Florida Day Three. A Long Day : Hikes On The Aerojet Road, Snake Bight And Guy Bradley Trails.

It was another clear, cool morning when I awoke in Florida City on Monday morning, the third day of my yearly  trip to South Florida.  Temperatures were in the 40’s again. I was headed to Flamingo , a  former fishing village, in the southernmost point in the  Everglades National Park. First I was going to hike on the Aerojet Road Trail before I left for  Flamingo.

The Aerojet Road was built as an access road to  the large Aerojet-Dade  facility that was   built to develop massive solid-fuel rocket boosters for the Apollo moon mission.  The massive rocket engines would be transported to Cape Canaveral by the Aerojet Canal . The project was discontinued and the abandoned road is now a nature trail.  ( there is more  information on Aerojet facility in my previous blogs which can be accessed with the search tool).

I was the first one at the trail and began my hike in the cool morning air. The rays of the rising sun illuminated the common reeds and giant wild rye on the side of the trail.

And I heard a lot of bird song in the reeds and giant rye grass so I walked over and found a northern mocking bird singing in the early morning sunshine. Followers of my blog would know these birds were one of my dad’s favorites and always remind me of him and the love of nature he instilled in me.

There were a lot of other birds singing and foraging in the reeds. I was surprised to see swamp sparrows here. It was my first sighting  of these migratory birds that I see in the wetlands near my home in Northeastern Pennsylvania in the Summer.

Northern cardinals, male

and female fluttered through the reeds.

Noisy gray catbirds and

white-eyed vireos also sang in the reeds. The white-eyed vireos was the most common bird I heard on my visit this year. They  are an elusive bird and hard to photograph. 

As I noted  in my previous blogs it was very dry in Florida this Winter. Many of the plants and wildflowers were withered and dry. However there were  many invasive Brazilian pepper tree berries growing in the reeds and   attracted the many birds I saw at the start of my hike.

A broad shouldered hawk landed on the utility wires above the trail.

The trail took me to Lucky Hammock a small island of hardwood trees in the surrounding agriculture fields. Over 220 species have been seen in this hammock.There  weren’t a lot of birds on this cool morning.

I only saw a few palm warblers and ,

yellow rumped warblers.

I continued my hike  on the wide asphalt  trial,

and now saw a few birds perched on the utility wires above the  trail. including this red bellied woodpecker,

this pileated woodpecker,

a few red winged blackbirds and

European starlings.

The trail came to  canal that crosses the  Aerojet Road and continues along the  abandoned Aerojet road.  The water level was very low in the canal this year.

I usually see a lot of  wading birds here . On this hike I only saw this great blue heron ,

and this limpkin along the shores of the shallow waters.

A few great egrets flew overhead.

They trail continued through some  thicker woodlands with wax myrtle, coco-plum, poison wood, Florida strangler figs, false tamarind trees and many other shrubs and trees I couldn’t identify.

On hikes  in previous years here there not many  wildflowers blooming on the trail, npt this yea.  I did notice the false tamarind trees were covered with seed pods.

Sword ferns grew along the trail,

and a few royal palm trees towered  above.

The trail left the wooded area and came to  a  the large saw grass prairie  on one side of the road,

and the canal with cypress trees on the other side of the trial and canal.

I came to the  barbed wire fences and abandoned buildings of former  juvenile facility along the road.

I walked out about 2 1/2 mile when I came to this cross along the canal.

I have seen it on my previous hikes and there are always flowers placed on or around the cross. I often wondered  whether is was in remembrance of a misses pet or a family member or friend. And I wondered  why it would be out here in this desolate and remote location. Well, this year, while writing this blog, I did some research and learned it was where as young man named Jesus Trejo who was murdered here in 2013.  The 18 year old was shot in the head and his body fond in the canal where I stood and admired the beauty of this remote area. It is sad  such a horrible event occurred in this beautiful area. And sad the murder remains unsolved. Here is a link with a photo of the memorial shortly after the horrific event. My  condolences to the family of this poor soul. May his memory be a blessing to his family.   https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1500115776673566&set=a.206479977501773&id=100044193171067

I left  canal and cross, a place  that will always be sad  for me now. I would have loved to hike to the ruins of the abandoned Aerojet rocket facility, about anothe mile  further on the road, but I had to check out of my hotel  by 11 a.m. so I began my hike back.

