This park is south of Panama City. We are on a long narrow peninsula with the Gulf on one side and a big bay on the other. The sand is really white. The last 7 miles of the peninsula is a wilderness preserve. Foot traffic only. We will hike there tomorrow. Our plan is to stay here 3 nights.
We launched Jenny's yak and my paddleboard at the spring and headed out to the Suwannee for a few hours of paddling. On the way out we passed over the herd/school of Manatees that were congregating at the mouth of the spring. Hard to say how many there were. I would estimate very many. We went up stream so that the return would be easy. The Manatees were a little more active when we returned. A few of them floated up to say howdy. Our afternoon event was a hillbilly pontoon boat ride on the river that included dinner and drinks. We move tomorrow.
There are indeed Manatees here. The spring flows into the Suwannee River and the Manatees like to hang out there. They are trying to stay warm and the spring water is 72 degrees. We explored the park on our bikes and came upon a live armadillo. They are usually road pizzas on the interstate.
We did a long hike this morning. There was a mist falling while we were on the trail. We had a choice to hike on the "high water or low water" trails. We chose the low water. It obviously wasn't low enough. During the hike we encountered a rather large dinosaur that was standing in the swamp. He held still for a few seconds and allowed us to take a selfie. We move tomorrow.
It rained all last night but it looked (in my humble opinion) OK, this morning. Jenny was sceptical of my forecasting abilities so my desire for her to go for a paddle was politely declined. I was out for a couple of hours. Things were pretty close to perfect. We drove into town (Brooksville) and had lunch, then visited Walmart. That's always fun. The tree in the picture is covered with Resurrection Fern. It's green and fernlike when it rains but turns brown and withers when it's dry.
This place is a little north of Tampa. All the sites are first come first serve so we got an early start so that our chances might improve. Turns out it wasn't really an issue. There are plenty of sites. We are near the southern end of the 46 mile bike trail that we rode a portion of a few days ago. The Withlachoochee river is literally right out our front door. There are several adventure options. We are here for 3 nights, however, the weather is supposed to deteriorate tonight. We did some bike exploring after we arrived and cooled down with a beverage on the veranda.
We hauled the boats into Everglades City and spent a few hours paddling around an area called the 10,000 islands. It's a navigation challenge because everything looks like everything else. The islands are covered with mangroves and are just a few inches above high tide. This is our 6th day here and we think we have a pretty good feel for the area. We are heading north starting tomorrow. We have no reservations anywhere, but we have a few ideas.
We only had one activity scheduled for today. It was a ranger guided canoe/kayak trip on the Turner River. We linked up with the 2 rangers at 9:30. They provided canoes for the other participants. We used our yaks. The trip was really, really, cool. A large portion of the 5 hour out and back was through a dense mangrove tunnel. It was so dense we had to break our paddles in half. There wasn't enough room to paddle normally. If I had taken Jenny on that trip without a guide she would have, at the very least, threatened divorce. Since we had a NPS guy leading us she was all in. She actually, did better than I did. She was right behind the guide of course. We have decided to stay here one more night so that we can do some paddling in the 10,000 islands. That's tomorrow.
Our major event today was a 14 mile, narrated, tram ride, through the "Sea of grass" which is the historical Everglades. Compared to it's former size, it is puny. 1.8 million acres. We drove by many alligators. The guide was a native Floridian and she was great. There are very few mammals left in the park. They have mostly been devoured by pet Burmese Pythons that were released into the wild by indescribably stupid morons. Yesterday's storm left us with very windy conditions today. Tomorrow is a 4 hour guided kayak trip on a tidal river through the mangroves.
Nothing blog worthy occurred today. There is a big winter storm affecting the east coast. Winter storms down here are rain events. Rain it did. Around 4 the radar picture started to look better so Jenny dropped me off at the scenic drive we did yesterday and I rode it on my bike. I over estimated the speed I would be able to maintain and I finished after the sun had set. Oops! Weather should be better tomorrow but windy.
We drove into town and got on a small skiff (six people) and did a 2 hour tour in the mangroves. The highlight was 40 minutes, or so, in a mangrove tunnel. The numerous birds were so accustomed to boats that we were able to approach within feet of them. I'm sort of into birds, so I was thrilled. After lunch on Chokoloskee island we did a 16 mile scenic drive through the Preserve. The weird looking vehicle is a "swamp buggie". They are all handmade. In other words no company makes them. There are swamp buggie tours. We probably will pass.
We are on the northern edge of the Everglades. We couldn't get into the park because of the damn retired snowbirds who are vegetating in all of the campsites for weeks at a time. I think we'll do that next year. After our camp set up, we drove into Everglades City and had lunch. We have booked a mangrove boat tour tomorrow and a guided kayak trip in a few days. These pics are of the smallest post office in the country and when I accidentally put my arm in an alligators mouth.
