Day 4 Everglades National Park then to new rv park at Lake Okeechobee

 Everglades national park -- an amazing place!  And seniors get in free -- to all national parks --  with the senior national park pass.  Saved $30 entrance fee today!

We went on 2 trails in the park today -- the first one is called "Pa-hay-Okee" trail which means "grassy waters"                                    

                                            The Pa-Hay-Okee Trail head

                                                                                    

                                                            A young cypress tree -- lots of them here

                                                                                    

                                                This "grassy waters" area is a the Shark River Slough (pronounced similar to "plow") which is 8 MILES WIDE.  Interesting to read about -- see above.  It had a quiet beauty about it.

                                                                                    

                                                    We are sitting in our camper right now very near Lake Okeechobee which used to be the main source of the water for the Everglades traveling over 150 miles.  Now the Everglades depends on the summer rains because the Lake Okeechobee water has been engineered and diverted away from the Everglades.  See below:

                                                                                        

                                                                                        

                                                            Little yellow flowers popping up from the shallow water

The second trail we went on was the Anhinga Trail tour guided by a young park ranger.

We saw so much wildlife on this hour and a half tour:

                                                                                

                                                                                

                                                            A young Great Blue Heron.  The guide said that they will stand like a statue for hours until they spot just the right fish to spear with their beak.

                                                                                    

                                    The guide called out "Alligator crossing!"

                                                                A Purple Gallinule

                                                                                    

                                                            This one is snoozing with its nose right up next to the walkway.

                                                                                    

                                                            The guide said this one probably ate something recently.  I was questioning what he could have eaten that was so big -- and a guy said "There's a visitor missing."  !!

                                                                                    

We did see an Anhinga on the Anhinga Trail!   They are called snake birds because they hunt for fish underwater but when they come up for air only their head comes up out of the water -- like a snake.  The guide said that the Cormorant (all black in color) also dives under water to hunt but when they come up for air, you see the body on the water as well as the head.   Anhingas can soar in the sky like hawks and eagles.

Our new setting for our camper:                                                                                    

                                This is our view behind our camper now near Lake Okeechobee

                                Nice country setting with a big cypress tree shading us in the afternoon.

Tomorrow we will go to a Florida state park (no discount for seniors!) -- Highlands Hammock State Park.  (A hammock is a slightly elevated (2 feet maybe) "island of trees" in the watery prairie.