Christian Point Trail at Everglades National Park (2007)

Looking back through some of these photos I wondered why I didn’t bother editing some of them. I had completed a small handful but had left a decent amount untouched for over a decade it seems. And it made me wonder why we didn’t make the effort to go into Everglades NP more often, though I know the reason why—you had to pay to go in! Big Cypress and so many other areas were free, and though we did pay for a state park pass, the pass let us in to a lot of parks and the ENP pass didn’t.

That said, it isn’t like I wasn’t spending 5 days a week for almost 6 years in the Everglades already. I was in the northern part of ENP during that time for work and throughout the greater central Everglades as well. However, there was definitely a difference in habitat the further south you reached and I know I missed out on a lot of the interesting flora and fauna of some of those tropical hardwood hammocks. Some day I would like to go back and spend some more time down there and eventually do the paddling trip through the Everglades Paddling Trail. It had been on my bucket list to do in my 20s but we never made it happen before we moved out of state.

I vaguely remember taking photos of this red-shouldered hawk, which perched nicely for photos.

Oh, I should also say, I’m not totally sure who was taking these photos. Chris and I were sharing one camera at this time and would often alternate taking photos and delineate who was taking what by taking a photo of our hand but we didn’t do that here. These could easily be photos by Chris, too. It doesn’t really matter at this point!

If you haven’t spent a lot of time in Florida you’ll come to find out that there are a lot of epiphytes! This gorgeous bromeliad is a Tillandsia balbisiana.

Ah, the infamous nickerbean, Guilandina bonduc. While this is native and is the host plant for the nickerbean blue butterfly and the critically endangered Miami blue butterfly, it has those lovely spines that does not entice you to walk through the plants! Chris and I once volunteered with some geocaching friends at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park to clear out some from an area that they were trying to entice other plant growth, and it wasn’t a fun plant to mess with!

I don’t believe we walked the entirety of the Christian Point Trail. I remember turning around somewhere in the middle, maybe due to mosquitoes.

Twisted airplant, Tillandsia flexuosa.

Great Southern White, Ascia monuste

Potbelly Airplant, Tillandsia paucifolia

Giant Airplant, Tillandsia utriculata

Dollar Orchid, Prosthechea boothiana—I’m not sure I have ever seen these in bloom.

Marsh Fleabane, Pluchea odorata

A 27 year-old me! So young!

Florida Butterfly Orchid, (Encyclia tampensis

A young Chris and Misti!

Another giant airplant! A lot of these and some other species were ravaged by the bromeliad weevil for about a decade or so but from what I hear they seem to be rebounding.

Christmas Berry, Lycium carolinianum

More soon from other Everglades NP trips!