The Everglades is All Wet
Thanks to recent heavy rains in South Florida, the Everglades is flush with water like it hasn’t been in a long time. What does it mean to hikers? Closures! I was down there in Big Cypress for Labor Day Weekend and the water was already waist-deep on me in places that are normally knee deep. I can’t imagine just how deep things are now. Here’s two alerts I came across in the past day:
“The River of Grass is flowing” Water levels at Shark Valley may impact your visit…. Essentially, the paved road is underwater so the tram isn’t running as often, your bicycle needs water wings, and hikers will share the road with the all-too-feisty ‘gators. Read more…
Water is flowing over Loop Road. Don’t even THINK of driving to the southern terminus of the Florida Trail until it recedes or you may find your Toyota in the canal with the rest of the wildlife. Here’s the official alert.
Meanwhile, enjoy the wet wilderness while it lasts … and take a snorkel!
October 10th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
You know it’s high water in the Big Cypress when the wetting front has moved into the pinelands. You can also see a graph and photos of the high water in Big Cypress National Preserve at The South Florida Watershed Journal.
October 13th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Huhhuh!
I got to within a quarter mile of the terminus during Labor Day weekend before I chickened out. Don’t try it. In some spots water was going over the hood of my Honda Element, I gave some Jeep guys a good laugh!
The water is flowing hard! At one spot I really though we were going to get rushed off the road.
My poor Element got a workout….be warned!
October 21st, 2008 at 9:10 am
Thank you for the very useful information. I wrote about the everglades recently too. I didn’t realize the water levels were so high.
October 29th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Good warning for all the hikers out there! Here in Europ, we even got snow today in some countries.