Some days it’s buggy and some not. We had a few mosquitoes in the truck on the way back but they were squashed quickly. We all spray up anyway.
We rarely see any gators here. Not that they’re not there, of course. The WMA adjacent to this (Dupuis) seems to have more. There are ATV/mudding trails here so perhaps they have decided to hang out in the bigger ponds, etc. after being disturbed too many times.
Cottonmouths swim on top of the water with their heads up and they’re the only water snake to really worry about. It’s a bad idea to stand next to trees as they can hide around them.
I know a woman who was bitten just above her snake boot on the back of her knee.
We really do push our luck at these places. The first time I walked through a swamp was during my first Hobe Sound beach to Lake Okeechobee hike. The people I was with thought it was completely normal but I was freaking out. Got used to it.
What I get worried about sometimes is all the possible dread diseases lurking in the water- flesh eating bacteria, whatever.
I have never seen anyone out here in snake gaiters and rarely even snake boots. The boots don’t make sense for above knee water, of course. When I go out by myself in above-knee water I wear Turtleskin snake chaps. So far no one has seen me in them. They’d probably think I was being overly cautious.
There are ultramarathons held in these places where the runners run through the night. That’s insane to me.
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