Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park (FL)

If you ever get into the Everglades area, this is definitely a spot worth checking out. When I was in college we used to camp out on some of the private property within the park (it's full of old hunt camps and rickety cabins from the cypress cutting days).

There are tons of trails that follow the paths of the old logging trams and from what I understand the road and trail system has been updated and improved (not necessarily a good thing from my point of view). I also don't know if you can get away with camping there now. At the time I knew the park biologist and he told us to go to the private property areas - now I think things are more rigid.

Of course you can't collect here, but you never know what you're going to see. There are tons of alligators, cottonmouths (without a doubt the biggest I've seen anywhere), ribbon snakes, water snakes and various turtles in the sloughs and ponds. When you hike into the interior it really reminds you of a jungle. There are areas of dense bromeliad and tillandsia growth and the preserve has the most species of orchids in the continental U.S. It's a special place. I've been treed by a wild boar here and stood 20 feet from a very surprised, very large male black bear on a couple of the trails. We have seen fox, bobcat and played a bizarre game of chase with a pair of fearless otters along the canals. We have seen panther tracks there and heard them at night. There are huge native royal palms and 2,000 year old cypress trees that are really spectacular.

I would only suggest one thing - go between Feb-April or late Oct - December. The mosquitoes are epic in the summer months.

Have fun and let me know if you've been there or if you go!