It was a sunny pleasnt morning but I saw no one else on the trail except a person fishing in the canal.I also saw a couple of alligators in the  canal,

 and an eastern phoebe in the reeds along the canal. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web page with some more photos of the birds I saw on   my  five mile hike. Florida Day Three: Aerojet Trail birds .  February 9 2026.

I saw many  of the birds I saw earlier as I hiked back. I walked around Lucky Hammock again, hoping to see some new species of birds but thewre were none.  After finishing my 5 mile hike on the Aero jet Trail I checked out of my hotel and had my last breakfast at the Rarmers Market restaurant before starting my hour drive to Flamingo.Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web page with some more photos from  my  five mile hike. Florida Day Three: Aerojet Trail .  February 9 2026

I always enjoy driving to Flamingo. The drive takes you through many different eco systems, depending on the slight difference in elevation.I  I first  drove through a forest of pines trees.

As the elevation increased afew feet I entered  a forest of cypress trees. The highest elevation  on the drive was 4 feet above sea level.

As I approached Flamingo I drove past the Snake Bight Trail.   This is the trail I saw  the large  eastern diamondback rattlesnake a few years ago.

I decided to stop and take a short hike on the trail before continuing on to Flamingo. Well it didn’t turn out to be a short hike.   

I began my hike under the canopy  of hardwood trees growing along the trail. Black mangrove trees grew in the canal along the trail. I was very surprised that there were no mosquitoes.  On previous hikes I encountered swarms of moquitoes  on the trail.   It was asunny and pleasant  afternoon so I continued on the trail.

And I soon saw this green heron perched on a log in the canal. It made  me think I may see some more birds and maybe even  a rattlesnake on the trail. So I continued to follow the trail.

I passed a few other hikers  but only saw a few birds including white eyed vireos, northern cardinals, a northern  waterthrush   buit  was only able to photogrpah   of this black and white warbler because of the thick  vegetation.

I walked  under the canopy of trees, including my favorite gumb- limbo trees, and their bright red bark, which were common  along the trail

Air plants grew on many of the tree,,

and I found nickerbean pods  along the trail, the first I found on this visit to Florida.There were thousands of these invasive plantson my visit ayear ago.

I kept hiking and then decided to walk down to the bay.  The trail is not named for a snake bite but rather a  bight, a bay within a bay. The Snake Bight if a smaller bay in the Florida Bay at the end of the 2 mile trail.

They are usually flocks of  birds wading in the shallow waters  along  the bay. I was disappointed when I found the the water level low.  There were no shore t birds or wading  birds to be seen.  I had a nice chat with some folks who also made the 2 mile walk to the bay.

I walked past the spot I saw the rattlesnake and was disappointed there  was none this year.

It was a long walk back to my Jeep after my 5 mile walk in the morning. When  I finished this 4 mile hike  I had walked over 9 miles.

.I had an early 2:00 pm check-in at the Flamingo Lodge for 2 o’clock but it was almost 3:30 when I finally made it to the lodge and  checked into my room  along the Florida Bay.

The sun set around 6:00 p.m.  this time of year, and,  after  I editing  photos for a few hours I decided  to walk to the bay to watch the sunset.

The bay was a short hundred yard walk from the back of my lodge.  but, unfortunately, I could not see the sunset from this part of the Bay.

So, although I was tired I walked on the Guy Bradley Trail along the shore  hoping to find a location to watch the sunset.

It was another 3/4 of a mile hike until  I was able to finally find the setting sun near the amphitheater.

I had now walked over 10 miles and was tired and hungry.Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web page with some more photos of  my  four mile hike and sunset in Flamingo . Florida Day Three:  Flamingo  snake bight and sunset February 9 2026.

I walked to the restaurant at the lodge and had a very nice meal, a mahi-mahi sandwich with a black bean salad,and of course, KeyLime  pie for dessert. I finished my delicious meal and was ready for bed. It was a long long day was a long day.

It was a cool pleasant evening and I’ve walked back to my lodge. Unfortunately, after walking 10 1/2 miles I did not stay up long to enjoy it. I would soon to sleep. However, I did get up around midnight to take a peek at the skies from my deck. It beautiful night sky with Orion, CanisMajor and my birth constellation, Gemini clearly visible in a photo I took  It was a perfect way  to end a wonderful day in my second favorite place on the planet,  the Everglades.

 

“How they lived, or died, is quite unknown, / And, by that fact gives my grief purity” — Elizabeth Jennings

“If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.” — Laura Ingalls Wilder