Triumph of Gandolf the White Sandy Beaches

Miles: 6810.4
Gallons Burned: 231.8
Caffeinated Drinks: 37

I don't know why I went with that particular title for this post but lets roll with it. I have recently watched the Lord of the Rings cycle and listened to the Silmarillion.
Right now I'm sitting on a pier at Flamingo Bay in Everglades National Park. Hi Everbody!

Yeah it's sunny and 75...aahhh. There are Pelicans lazily preening. A little while ago three Manatees floated by followed by two canoes of Korean tourists. Across the bay, there are three American Crocodiles (not Alligators) lounging in the sun. There are even vultures circling over head. It is a very cool place.
Enough about the present, lets go back to my time at St. George's Island State Park in the Panhandle of Florida.
This SP is a barrier island on the West side of Florida facing the Gulf of Mexico. The island is about 12 miles long and at its widest is about 1 mile across. Only the northernmost 2 miles of the island are inhabited (mostly by timeshare condos), but the other 10 miles are wild. The gulf side is veiled in pristine white sandy beaches. In 2003 and 2005, this place was named the best Florida State Park (the only park to win twice).
You enter the park from the northwest end of the island, and drive 4 miles southeast to reach the campground. The campsites are shielded from the wind by 30 foot tall dunes and these thin pines.

There once was a road that went further, but recent hurricanes destroyed that road. The average height above sea level in the SP is onlyu 3 feet.
I entered the state park at about 2:30pm and paid $79 to spend 3 nights. As soon as I pulled the car into the campsite, I loaded up my back pack and set out due southeast.

As the sun approached the horizon, I had traveled 5.75 miles coming within 3/4 of a mile of lands end. I turned back and returned to the camp well after dark.
That night I watched Twelve Monkeys for the first time on the netbook. I really was amazed and impressed by the movie's premise and the great acting of Brad Pit.
After waking up late and eating steak and eggs, I set out again all decked out in my boots, shorts, T-shirt, rain jacket, and towel (I read A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, so I always have my towel). I again made progress up the 6 miles of windy white sand towards lands end.


The sun was out and in full glory making the high about 65 degrees (that's Fahrenheit for my followers from my native land of England). This is a little of what I found when the island ended.

Someone created a heart shape out of shells (about 15 feet across).



I decided to make a bonfire so I collected every mite of driftwood along a full mile of coastline. After the two hours of hunting and gathering, I had a modest assortment (there just wasn't much to be had and 1/3 of the wood I did gather was wet wood).
While I waited for darkness to fall, I scouted around and found a partially wind shielded place hidden behind some large sand dunes. I built the fire there.

Before lighting the pile, I walked around the perimeter. I noticed a large swamp no more than 35 paces from my fire-to-be. As the sun hit the horizon, the sounds began...
Remember in the Fellowship of the Ring when the Orc drums slowly started up after Peregrin Took knocked the bucket and skeleton down the well in the Mines of Moria? Yeah it was kinda like that. Fwwiptth...Crooonnk...EeeoWWWaaak...
Over and over. Sometime so close I could swear whatever had made it was right behind me. Other times far away. There were at least 20...No more like 30 "things" out there making that same sound. Whatever they were some of them sounded pretty big. Occasionally I would hear some snapping and crunching as some of the sparse dune grass was smashed by one of them.
Lets review the situation shall we:
1) I am the only person in 6 miles
2) I have a knife
3) After calling Ethan, Cassie, my Grandpa, and Sam (I'll get to that conversation in a moment) my cell is about to die
4) This is my first time in Florida, I don't know the wildlife, or how to respond to any aggressive wildlife
5) I have plenty of batteries for my Maglite flashlight
6) Maybe the "big" fire I'm about to lite will scare away the Nocturnes, or attract them
7) I will need to sleep at some point, closing my eyes to the potential dangers around me
What should I do? I don't know, so I called Sam.
Following the usual pleasantries, I asked the innocent little question, "So Sam...what do alligators sound like?" She and Lili (1,900 miles away, wow ain't technology great) proceeded to find out. According to youtube.com's assorted videos they hiss a lot, they can cough on occasion, and during mating season (which runs FEEBRUARY- May) they call out frequently in sort of the same way as phoneticized above. After thanking Sam and receiving her advice to leave, I lit my fire.
The first box of matches failed to successfully light the pile. Similarly the second box fail also. even the most dry wood I found was not kindling, and the partially blocked gusting wind didn't help. So being the kid who lasted exactly 2 hours in Boy Scouts (long story), I was prepared. On this road trip I have taken to carrying a road flare with me on all my hikes. It has now come in handy twice (remember the Joshua Tree Episode?). With the help of the 2,000 degree (again Fahrenheit) torch, I lit the pile and settled in for a long night.
All of you with experience with Alligators probably are laughing at me for being scared of them, but I live in Seattle. We have garter snakes and salmon as the most dangerous beach related wildlife. My experience with diamondback rattle snakes and brown bears (fun stories about both) didn't prepare me for that night. Each time I heard some snapping grass, I charged over the hill separating me from the by now roaring swamp. I think Alligators' eyes glow when hit with a flash light, but I don't know. Each time I charged over I saw eyes, but due to the dense grass and low brush, I couldn't tell to what the eyes belonged.
I also saw three sets of these. The front two scrapes near the flash light are claw marks. To the untrained Seattlelite, this print and the 5 others like it look Alligator-ish. There is no pad imprint like a dog's print would have. The claws are visible, so it isn't a big cat. The tracks are bowed outward as I believe the gators are. And the prints are deep, indicating a lot of weight for the well muscled lizard. Additionally, the recent rain and unceasing wind erase prints very quickly indicating that these were left within the last 6 hours (wild guess, I'm an economist, not a forensic pathologist). The Maglite is a three-D cell and used for scale comparison.

By 11:30pm my supply of wood was gone, everything was on the fire. I was cold even wrapped in my stalking cap, jacket, boots, SHORTS, and towel. The wind just never stopped. I was so close to the fire each time it would snap, the flying embers would land on me. Yeah, don't wear shorts if you stay the night out under the stars.
At midnight all that remained was the glowing core of the fire. I decided to leave not because I was afraid of being eaten by a gator, but rather because I didn't want to crawl the 6 miles back to camp hurt. It'd be embarrassing. Remember my cell is dead so I'd have to get help instead of help coming to me. Next time Superbowl Sunday!
Man I need an editor more that Neal Stephens!!