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Picture Set [1], [2]
The Flamingo Visitor Center is on the southern tip of Florida. Hurricanes in the past ten years have
caused damage to this center and is still in recovery mode. A recreational vehicle site is open but a camping
site close by is still closed. This center is manned intermittenly, unmanned at the time of my visit.
The lobby was open and contained some informational displays.
Did not check out the harbor but one was open near the visitor center.
This family rented a canoe.
This building most likely was a registration office for overnight campers but has never been repaired
since a past hurricane. Buzzards have taken it over.
Leaving the center and heading back along the park road, I stopped at the Mahogany Hammock. A hammock is an
island of trees in the glades. The creation of a hammock also creates a hammock moat, as this one.
Walkway through the Mahogany hammock, I assume the tree leaning over the walk is a mahogany. Trees as these
support plant and animal life, act as windbreaks and prevent soil erosion. I know because an info sign says so.
Sign near this spot on the road states: Shark River Slough. This vast expanse of sawgrass is a shallow river.
Miles wide and only inches deep, fresh water flows pass here in slow-moving sheets, nourshing a teeming wildlife
habitat. Shark River Slough is even more significant for what you cannot see from the road. As it creeps toward the
mangrove forests and mud flats of Florida Bay, this sawgrass river filters out nutrients and is directly
responsible for the health of the bay's fisheries.
Near the spot were this picture was taken, a sign stated: Dwarf Cypress Forest, Elevation 4 Feet
A little further up the road, a sign read: Rock Reef Pass, Elevation 3 Feet.
It was stated somewhere the highest elevation in the park is 8 feet.
Another view of the Shark River Slough from the Pa-hay-okee Trail. At this point the slough is eight miles
wide. This picture is near a hammock so the water in front is probably a hammock moat.
Egret looks out over its land.
A view of cyprus trees as the sun sets.
The Pinelands Trail loops through one of the most varied habitats in the park. The plants
vary from cactus on high ground to the jungle tangle at the edge of a hammock.
Returned to the Anhinga Trail, my first stop, and this green heron was still hunting.
