Hiking Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller
Date: November 8, 2021
We camped at the Davie, Florida KOA and drove an hour south past Miami to the national park. In the Long Pine Key Area, we hiked the 1.3 mile Anhinga Trail located by the Royal Palm Visitor Center. The trail was both paved and boardwalk leading us along a wetland area of water lilies and floating hyacinths where we saw herons, egrets and osprey birds. Thanks to Rosie’s keen eyesight, we saw a four foot alligator lounging a foot off the boardwalk. I then hiked the Gumbo Limbo Trail, a .5 mile spur trail off of Ahinga. It was a dense tropical hardwood hammock forest of trees and a mosquito haven. I hiked it fast before I was eaten alive by the insects. It gave a great perspective of what explorers and Spanish conquistadors faced trekking through this area.
