Dear Friends,
Well ... despite what the national weather might be saying it was cold down here in Florida today .... very breezy and the fact that I was beyond knee deep in swamp water on a field trip with with my twelve year old son might have added to the chill factor.
Radio Antenna
Anybody that has known me for a while has never had the thought "Hey, I bet she'd love to go down to a Cypress Protected Wetlands Sanctuary and muck around up to her eyeballs in mud and water" with 45 prepubescent kids! You see, I am what one would call a GIRLY GIRL. Perhaps a bit on the high side maintenance.
OF COURSE NOT .... No one thinks "Outdoor Girl" when they see me!
For heaven sakes ... my idea of hiking is the trip from the pool to the Tikki bar! But my son, Joe, and I did have anadventure today and it was one I will cherish forever because we did it together ...
Don't ever ask me to go again ...
But it was cherished ... ahem.
We left the school at 9:0 am-forty-five sixth graders, three teachers and two chaperons to bus driver that weighed in at about 350 pounds-Thirty minutes later we're south of Everglade City at Big Cypress Preserve standing in the sunshine with the other adults listening to the park ranger explain what to do with the children in case we see one or all of the following:
1. Bears
2. Snakes
3. Man Eating Panthers
4. Leeches
5. Alligators
6. Screaming Parent
I really didn't hear a word she said after she mentioned "Bears" but we were given the safety lecture nonetheless then told we would be hikingthrough the Cypress forest of the Everglades "first. I'm thinking "oooo how pretty"
"FOOL" is what I should have been thinking.
The rangers started handing out gallon buckets of "Deep Woods Off" and huge walking sticks-warning us to only walk single file and to not grab onto the person in front of us if we are going down ....
"Going down"? What does that mean? "
We hiked over the canal plug and saw our first gator. No fence, no protection between her and us ... she was just there on a rock about six feet away. I glanced at the 3 "diameter walking stick and quickly understood it was not for American my stride. That's when it hit me. "Holy crap-we are going in there for real! It's an honest to God swamp and we're going in! "
Surely they would not endanger sixthgrade children. I mean for heaven sakes it has to be safe. The park ranger joked that they'd only lost three kids this season and I shot her a dirty look ... well, actually it was more of a "don't make me go in there" look "but she got the message.
Twenty paces over the canal we were in waist deep water hiking through the swamp holding our walking sticks over our heads. Thirty paces into our walk the first kid went down-slipped on a rock. I knew my ticket would be called soon and I poked at the murky water before each step. Winding around roots and cypress knees and rocks was fairly cumbersome for even the seasoned rangers but we made it through the first mile to the field site to track a wild panther.
Yes, our mission was to track Florida panthers with radio collars and theirtracking antenna. We searched and followed the faint beeps from our equipment-all very cool but we never saw a panther. We did see some amazing wildlife through out the day and after I calmed down about snakes, bears and whatever else was in there with us we had a great time. I think I learned more than the kids. The Everglades is a fascinating, beautiful environment.
We tracked all sorts of animals, saw flocks of Egrets and Cranes-not just ten or twelve flying over head. FLOCKS as in hundreds! Yes we did see alligators but no bear (small sigh). When the day was finally over-we were two steps from getting out of the swamp and my son slipped on a rock and down under the water he went! He was really really mad because it was a long cold bus ride back. He got over itthough.
So, insofar as field trips go it was scary, exciting, exhausting and yes, even fun. Never want to do it again but for my son and I we will always have that memory together and we will always laugh about how scared I was and how he took a dive at the very end. We also made some new friends we are going to get in touch with over the summer-the volunteers (an older retired couple from Ohio-retired science teachers actually who do this every day .... for fun-go figure).
Sure I'd Love to Chaperon the Sixth Grade Field Trip Interested This:
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