Thursday, January 28, 2021
Venice to Everglades City
We slept through breakfast yesterday, so this morning I ate double and filled my pockets with pancakes to take to Tom in the room. That works, right? Time to move on again. It's a two-hour direct drive to Everglades City from Venice, or a more interesting six hours for us.
In Punta Gorda we biked the Harborwalk, which runs along the shore of Charlotte Harbor. We started at the northeast end of the trail and rode to its end at Fishermen's Village, a touristy pier housing a resort, shops, restaurants, and a marina.
Charlotte Harbor, Punta Gorda
No animals were harmed in the taking of this photo
A short detour from the trail took us to a sculpture by Peter Wolf Toth on his “Trail of the Whispering Giants." Toth has erected at least one large sculpture honoring American Indians in each of the 50 states and several more in Canada. The 30-foot-tall, double-sided sculpture in Punta Gorda is named “Calostimucu.”
Calostimucu, on the Trail of the Whispering Giants
It was a blustery day in Punta Gorda, so we only ended up riding 5.5 miles, bailing on our plan to also ride the Linear Trail in order to get out of the strong wind. The Harborwalk path was nice but kind of narrow when passing pedestrians. It was still enjoyable, but it would be a hassle on a busier day.
What a tree!
Avoiding the interstate, we meandered south on 41, east on 74, south on 731 (which was an adventurous 10 miles of packed sand), and finally south on 29 along the western edge of Big Cypress National Preserve through the Panther National Wildlife Refuge and on to Everglades City.
Along our wandering route
Mystery carcas on County Road 731
At 4:45 we got a room at the Everglades City Motel. After making sure our room was acceptable (it was), we went back out without even unloading the truck first. If we'd arrived earlier, we could have explored by bike, but the sun would set shortly after 6:00, so we drove to see the limited sights.
The Ten Thousand Islands area consists of a few hundred small mangrove-covered islands and islets off the southwest coast of Florida, almost exclusively accessed by boat. We drove across the causeway from Everglades City to the end of the road on Chokoloskee Island (pop. 359), which is high and dry compared to the neighboring dots of land, with its highest point reaching a mighty 20 feet above sea level.
Southernmost point of Florida's southwest coast
Edge of the Ten Thousand Islands
Mangrove madness
Dilapidated dock
Returning to Everglades “City” (pop. 677), we went to the Ernest Hamilton Observation Tower for sunset. The tower has a self-serve entrance where you're supposed to pay $2 to pass through a turnstile, but the pay machine wasn't working and there was no one to ask, so we bypassed the turnstile and climbed on up the 108 steps to the top.
Ernest Hamilton Observation Tower
End of the earth
Tom at the top
The view from the tower of the surrounding flatscape was great, and not only did we enjoy a magnificent sunset, but an astounding moonrise as well!
Sunset behind the Ten Thousand Islands
Moonrise above the Everglades
I was warned on check-in that there are only two restaurants in the area that are open past 5 p.m. Conveniently, one of them was right beside our hotel. After unloading the truck and relaxing for a bit, we walked next door to the Island Cafe for a delicious pizza.
Tom
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