Exploring Myakka

We woke up to much warmer temperatures. No heater needed tonight – it was chilly but a long sleeve shirt was all that was needed for the walk to the bath house. After a leisurely morning of coffee, bagels and cream cheese we walked down to the camp store area to try out the internet only to find out it was not working. We came back to camp read a while and then took off to the canopy trail where some scientists have built a canopy walk for studying the tree top life. It is about 2 miles from the campground. We hiked the ¼ mile to the site and climbed up to the 25 foot high walkway. It was well built and only swayed a little. Ben was right at home and enjoying the close up views of all the bromeliads. Jane made it across the 100 ft. swaying walkway tentatively but pleased she could enjoy it – even if for a much shorter time than Ben. There was a tower available to climb another 75 feet up but Jane passed that by and just took some photos from the ground.

We came back to camp, fixed lunch, read a while and then took off the other way in the park for about 3 miles to a bird walk area. There was a walkway built out into the lake probably 200 feet. From there many birds were visible including a bald eagle. The water in the lake is shallow – it appeared to be only about 4-6 inches in places. The tour that was available on the lake was on an airboat since the water was so shallow – but the birds loved it. The other wildlife we observed was the feral pigs (tame pigs gone wild). We say them in numerous places. We also saw a rabbit in his burrow near the walkway, many wild turkeys and a couple deer.

After the trip to the bird walk we tried the Wi-Fi again but it was still down. We hope for tomorrow as Jane wants to try posting to the travel log. We ate dinner, watched another beautiful sunset, read some, and will get another great night’s sleep. Last night we slept from 9:30PM until 7:30AM – unusual for us but I guess we needed it!