Day 11: Sunday February 1, 2026. Distance: 20 Miles to Tavenier, picked up by Monica to camp in backyard.
The big story of this day was the wind chill. I weathered the night pretty well inside my tent, but I did get pretty chilly by the early morning. My 50 degree quilt was just barely enough to cut it, mainly because I would guess it actually dropped below 50. The wind gusts barely touched me but I was a little worried about tree branches falling on me…but at least they were small. I packed quickly, wearing all my clothes for the walk. I made coffee and breakfast inside the toilet building, scaring the ranger when he popped in to check on things. I hope he didn’t think I camped inside, then again, I doubt he would have blamed me. I stopped to hang out in the ranger station for a few minutes, as it was the only building with heat. I never thought I’d seek out a building in the keys because it had heat. I marveled at all the weather apps, showing the extreme conditions. My relatives in Denver CO would enjoy warmer temperatures than me this day. I kept joking that it could be worse, I could be in Miami!
Back out on the highway, err, I mean “trail”, I rolled along into the blustery headwinds. The suns rays started to counteract the cold and I was pretty comfortable moving across the exposed bridges in my wind layers. I was so bundled up, I wondered what the people in the passing vehicles must be thinking. I got a reprieve from the harsh wind through Lower Matecumbe Key, enjoying instead the manicured houses and lawns I passed on this quiet island….I think it’s one of the least commercialized in all the keys. Then I stopped briefly at Robbie’s Marina to see if the tarpon were feeding on the tourist handouts. They were not, so all I saw were a bunch of cold and disappointed tourists standing around, wondering what to do next. It certainly wasn’t a boating or kayaking day.
I waved to Indian Key as I passed, hopscotching the Tea Table keys to the lower reaches of Islamorada. I found it ironic that there were so many historical markers and informational placards along this stretch, yet no place on the roadside for visitors to park! NO PARKING signs were aggressively placed every few car-lengths for over a mile, which just seemed absurd. Who besides a long distance walker like myself could actually read all these signs, as they’re meant to be seen by tourists driving by. I did find one really stupid sign among the informative ones. I can’t believe FL state parks wasted money on this governor-mandated nonsense when they’re already so woefully underfunded. Go fuck yourself DeSantis, you brown-nosed boot-licker.
But I digress to my other beef, which is the lack of access to the ocean in this area, given all the NO parking signs. It’s been a long-standing point of contention with the paddling community, as it makes it really hard to reach historic Indian and Lignumvitae Keys. Both are state parks and therefore ought to have some sort of designated access points for paddlecraft. Fortunately a new option opened up at the recently renovated Green Turtle Hammock Preserve, a nearby nature park which now has a small paddlecraft launch. I stopped by for a visit and was grateful to wonder around for a spell in some preserved green-space, with a mind towards outdoor pedestrian activities. In other words, there were some nature trails.
I also enjoyed a sandwich and coffee from Midway Cafe, after which I was about ready to call it a day. I couldn’t cover the distance all the way to Monica and Frank’s house, but Monica had graciously offered to pick me up however far I got this day. I made it to just past Founders Park on Plantation Key and called in the cavalry. I was so grateful for yet another favor from Monica, as not only was my problem of where to stay this night solved, I also had access to a second blanket from my car. As an added bonus, Frank and Monica treated me to a bonfire in their backyard, as well as a bottle of wine and dinner. What a wonderful homecoming!
Sadly it was not a pleasant night for the local iguanas. This being night 2 of the cold snap, I found several that were cold-stunned and on their way to being dead cold by the next morning. They can’t handle temps much below 50. Such a record-breaking cold spell as this probably took out tens of thousands throughout the keys and south Florida. Not enough to wipe them out completely but at least make a dent in their population…they are an invasive species which cause millions in damage and are disliked by many. But I find it hard to hate them since it’s not their fault they’re here. They are very beautiful reptiles and I hate to see anything suffer.
Day 12: Mon Feb 2, 2026. Distance: 9 miles to Key Largo…didn’t bother with last 10 miles.
I got through another cold night, but I had my extra blanket and so I was toasty. I still woke up rather unmotivated to hike. I’d already walked past all long bridges and most interesting sights. All that was left was miles of strip malls through Key Largo. I figured I’d take it easy, see how my hip felt, and pull up short if I felt like I’d had enough. Without this being part of a larger thru hike, I wasn’t all that vested in walking to the very end of Key Largo. I enjoyed a nice coffee and breakfast with Monica, then she drove me back to where she’d picked me up the day before. I opted to slack pack, since we’d made plans to get me back to my car later in the day.
I walked a few miles to a pottery store, which was owned by Monica’s friend. She suggested I stop by to, at the very least, pet their kitty. The owners were so sweet and their artwork very nice. I walked through their gardens with works on display, which was very cool. And of course I got a couple of kitty pets in. A ways later, I stopped at a cafe which was inside an old church. My 3 coffee shop stops since Baby’s were good, but I still would have chosen Baby’s over all of them. And thus I concluded my unofficial sampling of coffee in the keys. Back on the road, I was feeling even more unmotivated to walk. So I used the first distraction as another excuse to stop, which was a pretty good one: the wild bird sanctuary! I donated $10 to get in and then took my time looking at the sad ambassador birds that were too injured to be released. The sanctuary does great deeds in rehabilitating birds and advocating for their habitat preservation, I just hate seeing birds in cages. It’s all for a good cause, though.
After this last stop, I called it a day. I just had no will to walk any further. All in all, I walked just over 100 miles from Key West to Key Largo. This seemed good enough. A friend of Monica’s gave me a ride to her house and I said goodby to her and Frank for the final time this trip. From there, I drove north to my friends Mary and Shane, where I launched my kayak on day 1. I just had to take them up on the offer to stay a night in their downstairs apartment. They had me over for dinner that night, which was so delicious and the perfect way to celebrate the conclusion my trip…Full circle. The next morning, I took a nice nature and dog walk around all the trails in Pennekamp State Park, then drove back to Miami. The cool temps stuck around for another whole week! It was just my luck to time this trip during the worst cold snap we’ve had in over a decade. But I didn’t have to deal with any bugs the whole hike, so I’ll take that as a win!
Shane shared a picture of all the dead iguanas they removed from the park. I also took this picture of a large orange male lamenting the loss of his green friend. The smaller ones are the first to succumb. The smell of rotting iguanas actually became a problem in the weeks following. Metropolitan areas had to devise iguana drop off points to dispose of all the dead bodies.
Animals seen or heard on this trip: Great blue heron, great white heron, white egret, green heron, tricolor heron, little blue heron, redish egret, yellow crowned night heron, white ibis, rosette spoonbill, wood stork, cormorants, mergansers, black skimmers, royal terns, laughing gulls, spotted sandpiper, ruddy turnstone, catbird, brown pelican, white pelican, frigate bird, osprey, king fisher, kestrel, sharp shinned hawk, turtle dove, yellow rumped warbler, cardinal, great crested flycatcher, Key deer, rats, racoons, dolphins, sea turtles (green and loggerhead), nurse sharks, gray rays, spotted eagle rays, tarpon, lemon shark, barracuda, snapper, needlefish, houndfish, physalia physalia.
Thanks to all who provided support for the trip and to all that took the time to read these posts!
Total distance walked: 101 miles
Total distance paddled: 105 miles