Gator Hook Trail and Loop Rd In Big Cypress

After you turn off US 41 onto Loop Road in Big Cypress National Preserve, you will come up to a trail head for the Gator Hook Trail on the left. I have passed the trail head many times before, but I had never stopped to investigate. After a bit of research, I had decided to hike hike the trail on my next trip down to Everglades National Park. The trail reviews didn’t promise much except to expect to get muddy and wet. The trail head had a handful of cars and hikers but i quickly left them all behind just as the trail reaches the first water crossing.

I was fully committed to getting my feet wet and was prepared so I walked right in and across. I found wet feet to be preferable to the ankle twisting obstacle course of using the logs as some sort of bridge across. After this point, the trail becomes more and more overgrown. It’s slow progress through the low hanging branches and muddy sections as I continued down the trail. I was expecting to see some wildlife and had my camera ready for any encounters. Eventually I made it to a interesting section of trail. The trail opened up a bit with rows of trees with a muddy path through the middle.

This was the point where things got exciting. As I was trudging through the mud, there was a noise from an animal that I could not identify. In fact, I still don’t know what it was and not only did I fail to record the sound at the time, but now i can’t exactly remember how it sounded. Since I was hiking alone, I decided to turn and make my way back to the parking lot. On the return trip I came across a few snakes, gators, and birds.

Following the trail back was easy and I took the time to get some photos along the way. Overall, the trail was easy to follow, but full of cypress knees, limestone holes and branches to trip over and with the thick brush I had to spend a lot of time bending and getting de-snagged from the branches. I probably wont return anytime soon,but I would like to get out there again and follow it to the end one day.