Fakahatchee State Park - Adventure Saturday # 6

One of the coolest things I get to do when I'm not adventuring is teaching at local art studio here in Naples, FL.  More about this is coming up in a future blog. I mention that to say this: sometimes when you're doing what you love, you end up meeting really wonderful and interesting people who share similar interests. 
What I had originally thought would be a standard night at the studio ended up being a hours of laughing, truly fantastic conversation and making new friends. 

Adventure Saturdays came up and before I knew it one of the students and I were making plans to go Ghost Orchid Hunting in the Fakahatchee.

Before the sun came up one Friday morning, (yes! Adventure Saturdays can take place on a Friday or any other day of the week for that matter!) my new friend Dianna and I set out into the forest to explore trails. Our mission: to stumble upon the elusive Ghost Orchid, a very rare flower that grows in a very specific ecosystem found only in Southwest Florida and Cuba.

It was a beautiful drive out to the preserve and we got to see a spectacular foggy sun rise.

Word of advice...even if it's hot where a few layers. The mosquitoes out there are KILLER.  Spray yourself GENEROUSLY with repellant.  I foolishly went out there having completely forgot bug spray and wearing only a thin t-shirt and jeans.  By the time we turned around to head back out of the trail, my back and arms were covered in probably 200 hundred bites which later resulted in a fainting spell.  This is no joke. Learn from my mistake and prepare yourself when you head out into a Florida swamp.  Okay I'm done with my public service announcement. ;-)

Don't let what I just wrote above scare you.  I was just foolishly unprepared and won't make that mistake again.  There's something to be said for exploring where you live and being out among nature.  Though we didn't find a ghost orchid (I think we were a little too early in the season anyway) just being out there with good company and great conversation was wonderful.  The trail is gorgeous and we did find few interesting things...

There was what appeared to be an abandoned shed along with some rubbish.  Further down we came upon a cottage.  We determined it must be a ranger hut of some sort.  We also came upon a very interesting and very "big" footprint.  Just one single especially large footprint.  I will post it below. You be the judge.

Apparently some weirdo like to bbq out there.

You can clearly see a heel and toes.  I wish I had thought to put something beside this foot print for perspective. You can't really tell from the picture but it was really quite large. Skunk Ape???

We did get to see a little bit of wildlife before the mosquitoes ran us out.... on our way back to my friend's house, we happened this gator on the side of the road who'd just found himself some lunch. Nom nom.

Ah... nature...

Some day I'll head back out there.... maybe slough through the swamp and look for orchids. Next time, though, I won't be mosquito food.

~M