Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve- Fort Myers, Florida

Today we went for a walk in a nature preserve. It was a lot of fun. There were birds, gators, and wild pigs. This particular place has elevated walkways and they go into the preserve for a mile or so. The walk was extremely pleasant. We got there too late for the guided tour, they end at 1:30 during this season, but we did have a paper guide that matched up with numbers through out the trail. The numbers gave explanations to the things we saw through out the persevere. The park is open from dawn until dusk.

The one thing I really wish is I would have brought some binoculars, but I did use my phone to zoom in and see interesting things. The path is great for walking, but there are several spots to just stop and listen to the forest and several benches throughout.

It's a very unusual kind of forest, especially for people that are used to seeing northern forests full of pine trees and maples. I found it strange to see palm trees mixed in with the cypress, but that's probably because I'm not used to seeing them. There were also bright pink spots on some of the trees. It looked unnatural, but it's not, it's actually part of the bark, it's a lichen that lives off the tree.


There was a lot of wild life to see. We saw wild pigs, a gator, and tons of birds. In fact because we got there before dusk we saw the birds fly into the island to roost. There were a ton of white birds that hang out in the trees.  On any given day you can see all sorts of animals in their native place, sometimes there are river otters, bob cats, deer, or even bear.  Due to the fact that it is a nature preserve, and a little like taking a walk in the woods, you get what you get. The animals don't just show up like a zoo.

                                                                                                                                 It's kind of nice viewing wild life like this, because you never really know what you get to see. We heard the pigs before we saw them. We could hear them breaking sticks, snorting, and the splash of their hooves in the puddles. The gator was getting some last minute sun in by the edge of the lake, he or she was sitting peacefully half way in the water.  The animals enjoy this preserve and so did I.

This is where we went:

http://www.leeparks.org/sixmile/