2011/02/09 - Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, Okeechobee, FL

2011/02/09
Day 87, Camp 19 (5 nights @ $17.60 a night)
Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park
Okeechobee, FL

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IT was one of those days.!
Left Midway and drove north up FL-29, through Immokalee... shopped a little in La Belle, then headed east on FL-80 about 7 miles to Ortona Dam, Army Corps of Engineers Park, where I had made reservations the day before.
They couldn't find our reservation.
It WAS one of those days!
They finally found our reservation... but it was for March 9th... not February!!!
It was ONE of those days!
Dohhhh!
My fault or theirs, not sure... got a FULL refund/credit and headed on down the road. We had passed by a state forest campground out in the boonies... several miles to the east and south from La Belle. Stopped and called the state forest office. It was $10 per night with NO facilities other than a porta-john, not even any water. We were already 20 or 30 miles past that camp so we headed on north.
It was one of THOSE days!
Went east on FL-80 to Moore Haven, then north on FL-78 up the west side of Lake Okeechobee. We found FREE camping at Indian Prairie on the west side of Lake Okeechobee at a boat launch canal. Pulled in but decided not to stay as there was not even an outhouse!
It was one of those DAYS!
We drove up through Okeechobee and then N.W. on US-98 about 12 miles, then north on SR-700A to SR-724 and thus into Kissimmee Prairie State Park, about 165 miles total, Phew!
Kissimmee Prairie turned out to be pretty neat. Out in the middle of nowhere... NW of Lake Okeechobee... it's the 'darkest' place in Florida! (the least light pollution of the night skies). Even as a 'dry prairie', there was still water in some canals and ditches. A pretty neat environment... 54,000 acres and over 100 miles of trails! There are sites for equestrians... miles and miles of Palmetto sandy prairie, the campground is in a hammock of huge old Live Oaks. Got to see our first Crested Caracaras, Eastern Meadowlarks and White-eyed Vireo! Lots of Loggerhead Shrikes (didn't see any close-up), Palm and Pine Warblers, Chipping Sparrows, lots of Red-shouldered Hawks... also saw Bobwhites, Mourning Doves, Eastern Phoebes, Sandhill Cranes. Hiked quite a few trails. Met some neat folks... the most knowledgeable 'birder' I ever met and a lady into photographing moths, another into spiders and her hubby, into ants. They were working with the rangers, doing research in the park, cataloguing and photographing 100's of species... some never before documented. How fascinating.We enjoyed our 5 night stay.
BEST SHOWERS OF THE TRIP THUS FAR!!