My Most Dangerous Thing - Tree Root Tripping

There are many things in Florida which people consider dangerous - top of the list are alligators and poisonous snakes. Strange as it might seem, in my many hours and miles of hiking around Florida the most dangerous thing I have encountered is a cypress knee (defined as a distinctive structure in a root of a cypress tree which protrudes up from the ground). I have tripped over a few in my time, going flying to the ground. I have taken some pretty nasty falls tripping over a small "knee" in the green ground cover. My biggest fear always is that I will land full force on another knee sticking up. I have hit different parts of my body on "knees" as I've fallen, with some real mean resulting black and blue marks. I have been very lucky never to land on one in the chest or face, I think that could be a deadly situation! Another bad thing, not as bad as "knees", is roots and other obstacles found along a path. I have gone flying more than once when I tripped over something which I hadn't noticed on the trail. So rather than be obsessed with some critter getting you, be more concerned about taking a fall you might not get up from ;-)

This photo shows what cypress knees look like exposed (click on to enlarge)

High water mark and some cypress knees hidden by the weeds

Some more cypress knees in the greens

Exposed cypress knees, but still dangerous