This armadillo walked right up to me. It was almost on my boot, when I suddenly moved my foot side to side, startling the little guy. Keen eyesight is not one of his strengths, I would guess. He fled about three feet, and then froze. I walked away, and had not gone 5 feet, when the armadillo was back to scrounging for munchies.
Tag Archives: florida
Osceola National Forest
Ocean Pond in Osceola National Forest
Camping in Florida during the winter, should be reclassified as “Combat Camping”. These retirees are damn competitive when it comes to claiming campsites, and they give no quarter.
The system is not set up for a guy like me, who likes to avoid crowds, fly by the seat of his pants, and pay as little as possible for the opportunity.
Florida State Forests require campers to get a permit two weeks prior to camping. They are automatically ruled out due to my schedule. National Forests are wonderful, but they are located across the northern part of the state. After picking up my car, I finally had the opportunity to visit one.
Located north of Orlando, Osceola is an absolute gem. A beautiful park, with a ton of trails, and no shortage of camping possibilities. The official sites have competition to stay overnight, but some seem to go almost unnoticed too.
Olustee Depot
I started at the historic Olustee Depot, to get the lay of the forest. The depot has a huge history, although firm dates seem to be a tad evasive. Officially, the freight depot was built in 1888. Although part of the structure, or possibly a predecessor was in use during the Civil War. The waiting rooms were added on in the 1920’s.
Inside, one gets some great information of the area’s two main exports: timber and turpentine. At one point, Florida supplied 20% of the world’s turpentine.
The depot is a great place to start, the staff was wonderful and full of information. Plus, I loved the old building and its construction.
Highlands Hammock
The Hammock’s Grove
The grove in the photo above, is where this park historically got its start, in a way. A Florida pioneer back in the 1800’s cleared this grove with an axe, building a small log home and planting orange trees. It would be a beautiful place for a cabin.
In the 1920’s, Margaret Roebling, the widow of John Roebling, who designed the Brooklyn Bridge, bought the land around the grove, after being introduced to its beauty. It was opened to the public in 1931, and became one of Florida’s first of four state parks that opened in 1935.
The Orange Grove in 1948
Due to a mix up, which I may vent about in a later post, I was stuck in the middle of RV Central. My little tent looked lost among the massive land yachts. Grudgingly, I succumbed to my fate, threw up my tent as fast as possible, and headed for the trails.
Out on the trails, it was pretty rare for me to run into anyone, other than wildlife, and that made my day. I headed back at dusk, thinking that I had a better chance avoiding the neighbors while under the cover of darkness. Off to my right, I heard a deep, guttural grunt, followed by a scattering of feet. I moved towards the trees, and peered into the woods, but could make out nothing through the thick underbrush. I heard what I determined to be a mock charge, followed again by this unknown grunt, but still no visual evidence of what was making it. Seemed highly unlikely to be a gator, since I have only heard them hiss. Doubtful that it was a black bear, since the “happy feet” I heard did not fit with the black ghost of the forest.
When I made it back to “camp”, my neighbors were waiting for me. It seems that they were thrilled to see a tent next door to them, rather than another RV. Who would have thought? I actually improved the neighborhood. They thought that tent camping was novel, but they certainly had no interest in partaking. We had a nice conversation, but dinner awaited all of us, and we parted company for our respective stoves.
I hit the trails again the following morning, and within an hour, I heard that same deep guttural grunt from the night before, and turned to see a group of feral hogs. Hogs! That made sense. They are not considered native wildlife, so they are not mentioned in official channels around here. Also, I don’t have a whole lot of experience with feral hogs. There are not many rooting around Interior Alaska, although if they were, the wolves and bears would, no doubt, be thrilled.
These little buggers were all over the place, and I have seen a few of these, but those were in Texas. It was the largest concentration of armadillos I have seen. They were constantly skittering about.
One of the many egrets I saw while hiking the Cypress Swamp Trail
Lake Manatee State Park
Lake Manatee
Lake Manatee was formed in the 1960’s by the damming of the Manatee River. I spent one night camped here, as I made my way back towards the Tampa area.
A good fishing “lake” from what I heard. There were a few boats out there, when I walked along its shoreline, but certainly not in great numbers.
The trails were mostly through Florida scrub, which made for some soft, sandy hikes.
Myakka River State Park
I had already reserved a spot at Myakka River, when I talked to the volunteer at Oscar Scherer, who excitedly told me to spend as much time there as I could, and to enjoy the alligators.
Myakka is one of the oldest, and largest of Florida’s state parks, and it really is a beautiful park. With no shortage of trails.
Canopy Walk
Unlike Oscar Scherer, the trails are not as easily accessible from the campgrounds. Most of them, you have to drive or bike to the trailhead, which isn’t as convenient, but the park is a busy one and walking along the park road leaves a lot to be desired.
Off of one of the trails, is the park’s Canopy Walk, which is a suspended bridge that allows you to get above the trees’ canopy.
Above the canopy
It is a nice view, 80′ above the ground.
The volunteer at Oscar told me that the airboat tour was well worth the time & money. I thought, why not, that could be cool… until I saw the airboat. The cargo van of airboats. Not quite my thing, but it was a long line to get aboard.
Again?
I had my car in my possession for less than 24 hours, and had driven it less than 40 miles, when I saw the front bumper this morning.
At the motel, some SOB swiped my front license plate.
Again.
Damn souvenir hunters.
Oscar Scherer State Park
It was “All Trails Day” in Oscar Scherer on the Saturday I was there. Volunteers were staged at various intervals with stamps, so that hikers could prove they hiked all the trails in the park. Since I just stumbled onto the event, I had to continually tell the “stampers” that I was unofficially on the trek. I had hiked two trails the day before, so I hiked only the ones that were new to me. Still, incredibly kind people manning the stations, and I had some great conversations with several of the volunteers.
Lake Osprey
South Creek runs through the park, in fact, I was camped on its bank. The offer a guided moonlight canoe trip at night down the creek, which is a trip I highly recommend. Only the guide up front has a headlamp, the rest of the group members have glow sticks slung over their backs, for canoeists to follow. It should be noted: The guide specifically told me, that if you are not from Florida, he will not point out the alligators to you while on the float.
South Creek
South Creek Wildlife
C/O General Delivery
For travelers, an often overlooked service from the USPS is General Delivery. I’ve used it a couple of times, while on the road, to send Rover parts to a town up ahead. This time, I sent some camping gear to Tampa, FL. I didn’t want to lug it through the airport, so I mailed it to myself C/O the United States Postal Service. They were even kind enough to send me an email when the package was available for pick up.
Most cities have one post office location that holds general delivery packages, and this one was in Ybor City. I should note that General Delivery mail will be held for 30 days, after which the mail will be sent back to the sender.
My tent, rain jacket, camping stove & cookware, as well as a few other odds & ends, landed right on time. The next day, I will be out camping, with forty below a distant memory. For now.
Temperature Relativity
My neighbor left me a message this afternoon telling me it was -63 degrees at my place in Fairbanks this morning.
The thermometer here in Florida read +84. That’s a 147 degree difference! If the -63F is accurate, and I have no doubt it is, that would tie the coldest temperature I have experienced in Alaska.
The really sad thing is that I had to manufacture sympathy, because all I could think of is how thrilled I am to have missed it.
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