For those watching who also love Florida State Parks, we did visit this park a few weeks before The Florida Department of Environmental Protection announced their 2024-25 Great Outdos Initiative. While this park will not be affected, the initiative proposes further development at several state parks throughout Florida. Public meetings to discuss each park were initially scheduled almost simultaneously, but due to "overwhelming interest" the meetings have been postponed to find new venues to accommodate more attendees to discuss concerns. According to the Florida DEP X account, they want public feedback, so if protecting Florida's parks and natural habitat is of interest to you, be sure to keep an eye out for those meeting dates in order to share your feedback. Thank you so much for watching ❤
@@Explorcation Awesome 👏 we had been to the park in the past, but never went past the lakes. We were ecstatic to do the 6 mile drive and check out all the wildlife. Thanks for the inspiration:)
“Comin’ through, gators!” 😂 Not gonna lie, I’m with you Jamie - I’d be way too scared to brave this park in summer! Can’t believe how overgrown the trail was 😱 I’d be worried about ticks and chiggers, on top of the wild beasts- just constant anxiety 😅 Good thing you had e-bikes to race to safety if needed! That semi-abandoned cabin was a bit creepy too. Y’all definitely earned the after-trail treats!
😂 yeah I definitely was not gonna be the first one to drive through that super overgrown area. I agree that the cabin was a little bit creepy. Tics are definitely a concern when out on trails like that... thankfully we at least both remembered to bring our hats!
Dang that was a bit intense of a park! I may have to bike that but still I’ll know to expect some RUGGED riding conditions! Thanks for documenting it and putting yourselves through that 😅
Yeah, it was not quite what we had anticipated. We knew we'd have to deal with the heat and the inevitable afternoon storm... but the hornets and the lack of maintenance on the trails were both not so nice surprises 😂
😆that's what we get for going to the swamp in the summer, it sure wasn't the most relaxing day. We'd love to go back in the winter, maybe sign up for one of the swamp walk tours with "Friends of Fakahatchee". That would be a whole different experience!
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to comment. It makes us really happy to hear that you can enjoy watching our videos, even when its not somewhere you would consider going yourself!
Another entertaining adventure from you! 😃 Seeing your adventures always evokes beautiful memories of Florida. Hopefully we can visit Florida again one day. I saw the movie Adaptation, but it's been so long that I hardly remember. Greetings from Switzerland 🇨🇭
Thanks guys! We're always happy to here when our videos help bring back memories! We still have not watched Adaptation, but we're gonna make it happen one of these days!
This one is on our list as we are trying to video all 175 state parks. More to come soon! Great video and loved the Crappy Choose Your Own Adventure line. 😅
That is going to keep you busy for quite awhile! We do hope it is less buggy when you do visit this one...and that you don't have the CCYOA experience 😆
Thanks, Steve! It's definitely a bumpy drive. We've received few recommendations on the Loop Road since posting this video, so we'll definitely check it out next time we're in that area!
Thanks so much for watching, it would be a great place to go to look for orchids. We would highly recommend going when it is less buggy. I (Jamie) was hoping we'd have some time to walk more of the trails to try to spot the orchids, but it got too buggy too fast for us to to that on our visit. From looking at the park's website, you can book swamp walks with the "Friend of Fakahatchee" group and they will point out flora and fauna.
@%9F%98%80%F0%9F%98%80nel/UC5WSENwO7aWA5goA-rzBi2w I also enjoy a less buggy environment so will check this place out in the Florida "winter"! Love that they have a guided tour like that :)
That was interesting...not a place I'd like to go to because of the wild animals, but I enjoyed the scenery. And, since I've always had a fondness for dive bars, I loved seeing Gators Crossroad. Fun! 🙂
Well you may just have to drive down there to go to Gators then. Maybe stop by Everglades City and Goodland. There's some fun places around there where you won't have to risk a bear or panther attack!
Thank you so much for this one. Easy to see it wasn’t easy. Fakahatchee is on my FLA bucket list. Maybe because of the TV show “The Finder” but more likely because I love the swamp. You guys always find the best parts of Florida. Color me homesick and grateful.
Our pleasure, John. You're right, this one was not easy and was quite uncomfortable the majority of the time, but we're still glad that we did it! That said, next time we visit it will definitely NOT be in the middle of summer 😂
Yeah no doubt. It's the bugs that scare me the most... but a bear or panther encounter would definitely be a bit terrifying too. We should definitely invest in some legit bear spray.
Several years ago, we saw a rare Everglades mink ran across the main road., Also, in the winter is more busy. The east tram trail has a huge standing natural royal palms..
Wow that would have been an awesome experience. We saw them identified as one of the endangered animals that you could possibly see in the park, but we were not fortunate enough to see one. We can't wait to get back out on those trails during the cooler/drier season!
