Laurie and Dylan, Dick and I went on the DuPuis Auto Tour this afternoon. It's a wonderful, varied, huge area which contains many different types of eco-systems. We didn't see any wildlife at all, doggone it - except for a couple of birds. But it was the perfect day for a drive, and we were fascinated with the variety of vegetation - many types of trees and shrubs. My favorite is the beautiful dahoon holly. It was a total standout in a sometimes bland landscape!
DuPuis Management Area
23500 SW Kanner Highway
Canal Point , FL 33438
561-924-5310
DuPuis is a 21,875 acre multi-use natural area interspersed with numerous ponds, wet prairies, cypress domes, pine flatwoods, and remnant Everglades marsh. The area provides miles of hiking and horseback trails, an equestrian center, graded vehicle roads, backpack and group campsites, and seasonal hunting. There is no fee for camping in DuPuis, which is on a first-come, first-served basis. There also is a group camping site off the DuPuis Grade.
Wildlife: Several bald eagles nest here. Herons, egrets, wood storks, and white ibis hunt for food in the marshes close to the road during the wet season. Look for white-tailed deer, wild hogs and turkeys around dawn and dusk.
Dick discovered that there were caches in the park, and with our three teams we couldn't miss! Dylan is now a member by himself and his caching name is Zoroan. We found two caches - my favorite was the Shell Lake cache at the fishing pier. I've never seen such elaborate wasp structures as these mud dauber "buildings". We all searched and searched - and it was quite a thrill when Laurie found it!
Found it 01/15/2012 You found [Traditional Cache] Swamp Monster
Riding with the sharkie crew on the Dupuis road tour and a close cache popped up. A short walk and a quick find. signed the log, took a tea bag and left a fire truck. TFTC
Sharkie Crew searching for the swamp monster:
Found it 01/15/2012 You found [Traditional Cache] Shell Lake Visit Log We were out for a ride with sharkiecrew and zoroan this afternoon. Their goal was to share and show this beautiful park to us. We enjoyed the road tour, came to the finish and resolved to find the cache at the end. Four pairs of eyes searched low as well as high with out success. We poked and prodded numerous mud dauber nests without finding either insect or cache. The Basswoods had reached the end of their rope when Mrs. Sharkie said, "Here it is" Thanks to Gator Man for the cache and to Mrs Sharkie for the find.
What a pleasant afternoon we had!
For dinner we went to Lola's Seafood Eatery - it's a great little place - emphasis on the little - with great food.