It was relatively cold this morning. The low was in the mid 40s. That's 15 degrees below the normal low. It's was cool enough and windy enough that Jenny demurred on the kayaking. I launched about 100 feet from the MP and toodled around for a couple of hours. I saw 2 alligators and 1 golden eagle. I saw a Manatee yesterday during a bike ride that I took beside the river. We move a small way south tomorrow. We will be in a commercial campground in the Everglades.
This is a Corp of Engineers campground near LaBelle Fl. We are here because a few years ago I paddled across Florida on the Okachobee waterway. There are 5 locks on the waterway. The lock masters wouldn't let me lock through, so I had to portage around the locks. I towed my boat through this campground and I thought it looked like a nice place. There isn't much near here except for the waterway. If the weather is OK tomorrow we will do some paddling.
We rode the Withlacoochee State Trail today. It's an old rail bed that has been converted into a trail. There are a lot of these around the state. The trail is 46 miles long. We rode out 11 miles and stopped at a small town for a snack, then headed back. It wasn't particularly scenic but it was a long ride that took a good bit of the afternoon. We are out of here tomorrow.
On further review, we have determined we have one more day here. Contrary to our normal technique, we made reservations for all of our campsites several months ago thinking they might be difficult to nab at the last minute. We looked at our schedule yesterday and determined we had another day. Today, we visited the bustling town of Dunnellon. A bike shop owner gave us some ideas for rides and we did a couple of them this afternoon. Tomorrow, we will do a long ride weather permitting. The river in the pics below is the Withlachoochee.
After the front passed and things settled down we headed for the river. I was on my paddleboard and Jenny was in her kayak. Rainbow spring pumps out 4 million gallons per day, it's 72 degree water with 200 feet visibility. The land around the spring was a commercial attraction until the 70s. It went belly up and was unused until the state got it in the 90s. Tomorrow is our last day here. We have no plans yet.
We drove SW for a couple of hours and are not too far from the Gulf Coast. The main attraction here is the enormous spring and the river it forms. In the summer the park is a major tubing attraction. We want to get out on the river but the weather is forcast to crump tomorrow. I went for a good ride this afternoon and we have spent some time in the campground laundromat. Super fun. We will be here 3 nights. Here's a pic of the clear spring water. One more thing. We tried the satellite for the first time on this trip. Getting it to work has been a major source of frustration in the past. I was able to outsmart it almost immediately. Dave 1--Technology 0.
We hiked the trails this morning. All of them. That's not too impressive because there's only 1 official hiking trail. After our lunch break we drove into town and visited a winery and a distillery. They were both fun and interesting. The distillery was pretty new, consequently, their Bourbon has not aged enough, and it was not ready. Damn! After we returned to the MP I rode my bike on a much larger beach. Tomorrow we move.
We saw the beach yesterday and I really wanted to ride on it this morning. I got bundled up and rode over there only to find that there wasn't much of a beach to ride on. I had to dodge the waves but I rode anyway. We did a trolley tour of the city in the afternoon. St. Augustine was founded in 1565, that's 42 years before Jamestown and 55 years before Plymouth Rock. There are quite a few 'first in the nation' places and things here. A large Spanish Fort is a central feature of the city.
We made it to freezing Florida. It's supposed to be 31degrees tonight. We are camped in a jungle. It would be a great place in the summer because it's so shaded but on a cold January I would prefer some sun. We rode our bikes to the beach. There were no sunbathers. When we cranked up the TV antenna it ended up in the Spanish Moss.
It was a half day for the kids. After they moved out of their cabin we did another pretty long hike. Jamie & I have been throwing the Frisbee during our walks and consequently my left arm needs a rest. I'm posting this from our campsite near St. Augustine. We were watching Downton Abbey last night and the post didn't get done.
The weather was iffy but we did a pretty long hike anyway. Austin didn't ask to be picked up once. We ate lunch at a place in town and after some time at a playground we had another fire with S'mores. Jenny and I are here one more night but the kids have to leave tomorrow.
We are pretty much in Savannah. Jamie took a half day off and they arrived around 3:15. They are in a cabin about a couple of hundred feet from the MP. We did a little exploring hike and then had a fire for S'mores after dinner. During the hike, Connor got his face stuck in an air vent intake. I thought it was worth a picture.
Today was the twins, "for real" birthday. There is some conflict with someone else's birthday party so the formal celebration won't occur for some time. There was a toodoo at their school during lunch. Seth, Courtney and I ate lunch in the cafeteria with the girls. Jenny was out with Beth Hosch eating at a real restaurant. Tomorrow we leave here and meet up with Jamie & Lindsay and the boys for a weekend of camping at Skidaway Island State Park near Savanah.
We are on our way to Florida to join the thundering herd of retirees who are trying to stay warm. We have, illogically, headed North first. Seth turned 36 today and the twins turn 6 on Thursday. The temp is forecast to be in the teens tonight.
