We hiked around 8 or 10 miles today. I keep meaning to wear my pedometer! This preserve has a lot of different biomes because of a heavy clay layer, the low elevation and plenty of rain. We spent some time in the bayou where there were huge bald cypress, tupelo, and magnolia that were 80 feet tall. I always think of magnolia as a little ornamental tree. Not here. The area gets its name honestly, the undergrowth was very thick and there were birds everywhere. Unfortunately, I probably didn’t identify 10% of what I heard. Fun trying though. There were supposed to be wild pigs. We saw where they had been rooting but didn’t actually see any. It’s kind of like hiking where there are bears. You sort of want to see them but are also a little relieved when you don’t. There are five or six more units to this preserve and we didn’t even hike half of the trails in this one. It is a place we will return to one day. Not in the summer though, the mosquitoes have got to be dreadful then and with the humidity and still air in the thicket I can only imagine how miserable it could be in about July or August.