Treacherous Terrain & Family in Flamingo (ECT Day 6)

  • Hiked Today: 25.3 miles (Stevie Everglades Alternate)
  • Total Hiked: 165.6 mile

“And what it comes down to, is that I haven’t got it all figured out just yet” – Alanis Morissette (Hand in My Pocket)

Ernest Coe Ground Site to Flamingo, FL

You’ll be happy to hear that I did not start hiking in the dark this morning. Nope, I had enough of the wetland night hiking thing, thank you very much. Instead, the classic 6:40 am start seemed to work nicely with the sun rising. The headlamp was on for the first 10 minutes more to ease my nerves than anything else.

It was so nice walking this stretch in daylight, but my enthusiasm diminished quickly. The trail quickly became overgrown. And not just a section here or there; soon the clear spots were the rarity.

Most of the time I was just brushing aside branches, stepping strategically and using my trekking poles as a barrier to maneuver through. Some times though, it was bad, with no way forward except through the leaves. I got frustrated. Pissed off, one could phrase it. But, I continued onward, now motivated to just get through the 9-ish miles between me and the highway.

All that being said, I still stopped occasionally to observe the beauty of it all. It seemed the “trail” is really the brushiest part. Maybe because humans elevated the land here and it’s drier, different trees and plants grow. Outward, things opened up.

There was another camp site about 3-miles from the road. I hoped it’d be more clear after that thinking people might access it coming from the other direction more frequently. Oh, how wrong I was. When I got there, I found a dead end. Crestfallen I was, you might imagine.

Oye, what to do. It was about 10 miles back and a little less than 3 ahead, but seemingly no trail in sight.

Getting My Feet Wet

This “dead end” showed up about 10-miles in to the backcountry.

I tried where I thought the trail should go, even going as far as taking my pack off to pass it underneath some branches. It was that thick. I made it all of 20 feet before land turned to water… dark, ominous water, the type where yellow eyes lingered last night.

I retreated. Momentarily, at least. On the way back out to the clearing I got ripped across the neck and face by some sharp thorny plant. After drinking some water and calming myself down, I checked out the open wetland area I’d been seeing to my left as I walked. And that’s where I went.

At first, my stupid plan was just to beeline it towards the road through the sea of grass. Essentially, that’s still what I did, but I connected back to where the trail was supposed to be and found a track to follow. It was clear that others had gone this way. The only thing was, I was wading through ankle to mid shin level water the rest of the way! And it wasn’t always clear where to go. Still, I was happy about this development. I had a way to keep going forward.

You may be wondering, weren’t you worried about alligators? Actually, not as much as I was when on the “trail.” On this new route, I was splashing so much I knew they’d hear me a long ways ahead. I removed my phone from my hip belt pocket because water was flying everywhere and it was getting soaked. The water did have a nice cooling effect on my feet, but it was hard walking for sure with a thin layer of silty mud and goop that was slippery at times. Some small gravel found its way into my shoes too. 

It was a bit of a mind game this morning. Keep calm and don’t freak out. I’ll admit, I did freak out a few times. I was doing ok until my first ECT encounter with the thing we Stevies fear above all others… a snake! And not just any snake. This was the kind that opens it’s mouth wide and has sharp-looking fangs. And, it was close. Way too close! I rarely ever see snakes before I hear them. This time was no different. It was camouflaged laying on top of the grass! Thick grass that was about 2-3 ft high. Oh the terror! I high-step ran out of there as I do, but this one shook me. I’d later look it up and pretty sure I came face to face with a Florida Cottonmouth.

Why was I not wearing pants?

I was close to the highway, but that sort of close where you just want to be there so bad and the last bit goes so slowly. After the snake encounter, I continued my singing to let all the things ahead of me know I was coming.

The decibel levels of my singing must have increased too, because at one point I heard someone call back. With hope in my heart, thinking the trail had become a trail again, I went closer to the thick brush and yelled out. Turns out, there was not a trail yet, but rather a pond on the other side. Two guys were fishing in kayaks.

That was sort of the last hurrah though, pretty soon after that it turned to almost dry. Then, I made the last few sloshy steps back to the road!

