This 1.75-mile trail meandered from the national park visitor center along Wind Cave Canyon to the original cave entrance, a blowhole that was originally a 10” x 14” hole in the ground. The cave is said to” breathe”, as air continually moves in or out. The cool air blowing out of the hole was like an air conditioner which felt great on this 92-degree day. The trail went on to crest a hill and became part of the largest remaining mixed-grass prairie in the USA. We could see cute prairie dogs just off the trail in the canyon and bison in the distance.
Christened a national park by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1903, the cave was discovered in 1881 when two cowboys were riding on a calm day and heard wind blowing. They discovered a hole in the ground and looked in. The wind blew his hat off. Wind Cave is the 7th largest cave system in the world and third largest in the USA with over 140 miles of passages. Driving through the park roadways among the ponderosa pine trees, prairie grass and wildflowers we saw bison, pronghorn, elk, and prairie dogs. We took the one-hour Garden of Eden Tour. An elevator took us down 119 feet where the cave stayed a constant chilly 54 degrees. The cave is known for its calcite formations known as boxwork, with 95% of the world’s boxwork found at Wind Cave. They did not use colored lights to enhance the cave popcorn and flowstone formations, but it was still a very educational tour. Charcoal burned on one rock was the names of a group exploring the cave in 1882.
This national park is 90% water and encompasses islands, coral reefs and mangrove forests both along the shore and six miles out. The outer reefs and islands are accessible only by boat and are in the northern part of the infamous “Bermuda Triangle”. We booked an exciting eco-tour to the outer islands and beyond. Our snorkel adventure in under the “scuba” section and the kayak adventure is under the “kayaking” section. After being educated in the visitor center we walked out into the dock and saw three manatees swimming just past the dive boats. In the distance past the flag across Biscayne Bay is Miami Florida.
This trail was located on the east side (Homestead Entrance) of the park and is a dirt/natural trail on islands of higher ground surrounded by open wet prairies and dotted with dense strands of pine and other hardwood trees and palmetto shrubs. My mountain bike was perfect for this semi-rough trail. Sadly, we biked about 2 miles but had to stop because the trail was flooded, then added another 4 miles on paved roads. Rosie was worried about an alligator crawling out of the dense bush or a Florida panther attacking at any time. I later posed with a sculpture of a panther at the visitor center.
This 15 mile paved bike trail in the vast Everglades wilderness was awesome. We saw 26 alligators in the first seven miles with several gators laying part on the bike path and the remainder with a yard or two from the path. The trail ran parallel to a small swampy canal and thick brush where I saw several Florida gar fish. At mile 7 was a four story tall Observation Tower with great aerial views of the park. The trail then looped out into a river of grassland that was less dense where we saw lots of beautiful birds (egrets, anhinga’s) & six more alligators over then final 8 miles. While bicycling we occasionally heard loud growls which I had assumed were from a four-legged animal (panther, black bear etc.) but in reality, were from alligators. A park ranger told me it was called bellowing and sometimes meant the gator was mad or was a mating call. The bellowing was very scary when it sounded really close by and you could not see a gator. I was videoing an alligator that was about 20 feet away when it let loose with a series of bellows while lifting its head and tail. It was quite scary. The trail itself was wide and well maintained & we look forward to biking there again.
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.
A foggy morning at the KOA campsite but a beautiful spiderweb masterpiece of art adorned our travel trailer. A large farm was beside the KOA so cows greeted us every day. We traveled through a park tunnel on the way to the trailhead. Marty’s Rock Summit was another tough trail as we first ascended 1,210 feet up this tree covered but very rocky and steep trail which was part of the famous Appalachian Trail. We hiked a total of 4.6 miles on this out and back trail. The rock ledge summit which normally would have given us a panoramic view looking west. Sadly, low cloud obscured this morning view. Rosie said this was the most challenging rocky terrain she has ever hiked. We saw countless millipedes and a rare walking stick. Rosie met several Appalachian Trail through hikers with nicknames Sky Goddess, Duck and No Box.
This was the busiest of the trails we hiked this week located at mile marker 50.5. This shady, steep and rocky 3.5 mile trail descended 440 feet down the canyon to a beautiful 70 foot waterfall consisting of a series of frothing cascades. We saw several young deer feeding next to the trail. A stream ran to the right of the trail for the last half mile as well as large rocks on the north side.
In the afternoon we hiked the 1.8 mile Stony Man Trail (Mile Marker 41.7) with a 320 foot elevation change past ferns, wildflowers and many spruce and balsam fir trees to a summit overlooking a great view to the west from Stony Man’s “Forehead”. That morning we hiked the rocky 2.0 mile Little Stony Man Peak Trail with a 180 foot elevation change to another great summit view of the Shenandoah Valley 3,800 feet below. Both trails were part of the Appalachian Trail.
Shenandoah National Park is 105 miles long with winding Skyline Drive snaking through the Blue Ridge Mountains the entire way. We camped at a KOA Campground (our camping neighbors were Larry the Cable Guy and Susan Dey) in Luray, 9 miles west of the Thornton Gap Park entrance station. The national park has 95 hiking trails, dozens of overlooks, 100 species of trees and harbors 50 varieties of mammals and 200 kinds of birds. We concentrated our hiking between mile 31 and mile 52. Located at mile marker 42.6, this moderate rated trail was one tough challenge for me. The 5.8-mile trail was tree covered, flat and smooth at first then became rockier as we descended the canyon. The trail passed Timberlost Trail, unique rock formations and eventually a small rushing stream meandered to the left of us down the canyon. I came upon a small fawn eating five feet off the trail and sighted dozens of large millipedes (Photo #3 & #4). A bridge crossed the stream and .1 mile later we climbed a rocky ledge that offered an excellent view of the cascading upper falls (Photo#6) which was 86 feet high. A fall from our rocky perch would have resulted in a 60+ feet plunge. After resting and enjoying the beautiful view we began out 2.9 mile ascent with an elevation gain of 1,040 feet. In the canyon the temperature was 82 degrees (and 71 degrees back at the summit) so although it was a shady trail, the heat and humidity wore me coming back up. The overall hike took 3 hours and 15 minutes.
