Big Cypress, here we come!

The eve of our Florida Trail thru-hike is finally upon us...tomorrow morning we will hoist our backpacks and tug on our hiking shoes and step into the swamps of Big Cypress National Preserve...well kind of. From what we have learned from Captain Blue, a hiker that is a few days ahead of us, as well as some official folks at the preserve's visitor center, the terrain is much drier than usual. Unless today's storm makes a big impact, likely the waters will be no more than calf deep and the first day's miles should be completely dry. All the better to see the Cottonmouths! I wonder what the infamous Skunk Ape thinks of these rather dry conditions?

We couldn't help ourselves from taking a sneak peak at the Everglades while we were making preparations for the hike in Sarasota this past week. Although tempted, we didn't steal a glance at the trailhead, but we did visit the Skunk Ape Research Headquarters just down the road in the lil' town of Ochopee. Just before we left, we learned from our friend, Robert, who knows everything there is to know about sasquatch that the Skunk Ape was a close relative and was said to inhabit the very wilds through which we would be walking. Therefore when we learned this informational center was near to the trail, we thought we had better educate ourselves. And to think we were only wary of the panthers, gators, and snakes before...now we have a whole new creature for which to look! It was worth our while though, as we got a Skunk Ape Field Guide, and learned that they are particularly fond of lima beans...we will be sure to keep a few in our pocket to appease the Everglades beast if we encounter him.

But really in all seriousness...we are beyond excited to start our journey tomorrow. Our foray into Big Cypress earlier in the week has only further ignited our inner sparks to hike this trail. I have been rereading portions of John Muir's journals, A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf, and would like to close this post with some feelings of his that deeply resound with our own:

But in Florida came the greatest change of all, for here grows the palmetto, and here blow the winds so strangely toned by them. These palms and these winds severed the last strands of the cord that united me with home. Now I was a stranger, indeed. I was delighted, astonished, confounded, and gazed in wonderment blank and overwhelming as if I had fallen upon another star.

Thank you for following us on our journey...we will share an update as soon as we can!