Florida Day Six. Key Largo . No Mosquitoes And Little Wildlife In The Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park

When I woke up  Thursday morning in Key Largo I knew I was  going to hike in the  Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park.   However, I was undecided where in this 2500 acre park I was going to hike. .  .  Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock  is the largest remaining West Indian tropical hardwood hammock in the United States. 84 species of protected plants and animals can be found here. I finally decided to drive out to the more remote area of the park  and hike the Nike Missile Base Trail  on old Highway 905. It is about 13  miles north  on Route 905 from my hotel.

I believe this remote section of the  Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park  was once part of the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.  When I first hiked here I had to get a back country hiking permit from the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park  office  in Key Largo.   The permit is no longer required but there is still a $2.50 fee which can be paid at the park office or by credit  card on the internet. The park is  known  as a  home to snakes, crocodiles, bird,  rare butterflies and mosquitoes.  I have seen all of these except the crocodiles on my previous hike.    In 1965, a few hundred yards from the entrance  a radar station for a Nike missile base , known as HM 40    was built  here after the Cuban Missile crisis.

It was another cool and partly cloudy morning when I arrived and began my hike on the abandoned highway , now overgrown with trees. At the  start of of the trail most;y  buttonwood  and American hornbeam trees grew over the trees creating a thick canopy of branches and  leaves.

The first thing I noticed was there were no mosquitoes or other insects swarming me as I walked along the trail.   There was also no birds or the many butterflies I have seen on my previous hikes. I also would see hundreds of snails and spiders on this trail. But not this year, like in the Everglades , the cool dry Winter had completely eliminated the mosquitoes. And there was little other wildlife active because of  the cool weather.

I found some West Indian mahogany  pods along the trail.

I try and identify the many plants every year when I visit the sub-tropical hammock,  but I usually forget them when I return a year later.  I did remember the  bright green wild coffee plants that grew along the trail.

After about a 1/4 mile I walked past the guard post and entrance to the old Nike Missile base. I imagined  how busy  the base must have been during the Cold War  the 1960’s.  I had provided more information on the base in previous blogs and they could be found using the search tool in my blog archives. I continued on my hike, disappointed I was not seeing any bird or butterfly activity on the trail. I came to the large rocks which marked the start of a side trail that led to the Florida Bay.

I usually see hundreds of snails, and snail shells on this trail. On this hike I only found one.

I walked under the shade of  the large mahogany, gumbo-limbo and other trees  along the trail.

As I neared the bay the woods opened up,

and I was walking under now mostly clear blue  skies in the early morning sun.

I usually see ospreys perched on the branches of the dead trees along the trail. There were no ospreys but I finally heard and saw a few white eyed vireos,

and saw this gray squirrel watching  me from a branch on a tree.

As the trail approached the bay I observed a plant I am very familiar with, the  bright green succulent saltwort plants that thrive in the poor, sandy and salty soil along the ocean.

The trail was wet and muddy here in past years  but this year it was dry. The trail continued into a thick grove of red and black mangrove trees.  Here it was also mucky and muddy and littered with floatsom and jetsom from the ocean.

This year it was  much drier and I was able to see,  for the first time, the Florida Bay, on the trail.  I was careful since this was crocodile habitat.

I left the bay and hiked back to the main trail. I still wasn’t seeing any wildlife to I decided to hike out to where another side trail led to a wetland.  I had seen water fowl and migratory birds on previous hikes.  I was hoping there would still be water in the wetlands and I might see some bird activity.

I walked past sea grapes ,

and Florida thatch  palms as I neared  the wetlands.

The wetlands were considerably lower than on my prior visits.

The tangled roots of the mangrove trees were visibleand large parts of the wetlands were just dried mud.

There was some water in the distance but no water birds were wading in it as there were on my past visits. A few white ibises flew overhead.

I also saw this prairie warbler in the shrubs around the wetland.

 

I was out over 2 miles and decided to end my hike and walk back to my Jeep.

On the way I didn’t  see any more bird.  The only wildlife I saw was t his dragonfly, I believe it is a brown skimmer.

I finished my hike,

and began my drive  back to Key Largo. On the way I stopped at Crocodile Lake Preserve

and walked into the butterfly garden.  I have photographed birds and butterflies here on my previous visits to Key Largo.  There were  no birds here this year but did I see one butterfly, I believe it is a Julia butterfly.   Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web site  with some more photos from my morning   hike in  Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park . Florida Day Six. Key  Largo Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park  morning February 12 2026.

 It was now late morning and I had hiked over 4 1/2 miles and I was hungry. I stopped at the Hideout Restaurant where, although it took awhile, a had a  delicious breakfast.   I always enjoy the food and view of the Florid Bay here.

I returned to the hotel and again spent some time on my balcony overlooking  the marina. . I also edited some photos until late afternoon when I decided to again visit Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park.

This time I visited the  section of the  park that was once a failed 1980’s  residential  condominium development . Local environmentalists purchased the  land in the failed development for the State Park.  It is located about 1/2 mile north U.S Highway One.

The sun was getting low in the western sky when  I walked under the trees of the hardwood hammock.

I took the new trail that led to the Florida Bay.

I often watch the sunrise here. And,  as usual I find double crested cormorants either swimming in the bay,

or perched on poles in the water of  the bay.

I left the bay, and the cormorants and walked on a trail along a canal. When I first hiked here 10 years ago there were almost no trees along the canal. Now poison wood and white mangroves completely  obscure the trail.

The trail continued between the hardwood hammock and the groves of mangroves along the bay.

Both red,

and white mangrove grew along the  trail.

The trail continued to a wetland that is closed  many years because of flooding. Not this year.

There  was only dried mud on the trail.

I walked through the mangroves ,.

and came to a pond where I have seen white ibises in the past.

. The water was low, exposing the shoots and roots of the mangroves. There were no ibises or any other birds either.  And, thankfully no mosquitoes, no a one.

This was very unusul.  The trail left the wetlands and entered the hardwood hammock . Here, in the past, I encountered swarms of mosquitoes.

It was very quiet walking under the tall trees in the woodlands . The woods were becoming dark and the sun was setting in the west.

I walked past the gumbo-limbo  and poison wood trees. I had planned to only hike a mile but I as usually I enjoythe peace and quiet of  natue and had hiked another three miles when I finished my hike late in the afternoon.  Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web site  with some more photos from my afternoon   hike in the Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park . Florida Day Six. Key  Largo Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park afternoon  February 12 2026.

I was hungry again. One of the advantages of walking a lot is I can eat a lot too. I returned to the Num Thai Restaurant again and hade another delicious meal, this time  starting with  tom yum seafood soup and ginger salad,

and sushi for my main course. I returnedto my hotel and spent another quiet night editing photos and retiring early. I wanted to get in one more hike before moving on to a part of Florida I hadn’t visited before in Sunrise on the edge of the Everglades west of Fort Lauderdale.

“Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence, and nothing too much.”  -Ralph Waldo Emerson