Live 45 minutes from park - yes a much better experience outside of summer - beautiful weather, no bugs & dry trails in winter with much more wildlife sightings. Try adjacent Big Cypress Preserve in summer (amazing in winter as well) as the roads are wide/high/dry. Gators in wild rarely have any interest in people as they are not typically fed by humans & have plenty to eat in their natural habitat - have walked around them many times in the wild (not what I prefer). A mama bear with cub(s) likely more dangerous to run into, as Panthers are rarely seen, especially daytime. Have fun exploring!
We figured the experience would be much better during the winter, but we appreciate you confirming. We definitely do hope to make it back down to Fakahatchee and Big Cypress when it cools down and dries up a bit! Jamie will definitely be glad to here that the Panthers are rarely seen!
Any plans to offer memberships? They're another way for regular viewers and fans to show financial support to you for your hard work! Thanks for braving the wild, so we can see the great sunshine state!
We've thought about doing something like that, but aren't sure what type of demand there is for it or what people would want us to offer to our members. It's good to know that there is interest though! Do you have any thoughts on what you'd like us to offer our members if we do start offering memberships?
@@Explorcation Some channels use YT membership's for special access to things like your discord server, special channel emojis, and member only videos. Just a few examples. 😀👍
Awesome video, sorry about the bug bites, but definitely a top notch video. That beautiful colored “Grasshopper” bug, is an eastern lubber, and they wreck havoc on our plants! 🥵😤
Yeah, we were decently aware of what we were getting ourselves into when we planned this one, but were still a little surprised by the amount of hornets and poorly maintained trails. That said, we still mostly enjoyed ourselves and a bit of adversity always makes for a better video! Thanks for watching.
If you want to see Gators and possibly other Wildlife under more safe conditions, you should go to Shark Valley in Everglades National park. It's a very popular Boardwalk area where people bike ride and walk and commonly see alligators on the trail.
Im.glad that you moved on from the hornets.. those things are pretty hateful when you encroach on their territory! Why was that Park so desolate!? Kinda scary. Glad you made it out alive 😊 Great video! Love ya! ❤
Ahh good to know. That stuff we have is probably pushing 4 years old... I did test it out before we left for the trip though. Sprayed a little in the kitchen sink... even that was enough to make me sneeze about 10 times and for my eyes to water... so I'd say it still works 😂
Hey Freddie! So this may actually be my favorite comment we've ever received on this channel. Here's why. At the very end of this video when we stopped by Gator's Crossroad, this song was actually playing. Jamie was vaguely familiar with it, but I was not. When I realized the song was about Florida, I looked it up and realized it was John Anderson, who I knew of from one of his other songs (Straight Tequila Night). Anyways, we've both been fairly obsessed this song ever since. It really is a sad, but awesome song. If we hadn't stopped by Gator's Crossroad I still would have not known anything about this song until I read your comment, so thank you!
Adaptation is one of my favorite movies. I read the book first. The movie is rated R (for several reasons, kind of raunchy) but it is very good, nonetheless. The movie is a different storyline than the book. I recommend reading the book first because the book is actually about the orchids and the place you visited from a series of essays published in the New Yorker magazine, which were serialized into the book The Orchid Thief. Adaptation is a movie about the author of the articles and the actual orchid thief, and about the screenwriter who gets hired to write a screenplay about the book, (hired to adapt the book The Orchid Thief into a screenplay.) You definitely want to read the book first or the movie won't make much sense. The movie shows a lot of Florida. You'll like it.
Thank you so much for taking the time to watch our video and write this comment, Lisa. We were already excited to watch the movie after our visit to Fakahatchee, but now were are even moreso! We still haven't found the time yet, but guess that's a good thing since we need to read the book first!
Yeah... we had a decent idea of what we were getting ourselves into, although we were still a bit surprised by all the hornets and the poor condition of the trails. We knew it would be uncomfortable either way, but figured it would probably make for an entertaining video!
We've only done the ones at Myakka River state park... but those are the big slow ones. We're definitely interested in doing a smaller/faster one in the Eveglades sometime, but haven't gotten around to it yet. If you find a good one, let us know!
Hold on ! Wait up! Emergency! Developers want to put in some golf courses! Yeah it's a bunch of non-elected officials want to allow developers to install golf courses, hotels, and pickleball courts. Help Florida stop the department of environmental protection agency from destroying our state parks!!!!
This was a most unappealing adventure. Lol. But I have experienced much worse. Luckily you didn’t brush up against any sawgrass on that trail as you zipped by.
If he was a fascist as you suggest there wouldn't be public meetings planned they just would've done it and/or ignored court orders as Biden/Harris have done for the last 3 1/2 yrs.
