I traveled about 16 miles today.
Here is the entrance to our camp - right from water to jungle. We walked through water nearly the entire 16 miles and you can see our Spot track showing us moving very slowly. It took almost 10 hours to travel this far! I'd like to describe what it's like hiking in the swamp. Imagine you are walking through about 2 feet of fresh snow without snowshoes. Imagine you have 2lb ankle weights for exercising on. Imagine some kid left toys laying all over the floor. Imagine you are blindfolded. Combine all that and it comes close to walking through the swamp! You can't see the holes, roots, and rocks under the water. Silt fills your shoes and socks. The water up to calf or knee just wears down the muscles. But, I'm so glad I got to do this. It's just a spectacular area. Last night, we had owls hooting at each other between the cypress stands. Tonight, in our cramped, jungle campsite there are fireflies and hundreds of chirping insects. There are air plants all over. Tonight, there are 4 of us on the only small dry land around. Bennett hiked with us all day and we leapfrogged Joey a couple times. Us 3 and one other guy are here. We're totally wiped out and could barely put in the effort to eat. I guess that's about it. Oh, Bennett almost ran into a cottonmouth in the water while leading our gang. We really slowed down for awhile after that.