Getting to Know the Big O - Lake Okeechobee

Hi Blog! Today is Wednesday, February 4, 2015. This is our first full day in Okeechobee, Florida. The big draw here is Lake Okeechobee - locally referred to as "The Lake" or "The Big O." Later today we will bike a section of trail around the lake. But first, we had to meet and greet some new neighbors. Just across the road from our rig is the RV park's fish cleaning station. No sooner had a fisherman arrived with his catch to clean than a family of storks dropped in.

After breakfast, we took off on our bikes. Here's our first look at Lake Okeechobee, the largest freshwater lake in the state of Florida. It is the seventh largest freshwater lake in the United States and the second largest freshwater lake contained entirely within the contiguous 48 states. However, it is the largest freshwater lake completely within a single one of the lower 48 states. Lake Okeechobee covers 730 square miles, approximately half the size of the state of Rhode Island, and is exceptionally shallow for a lake of its size, with an average depth of only 9 feet.

We went and took a closer look at the lake by walking out on the Scenic Pier built by the City of Okeechobee. It was pretty quiet out on the pier. Only a couple fisherman and a young family. We did get to see a few coots swimming about.

The lake is enclosed by the up to 30 foot high Herbert Hoover Dike built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after a hurricane in 1928 breached the old dike, flooding surrounding communities and claiming at least 2,500 lives. All along the top of the dike is a paved path which is part of the Florida National Scenic Trail and the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail (LOST). If you look to the left, you can see through the trees the Rim Canal which was formed when the Herbert Hoover Dike was constructed.

There are several RV parks located along the Rim Canal. Each park has a fish cleaning station. The locals like to hang out by the various stations in hopes of catching some scraps.

This gave us the perfect opportunity to get some up close and personal photos. Here the Great Blue Heron strikes a regal pose.

Next came the Great White Egret sauntering by.

The dike runs for 110 miles around the lake. Unfortunately, many sections are closed for construction work by the Army Corps of Engineers.  We started our ride by going east. In just 3-1/2 miles, we hit one of the construction zones. We tried to make our way around it, but it looked like it would be another three miles of road riding before we could get back on the canal. We decided to turn around and try our luck in the other direction. Here we caught a couple kids stirring up some seagulls.

Before long we came across this egret crossing the road. "Why did the egret cross the road?" you ask.

Well, to get away from the tourists in the air boat posing for photos with a gigantic alligator.

We rode for about seven more miles when we decided to stop for lunch next to the Kissimmee River. This is where the Florida National Scenic Trail leaves the LOST Trail and heads north to Kissimmee Lake. The trail changes from a paved path to a gravel trail. About a quarter mile from the lake we came to a gathering of snowbirds - storks, buzzards, herons, pelicans and egrets - oh my!

The Florida National Scenic Trail is a congressionally-designated, long-distance hiking trail that weaves its way across Florida from Big Cypress National Preserve in the south to Gulf Islands National Seashore in the western end of Florida’s panhandle. If we kept going, we would have ended up in Pensacola!

While the Florida Trail follows the Kissimmee River, it was difficult to actually see the river since the banks were tree and brush lined. We decided to turn around after about 3 miles. Since we did all the stopping and photo taking on the way out, we had a nice leisurely ride on the way back. Once we got back into the RV park, we found this Limpkin munching on snails along the banks of the canal surrounding the golf course.

After 21 miles of biking, it was time for the hot tub. Here is another gathering of local birds - in this case the species known as the Florida Snowbird. :)

We are expecting a full day of rain tomorrow, so we'll be baking some more honey oatmeal bread.