From Sea Turtles to Kettle Ponds: Blissful Summer Adventures
By Danielle Houck, Green Monkey Staff Writer
EcoAdventures in South Florida encourages you to explore the “wilderness playground” of the South Florida ecosystem. All summer they offer biking, canoeing, kayaking, snorkeling, Everglades Expedition trips, and “Miami 101.” Canoe through special places such as the Historic Coral Gables waterway, or secret parts of Key Biscayne where you can see great blue herons, spotted eagle rays, upside down jellyfish, starfish, and green iguanas among the mangroves. Pack your sunscreen and water bottles and have a blast. EcoAdventures also offers a kid’s summer camp.
In the summer season, if you are near the Florida coastline, an evening sea turtle adventure is not too far away. Night sea turtle releases at Crandon Park or Haulover Beach in South Florida are another popular program offered by EcoAdventures; you can join them as they take you to the beach and release Loggerhead hatchlings. The group will be able to watch the hatchlings start their journey out to sea. Only 1 in 1000 sea turtle hatchlings survive until adulthood. Because sea turtles are protected by the endangered species act, only staff can handle the turtles, but you can follow their progress at Sea Turtle Tracking. At this time, Fedex and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation are even joining forces to help transport sea turtles and their eggs away from where they could be affected by the oil spill.
If you travel to New England this summer, forty miles of pristine sandy beach, marshes, ponds, and uplands await you at the Cape Cod National Seashore Park in Massachusetts. Lighthouses, cultural landscapes, wild cranberry bogs, and kettle ponds are just a few of the park’s unique attributes. More outdoor attractions include shipwrecks, pitch pine and scrub oak forests, heathlands, sand dunes, and sandplain grasslands. According to the park website, many of these habitats are globally uncommon and the species that occupy them are correspondingly rare.”
If you would really like to beat the heat, visit a place that collects 45 feet of snow annually. In the summer the temperatures hover in the 60’s. Crater Lake National Park has the U.S.’s deepest lake at 1,943 feet. Fishing in this ultra clear blue lake for trout and salmon is a favorite summer pastime. The surrounding cliffs are nearly 2,000 feet high, providing gorgeous hiking and awesome views for those fortunate to be near this Oregon treasure.
Find more summer outdoor adventures you will be sure to enjoy at the U.S. “Find-A-Park” website.
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