A Vista Untouched by Humans

Yesterday, my spouse and I took the motorcycle down to Key Largo.  Earlier in the week, my spouse and his brother had done some exploring by motorcycle, and my spouse wanted to explore some areas on foot.

It was a tough ride on the Turnpike for me on the back of the bike--very windy.  But soon enough, we were at the Botanical Site off Card Sound Road in Key Largo. 

It was a beautiful walk on a very hot day down shady paved paths.  The highlight of the day:  we came across an overlook of sorts.  We stood on rocks and looked down at a small lake--or would it be a pond?

What made it unique?  We looked and saw no evidence of humans:  no cell phone towers, no parking lots, no houses, no boats, nothing--not even the path on the other side of the lake that we knew was likely there.  We imagined the first travelers through the area seeing the exact same vista.  We imagined people saying, "We should settle here."

We walked back and talked about how rare it is to see a vista with no evidence of humans.  We could hear traffic nearby, but we couldn't see the cars.  We looked at the path and realized that we were probably walking on an old coral seabed--not surprising, since the area was once under water.  We talked about the fact that it likely will be again in the next several hundred years.

Our whole afternoon stretched out before us.  We decided to keep going south--who knew what we would see?

Lots of traffic, that's what we saw.  Sigh.  After catching sight of a trail of brake lights that went on and on, we turned around. 

Still, I'm glad we went.  I'm glad I had a chance to see such an unmarked landscape.  I'll be looking for others.  I assume they're rare--but maybe I just haven't been observant.