On the Boardwalk

It's a chilly winter day here in North Fort Myers so sitting outside isn't very pleasant.  So, it's time to take a hike.  

I'd been curious about the Eco-Preserve I saw one day while out and about, so we went there today to take a hike.

Seriously?  After the alligator warning you feel a need to keep people from jumping in the water?

After reading all the signs about what you cannot do we continued since we didn't seem to be in violation of any of the warnings.

The path is a series of boardwalks that take you out into the depths of where you would not be able to walk.

It is surrounded by a forest of white mangrove trees and I love the way their roots all intertwine.

There's just something magical and mystical about all those exposed roots.

We stumbled upon a group of ibis and egrets back on the end of one of the paths.

I was thinking it didn't look very deep, but this sign made me reconsider taking any short cuts.  You really wouldn't want to go into this swampy mix anyway as the odor of decay is quite strong.

Obviously Left Brain and I watch way too many murder mysteries because in no time we were discussing the perfect way to dispose of a body in the swamp.  It's bad enough we watch this kind of show, but we tend to read that genre of books as well.

Parts of the trail took you to open areas with lots of water and nice views of the city. 

We're not sure what the floating structures are.  We're guessing picnic areas for boaters as it's open on one end.

Near the entrance they have a Veterans Memorial with a reproduction of the Iwo Jima sculpture.  There is also an electronic billboard that flashes the names of the local men who died during wartime one name at a time.

It was a nice hike and we stopped at Wal-mart on the way home to pick up some cat food.  We would not DARE go home without it as we fed them the last can before leaving.  Talk about your murder mysteries, I can only imagine the terrors George and Gracie would instill if we didn't bring home their food.

After grilling some burgers for lunch I settled in to my computer work.  My plan was to do laundry, but I feel too lazy to deal with it right now.  Let me interpret that for you - I still have some clean underwear in my drawer.

Long Live the Queen of Hiking Camp Swampy