Pelican Preserve

Jungle Trail

Sebastian Inlet SP, FL: Rainy again this morning. We were going to take our bikes out since there are many miles of bike paths in this area. But the weather didn’t cooperate. At 4:00 it finally cleared and we drove up to the treasure museum. This area is called the Treasure Coast because of all the Spanish galleons that wrecked along this coast. According to my friend, Jack, they still find stuff being washed up on the beaches. The museum was just about to close but they let us go in for a few minutes. It’s pretty small, but still interesting. After that we drove over to the Pelican preserve which was established by Teddy Roosevelt in 1903—the first wildlife preserve to be set aside in this country. There are several trails to walk, but we just walked down to the Indian River and out on the boardwalk overlooking the river and the islands just off shore which are also part of the sanctuary. Then we walked back to the truck and drove down the “jungle trail” which is a dirt road that meandered through a pretty large uninhabited area and then through a very upscale golf community. Actually it was two golf communities—the road went right up the middle of them. But there’s so much vegetation I’m sure most of the people that live there don’t even know it exists. After meandering through these upscale communities it continued along the Indian River for quite a way. There were beautiful, upscale homes on one side and beautiful boats on the other. Then it would go through a patch of “old Florida”. A very interesting drive. Back to the campground and had grilled chicken for dinner. If it’s nice tomorrow we’ll probably take the bikes out.