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Lost in the GladesBy: Sean RyanWhat started as a brief walk in the wilderness for a Naples hiker soon turned into a harrowing ordeal. |
After a brief nap, I awake to see a large man, dressed in park-service attire. Ranger G. B. Wangerin explains to me that Wednesday morning, the ranger who had led Tuesday's aborted search-and-rescue effort had received a phone call from staff at the visitor center. An abandoned automobile, unnoticed yesterday when sandwiched between two large RVs, had been found. From the license plate the ranger was able to connect to a name and address.
A Collier County deputy dispatched to the address found no one who knew of my whereabouts. A new search began, including a plane, helicopter, three swamp buggies, a couple of ATVs and 15 people on foot.
Wangerin tells me that I walked 31 miles from the Tamiami Trail to Alligator Alley-about the distance from Naples to Fort Myers. He reviews with me the appropriate sign-in and sign-out procedure, then lets me down easily by admitting that three to four like-minded lunatics get lost in Big Cypress annually.
After Wangerin leaves, I'm discharged from my patient's bed. I take inventory: dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, exposure, substantial muscle destruction, swollen, tender, cut and bitten lower extremities and, perhaps, a sprained knee. I feel humble and thankful to have survived.
Some months later, Wangerin and I meet for breakfast. He tells me that something good has come from this experience. The National Park Service has put GPS coordinates at one-mile intervals along the portion of the Florida Trail that passes through the Big Cypress Preserve.
What a great idea! There are many adventure-seeking, absent-minded folk like me eager to experience wildly beautiful places like the Florida Everglades. As the Gulf of Mexico side of the Everglades becomes more populated, more will be enticed into this enchanting and perilous place. I'm grateful that the stewards of these wild lands are mindful of our safety even while preserving adventure for us and for future generations.
Sean Ryan, a physician's assistant in Naples, still continues to hike, kayak and enjoy the Gulfshore outdoors.
