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We went up to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge yesterday for a drive around the Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, which is sort of like a Cades Cove Loop through Florida salt marsh habitat.

About a mile into the drive a USF&W guy was coming back the other way telling people to turn around because a car had crashed into a tree and they were closing the loop. We asked how someone managed to crash into a tree on a wide, one-way, well maintained gravel road with a 15 MPH speed limit. He said that, for one thing, judging from the extent of the damage they weren't going 15 MPH. He said one person had minor injuries and had already been taken out by ambulance.

NASA fire/rescue people were on the scene, as well as USF&W law enforcement. Apparently they don't have a drill for a wreck on the loop, because it was going to take hours to get a wrecker in to remove the vehicle and clear the scene.

But all was not lost. Thanks to jmcnair in comments on another post, we learned about the Bio Lab Rd. which I had never heard of. A nice retired couple at the wreck scene told us how to get there. Apparently it's not advertised and not marked on maps, and we have previously driven right by it without knowing it was there. There are amazing views of vast salt marsh wetlands on the other side of the refuge, and bonus views of the Kennedy Space Center shuttle launch complex. I imagine it's about as close as you can get without a ticket, which is why they close all access to the wildlife refuge during shuttle launches.