nuclear engineer visiting from a conference in Tampa who used to come to Myakka as a kid. It was a very pleasant evening and our delicious snapper with salad, broccoli and red skins, was only $15.00 each! The weather at Myakka the whole time was still perfect for our biking (again around 35 miles) and hiking and kayaking. And it was amusing to find that we met up with three other couples that we recognized from Oscar Scherer, snow birds like us staying warm and traveling around Florida for the winter.

Across the lake from the Birdwalk we could see three wild hogs. We rarely see them
but signs of their destructive rooting are everywhere in Florida. The restricted area called Big Hole,
to which we've hiked in the past, was closed much of the time we were at the park because they
were doing a hunt south of the Highway.

The Birdwalk

An Osprey hunting/fishing over the water

This is just a few of the 17 white pelicans gathered off a point across from the Birdwalk.
The Audubon volunteer with a scope said there were about 70 there earlier.

Great Egret in flight

Our new bird learned this year was the Glossy Ibis.

There weren't as many birds or alligators at the weir as we have seen before.

One day we packed a lunch on the back of our bikes and rode to the area at the bend in the road with two benches. We enjoyed a solitary picnic there and then went on to the Sweet Meadow Pastures Ranch trail too hike a few miles into the scrub oak flatwoods to where Mrs. Palmer established her highly productive and innovative ranch more than a hundred years ago.

This alligator seemed totally fine about the stick across its snout as it glided along.

The two track ranch trail

Two Sandhill cranes

Despite my misgivings, which kept me awake the night before, we inflated the kayak and took it on the very placid river that is loaded with alligators. Of course, we had no problems and it was a great day for a paddle.

One of many alligators we saw as we paddled by. Most just laid there,
but occasionally they would silently sink underwater, leaving us to wonder
if they were swimming right underneath us.

This is probably the largest alligator we saw during our time at Myakka.

Great Blue Heron

When we met Judy and Ray along the river bank they encouraged us to take the power line trail to the water, where they had seen many roseate spoonbills and other wildlife. We rode our bikes to it and then hiked but didn't see much at all. Since we had time, we returned to the Nature Trail and Canopy Walk and THAT'S where we saw the wildlife. As we entered the trail, a guy coming out said a herd of about 20 wild hogs of all ages had crossed the path in front of him. We didn't see them, but we saw lots of water fowl.