Pack off, shoes and socks off, sleeping bag and tent out to dry (the condensation had been abundant overnight), food going into the belly, I just sat right there for a bit.

Soon, I turned my phone on to find service. Wouldn’t you know it, my dad had just texted saying he’d entered into Everglades National Park.

The Everglades Team Unites

What!?

Yes folks… reinforcements. And just when I needed them most! So the story is that very early on in my Everglades scheming, my dad had shown interest in joining. From then on, it was the two of us planning this whole thing out together. Not feeling he was up for that amount of canoeing or kayaking, we developed the idea to take his fishing boat along. This option provided all kinds of advantages, primarily more storage capacity (including about 20 gallons of potable water).

Another exciting update to these shenanigans came just a few weeks before setting out… my uncle felt compelled to join as well. So, the three of us will be entering into the Everglades water world together!

So there the truck came hauling Sally the Sea Nymph (my dad’s 16 ft fishing boat) and Karl the kayak in tow. They pulled over and we had a joyous reunion. It’s tough to sum up all the experiences I’ve already undertaken on this trek in a few minutes, so it was very brief catch-ups for the time being. Mostly I recalled my tale through the swamp, but also heard about their travels.

During my stewing along the side of the road, it had come to my attention that some of the trees I was bushwacking through were likely Poisonwood. It sounds like it is, similar to poison ivy or oak and can bring about a nasty rash. So, I had that to look forward to.

Even so, with the team united, I was reinvigorated and ready to crush some road walking miles. It was still early in the day and I still wanted to walk the rest of the way to our booked campsite by Flamingo marina. They even dropped off new dry shoes!

The trail provides. What perfect timing (I started out with a pair of my running shoes and now will go back to my usual Brooks Caldera Trail runners)! They had water for me! And, I gave them a few items from my pack as a semi-slack pack (slack packing is when you have some other method of your pack getting up trail, usually somebody supporting you, and you take just the necessary day supplies). Best trail angels in all South Florida I’d say!

Not much to tell about the road walk, it just wasn’t very exciting truthfully. I was surprised with the new shoes, they didn’t have that instant relief feeling. My feet must be too sore from the pounding over the past few days.

My personal trail angels came through for me again by making a trip all the way back to Homestead to get some anti-itch related medicines for the potential Poisonwood reaction I feared. After they checked in and set up at camp in Flamingo, they stopped by along the road to say hey. Another perfect time to fill up water again.

Fabulous Flamingo 

The team and I both got to the Flamingo marina right around 5:00 pm. Here’s just before arrival, crossing over the canal I’d be kayaking and they’d be boating through tomorrow.

The Flamingo Canal

I’d done it, making it a silly amount of miles in just a few days. But the plan was in motion. We were all here and set to take off in our watercrafts the next morning.

The campground is a few miles away from the marina, so I hopped in the truck and ate a homemade cookie, first thing. At camp, I went right into shower mode. It felt so good! And I had clean clothes they brought and then I got to sit down in a chair and have a beer! Amazing. Dad cooked up venison steaks and we sat and ate in the dark with a mosquito onslaught. I got to hear more about their travels and they heard more about mine.

Afterwards, we had a little campfire, but were all in the tents around 8:00 pm. What a day.

Album of the Day: “The Writings On The Wall” – Destiny’s Child

Affiliate Disclosure

This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any product or service you purchase using the links in the articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price as they would otherwise, and your purchase helps to support The Trek's ongoing goal to serve you quality backpacking advice and information. Thanks for your support!

To learn more, please visit the About This Site page.

Comments 3

  • Chris : Jan 17th

    I had to do some Googling to see what a Florida Cottonmouth looked like,.. kind of looks like a Copperhead. Glad you avoided that fellow.

    Reply
  • Wendy : Jan 17th

    Exciting going through the water with the snakes!! I’m glad you were safe & glad your dad & uncle are with you now! Have fun on the boats!!

    Reply
  • Jules in NY : Jan 17th

    Exciting day! Good that you have company. And I’m sure the clean clothes felt great but, not gonna lie, I’ll miss the palm tree shirt.

    Reply

What Do You Think?