Out in the Wild: Big Cypress National Preserve

Two Saturdays ago, Ma, Daddy-dog and I, along with a few other friends, went on an adventure to the Big Cypress National Preserve.  A friend owns a cabin out there and we were going to help repair it.

Established in 1974, Big Cypress National Preserve is about 45 miles west of Miami, Florida.  It is a 720,000+ acre preserve that borders the wet freshwater prairies of Everglades National Park and other federally protected cypress lands.  Within the preserve is the Big Cypress Swamp which flows water into the Everglades.

Although there are access points off the main highway to sightseeing and camping spots within Big Cypress, our friend's cabin is in the backcountry so we just drive on a dirt path through the wilderness to get there.

Since we headed there early in the morning, we got to see some of the wildlife that you would not normally see later in the day.  On the drive in we saw several white-tail deer and fawns, egrets and herons, and of course, alligators.  Big Cypress is also home to river otters, bobcats, the Florida Black Bear and the Florida Panther...none of which we saw on this trip.  We have seen a Florida Black Bear cub on a prior visit though!

The cabin is on several privately-owned acres and  it has electricity and running water but it's not turned on all the time since it is just a weekend cabin.  Even for a day trip like this one, we had to pack a lot of supplies and of course, tools to get the repair work done.  I was in charge of guarding the tools and equipment.

It was a long day but a lot of work got done.  I was quite exhausted from all the project  management so I spent most of the afternoon like this:

Do you go on adventures out in the wild?  

What supplies do you bring?

During the month of May, I will be reviewing some of my new outdoor gear - like that new hammock bed in the photos above!  If you are an adventure dog like me, be sure to look for my upcoming Outdoor Gear posts!