The bridge is clearly marked on Google maps, in the middle of Niles Road on the northern edge of Summerland Key, but riding up the road past the few houses hidden in the mangroves, shows no sign of a bridge, and the road dead ends after a few sinuous curves perhaps a mile from the hustle and bustle of Summerland Key's businesses lining Highway One. Niles road is smooth and empty:
At the turn out there is a barrier with a trail leading off into the bushes:
And the pathway itself is pretty much standard issue among these islands in the Lower Keys, a meandering track:
The odd thing was that behind the barrier, which is padlocked I found this:
Just sitting in the grass, presumably no longer of use so they put the old trailer out to pasture. Neither reused nor recycled; just dumped. 
Geologically the Keys are more like the Bahamas than the rest of Florida, but the limestone rock is frequently covered in a thin layer of marl, the clay dries to a rock-like gray consistency, which can produce surprises:
In other words if you walk as I do, little-Johnny-head-in-air looking around at clouds and sky and in the branches of the mangroves you stand an excellent chance of taking a header. However the moisture has brought the bushes to life with a lot of sudden scuttling as I was walking along, probably a mixture of crabs, geckos and bogey men, but I could see nothing. Bleached bones perhaps? Not a bit of it, there aren't any cows down here:
A common landscape feature that doesn't exist in the Keys, aside from hills, is a river. Yet I could distinctly hear a little brook a-gurgling, and not very far away either. The mystery was soon resolved as this trail is rather short. I rounded the last corner and came upon the object of my search:
And the gurgling noise was the tide running very fast through the shallows and hitting the sturdy timbers that still support the old plank bridge:
The bridge was built to take traffic, presumably cars and it was constructed with care and designed to last:
And the road leading up to it was built up as well judging by the timbers outlining a plank road, and the whole thing looked like it should have been left for curious people like myself to stroll along for the experience and the pleasure:
Instead, in order to keep us safe from ourselves they have disassembled the access end. Grrr. I should like to come back at a suitable tide and take a hike to the other end. The desire to peek beyond the horizon is still with me after all these years... However I am older and more prudent and it was clear the cooling north wind was bringing weather with it:
I had plenty of time to slip slide my way back to the Bonneville and get all fired up:
Some people think these islands all look the same, but call me perverse if you will, somehow I still manage to put on, if not the mantle, then at least the neckerchief of an explorer in these small pieces of more-or-less dry land. And if it wasn't for the camera I'm sure I might not even have bothered. And if it weren't for the Web you'd never have known I was out exploring Summerland Key's north shore. From wooden bridges to electrons, that's the modern digital world for you.
