Greg & Camille Go Bike

Today started pleasantly enough with a predawn stroll to 7-11 for some breakfast and coffee (on the house). Back in the hotel, we spent some time discussing our route for the day. We'd originally planned to take the ferry from Key West to Marco Island, but that ferry didn't run until January. Fort Myers Beach is a fair bit further north and we hadn't yet decided on how to update our route.

On review we had two options. Option 1 stayed mostly on roads following US 41. We'd heard the section of US 41 through the Everglades would be fine, but didn't know enough about the sections near Fort Myers and Naples. Option 2 had about 20 miles through state parks and we'd heard there was sometimes flooding. We called the Picayune State Park office and were told that flooding wasn't currently an issue in the park. Option 2 seemed both safer and more scenic so it was an easy decision.

Leaving Fort Myers Beach, we biked through barrier islands along the coast enjoying a mix of sidewalk biking, dedicated bike lanes and acceptably wide shoulders. Most of the early day felt like pretty typical beach side city/town with all the touristy attractions you'd expect. At Bonita Springs, we stopped to replenish food and tried to savor our last expected Aldi's of the trip.

After biking alongside US 41 for a bit we turned off just before Naples. While passing through a touristy shopping district we stumbled through an auto show featuring tons of intereting cars, both exotic and antique. We snapped some pictures while passing through, but didn't have time for more. We flew for the next couple hours, following a mostly continuous bike lane along the side of a local highway. The road was cleanly paved and we could feel it. We averaged 17-19 mph in this area and it felt really easy.

Just after noon, we stopped for some lunch at a neighborhood bus stop. We enjoyed some dried mangos, apples and other treats before continuing on. It turns out this bench was just before our route passed over Alligator Alley (the interstate through the Everglades) and into the Picayune State Forest. This was the last stress free part of the day.

Entering the Picayune State Forest, our surroundings quickly seemed pretty desolate. We didn't see anyone for at least half an hour. The road was very poorly maintained with dirt roads, patches of sand, lots of random pits and large rocks everywhere. There were islands of pavement intermittently, so it may have been fully paved once long ago. We passed a couple cars along this stretch and even they appeared to be moving slowly and cautiously, zig zagging to avoid the many rocks, potholes and sandpits.

At the entrance, there were warnings that this was Florida panther habitat. We'd entirely forgotten about Florida panthers and weren't really sure how much of a concern they should be. All we could recall was that they were the same species as mountain lions and mountain lions have been in the news on more than one occasion for killing people out west. The rational part of our brains told us that we're big (especially on our bikes) and making all kinds of strange noises. We wouldn't likely be something it would consider as prey. Still, every noise in the brush to our side left us a bit on edge.

After maybe 7 miles on this stretch we took a left onto another road that was pretty similar in character. There was at least a bit of vegetation closer to the road here providing some minimal, intermittent shade. The previous stretch had been pretty brutally exposed with oppressive heat and sun. On the other hand, more brush closer to the road just meant more opportunities for panthers to get close and remain hidden. Just as we were reaching a bridge to cross one of the canals, Camille called out. She had a flat and on further inspection also a broken spoke. We removed the spoke and while Camille swapped in her last tube, Greg spotted an alligator swimming around in the water below. We were pretty excited, finally seeing one after all this time in Florida.

We continued forward and before too long we started seeing ankle deep puddles in the middle of the road. We thought "maybe this is the area that's pretty bad when flooding is present". As we pressed forward the puddles started getting a little deeper slowly crawling up our shins. Not too far into this area we passed a truck coming through one of the deeper puddles. It was a park ranger. He seemed pretty relaxed but left us with a comment "it's pretty wet up there" and "be safe." If only we'd questioned him more, maybe we would have reconsidered. We were already at least 10 miles into the park and it felt like we'd passed so many obstacles already. Pressing forward, the pools kept getting deeper and eventually we were wading in up to our thighs. We're not sure at what point we should have known to turn around. The whole time we couldn't tell if it would be more challenging to press forward or turn around. We continued along like this for 2-3 miles, finally reaching the state forest.

The path from here was much more enclosed with a thick growth of trees on either side. To our left (upstream) was much more open and we were pretty often able to view the water. Periodically it would open up a bit more for an exposed bank and along one of these stretches, Greg saw a large alligator quickly scramble into the water followed by a large crash of water. We biked by and not too long after Camille shouted that she had another flat. We continued a short stretch to an area that seemed a bit more isolated from the water. Camille didn't have any more spares and we spent at least 40 minutes trying to patch her tube. Every time, we tried to patch a tube and swap it in, it would start to inflate and then we'd hear a gasp of air.

Eventually, with sun rapidly setting, we tried to jam one of Greg's tubes in there (meant for 28-32 mm tires rather than Camille's 25 mm rims). It worked for about a mile before bunching up and puncturing. We tried once more, but it failed after only half a mile this time. We didn't really have any great options at this point. Our navigation app still showed that we had 10 miles before leaving the state park and the sun was going to set in about 30 minutes. We resorted to walking bikes / riding slowly on the rim. Along the way we passed at least two more large alligators relaxing on the bank, one dashed into the water but the other just studied us as we pedaled by. We also periodically noted piles of what we were pretty sure were black bear poop mostly based on the size and that it was full of berries. An Everglades scat guide we found the next day later confirmed this to be the case. We were trying our best to keep calm but the next couple miles felt very anxious and tiring.

Eventually off in the distance, two figures slowly came into view. We excitedly approached and the hikers told us there was a parking lot 1/4 to 1/2 a mile further along. We raced to the parking lot and when we saw the path open up to an area more than 10 times as wide. We remember feeling so much more safe and secure. We set up at the picnic table and reassessed our situation. We tried calling a contact we had from Everglades City (Patty), but we still had poor/no service.

When the two hikers returned from the trail (we later learned their names were Jeff and Nicole), we approached and introduced ourselves. We asked if they could either give us a ride or maybe had a spare tube (they had bikes racked on the back of their car). They didn't have a spare tube, but agreed to give us a ride to Everglades City (where they were staying). We enthusiastically thanked them, locked our bikes to the nearby bench and climbed into the car.

The next 7 miles out of the state park seemed much more open than before, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad after all. While driving, Jeff & Nicole told us they were from Orlando and they liked to come out here for photography and nature watching. They'd starting out trying to see all the mammals in the area and were still excited to try and see a panther. They seemed to be pretty good at bird identification too, calling out a few along the way. On the way to Everglades City, we also got to see their car hit 100,000 miles. They came across as just very generous, humble and curious people and we're extremely grateful for the help. In Everglades City, we managed to find a hotel for the night, cleaned ourselves up and finally relaxed.