Six Mile Cypress 2026

We walked at Six Mile Cypress Slough last week. We visit this County Preserve at least a couple of times every year and I’ve posted about it almost as often. It’s a treasure that feels familiar — and yet different — every time we go.

Unfortunately, it has been extremely dry this year and the watery places that attract wildlife were either dried up or close to it. The pond above was much shallower than usual. I always hope to get the perfect picture of familiar birds but that didn’t happen this time. The collage below is a collection of herons from last year’s visits.

Great blue herons, night herons, and Little Blue herons frequent the Slough (in a good year).

ISix-Mile is located within Fort Myers city limits but it feels as if you’re in the middle of a wild place (except for the fact that you’re doing your hike on the well-built boardwalk shown above on the left.) There are several strategically placed “pull-outs” along the walk.

.We took advantage of this one in order to find out whether Henry David Thoreau was correct when he said “You learn that if you sit down in the woods and wait, something happens.” It’s good of the park volunteers to place that sign right here because by that point in our walk we needed to rest wait for something to happen.

While we “waited” we watched a couple of squirrels building a nest. They would stop to nibble on twigs and leaves as they worked. So Thoreau was proved right — something always happens.

There’s a welcome update as I finish editing this post that I started last Sunday.. That morning, it began to rain (with crashing thunder and lightning). The cooler, wetter weather has continued as I finish writing the post a few days later. We really need the rain in this area and we are grateful.

Linking this week to the following sharing opportunities. Thank you to the hosts.

SATURDAY CRITTERS; NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY;  SIGNS SIGNS ; and THANKFUL THURSDAY;