Dan and Hannah Hike the Everglades National Park in Florida

Taking Route 41 south from the Naples area of southwest Florida, we head to the non-Florida part of Florida.  Billboards for airboat rides on the Tamiami Trail are ever-present.  We’re told you can get a 40 minute ride for $22 to see gators and crocs of the Everglades.  We pass.  To be clear, an everglade is a tract of low, swampy land, characterized by clumps of tall grass and numerous branching waterways.  The highway east is narrow with few businesses, fewer houses, and lots of scrub brush.  Signs to watch out for the Florida panther are about, but alas we never see one.  There is small town living.  Then there is being isolated.  Much of the past day we have traveled through very isolated territory, which is way too isolated for us.

On this 120 mile trip to Florida City, the gateway to the Everglades National Park and the Keys, it seems like a place to come if you never want to see snow and cold freezing temperatures again.  Ever!  Along the narrow two lane highway, we see some bicyclists pedaling their recumbents.   If there is a more boring, long distance way to get exercise, I don’t know what it is.  There are no paved shoulders and cars roar by at 60+ miles per hour.  That’s supposed to be a good time?  Such long distance biking again reminds me of why hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine has no appeal for me.  Basically the same trail day after day.  The trees begin to look the same.  The leaves on the path look the same. 

Soon we arrive in the outskirts of Miami, but never hit the city traffic of that coastal city.  Horse and cattle farms and the fields that provide our dinner tables with strawberries, peppers, tomatoes, onions and watermelons bracket the road.

So we ask ourselves again as we grapple with whether to leave the cold of Maine for a few months in winter, what do snowbirds do who come to Florida?  If you like to fish, play tennis, or golf, this is your place.  If you like to walk in the fresh air and not at a gym, Florida is worth considering.   We are starting to get the idea that looking for small town Maine here in Florida is a quixotic quest. 

Just 12 miles from the Comfort Inns, Wendy’s, and Applebee’s here in this touristy part of Florida City is the entrance to the Everglades National Park.  

Arriving at the Visitor Center in the early afternoon after our drive, we are greeted by a typically helpful ranger who suggests a hike at Long Pine Key Campground just six miles from the entrance.   

Average temperatures in winter here are a high of 77°F with a low of 53°F.  Summers are hot and humid, with temperatures around 90°F and humidity over 90%.   Afternoon thunderstorms are common and mosquitoes are abundant.  We would never see a mosquito this January day.

With ample parking, we exchange our sandals (remember this is January!) for double socks and hiking boots.  We learn the highest point in the park is 3 feet above sea level.  As with so much of Florida our hike today will be level which allows us to catch an easy hiking/talking rhythm.  Some may say it’s boring, but hiking in 70 degrees is never a bad thing. 

As with much of our conversation this week, we fall into talking about retirement.   I’m nearing the end of the first year of my retirement.   Hannah wonders what the future is for her.  How long do you continue to do something just because you are good at it?  Gay Hendricks in The Big Leap writes about the Zones we inhabit when we make the work choices we do.   I believe Hannah is in the Zone of Excellence, where you do your job well and not many people can do it as well as you.  A higher zone is the Zone of Genius (I’ve renamed it the Zone of Passion, though Mr. Hendricks doesn’t know that.)  In the Zone of Passion, you have a job that you are excited to go to the minute you wake up.  An important distinction between these two preferred zones is that in the Zone of Excellence you are feeding others and in the Zone of Passion you are also feeding yourself.   If you can afford to retire, is it time to retire?  We have three hours of hiking and Hannah and I delve deeper into the subject.

The trail weaves through a grassland savanna that the Lion King would feel at home at.  The dirt trail covered with pine needles upon what appears to be worn inland coral rock is easy on the feet.  The trail winds its way through a sparse forest of long pines, short saw palmettos, and grasses.   

Occasionally we hear a bird, but animals of the savanna are not apparent.   We hike 90 minutes out and return by the same 90 minute route to get our three hour hiking fix.  Often, this trail is used by mountain bikes; four times per week, rangers lead a supervised ride along this trail.  The Everglades National Park has been a park only since 1947; prior to that, commercial interests heavily logged this area.  None of the pines that we see is more than 8-10 inches in diameter.    

At our turn around point, Hannah takes off her shoes and socks and I peel an orange while we share dried apple slices from our dear friend Nancy.  It feels like we are on a safari.  The location is a getaway jewel, if getaway is what you seek.  It’s an oasis getaway in a state where people abound.  But I gotta say the lack of elevation on this trail makes it more tedious than adventurous.

An easy 20 minute ride back to the Comfort Inn returns us to the comforts of civilization.  In mid-January we’ll sit comfortably by the pool in the low 70s and toast the sunset.  Alas, we’ve not found a home in this part of the state.