searcyf@mac.com – Page 108 – Travels with Fred

Manatee Springs Day 1

20 March 2017

Today I returned to Manatee Springs with the intent to hike some of their trails, complete another segment of the Nature Coast State Trail by bike, and to visit Cedar Key.

I left the house just before 10 am and arrived after 6 pm. The reason for the eight hour drive was I drove State abroad 27 until Winwood and then cut across the state by heading west. The speed limit for most of the trip was 65 mph so that was good (turnpike is 70). The problem was all the small towns where you slowed to 35. However, the drive was infinitely more entertaining than the turnpike.

In particular, the town of Inverness and Dunnellon were really nice. Some day I would like to come back and explore them a little more. They had the classical Main Street with old brick buildings with definite character.

On the way through Lake Placid, I kept an eye out for the infamous caracara. When I first heard this mentioned years ago, I thought someone had invented the name and was playing a trick as in snipe hunting. Later I found out it is a real bird and an exceptional predator. It is a very large bird and very distinctive. You may be wondering why I don’t include a photo.

It’s like this. If I have a camera at the ready in the car, I never see one. If I don’t have a camera ready, they are usually on every other fence post. I had the camera ready this trip, hence the lack of the photo.

However, I did see 4 Sandhills cranes. The first was a loner in a field. The next were a pair and finally another loner. This is horse country and cattle country. I’ve always seen the Sandhills in cattle pastures with cattle around but never in horse pastures with horses around. Wonder if that is significant?

I have become adept at putting up the tent and garage attachment but I did have trouble with my new queen size air mattress. I finally got the thing figured out and I look forward to an excellent night of sleep – if I can get the damn deer to quick roaming the woods behind my tent.

Like all trips, I forgot something. This time it was the batteries for the lanterns. I’ll stop in Chiefland tomorrow and pick up 8 A batteries and 2 AAA. Otherwise, things have gone fairly smoothly.

Tonight, I used a Coleman oven on my Coleman stove to make a hobo dinner using an aluminum foil packet for hamburger meat, potatoes, carrots, and onions, all seasoned with chipotle pepper and rosemary. It turned out perfect and soon disappeared.

Daffodils – Day 3 – Tulullah Falls

7 March 2017

The daffodil excursion is found in the previous blog, so scroll down for it. Thanks to James Holloway, a colleague from Broward College, for suggesting I take a drive to Tulullah Falls, about a two hour drive from the gardens.

Talk about nostalgia! The gps took me through back country roads similar to what I knew as a kid and some of the houses along the way even looked familiar even though I was new to this area.

I pulled into the park around two and got a map for the north and south rim trails, a three mile loop that takes you down to the bottom of the gorge and then across and up the other side. The gorge can drop over nine hundred feet in places from the rim.

The trail on the north rim begins at the interpretive center and your first overlook is of L’eau d’Or Falls and Hawthorne Pool.

From there you walk down 531 steps to the swinging bridge over the gorge.

You are now on the south rim trail and you descend more stairs for a view of Tempesta Falls.

You return to the swinging bridge and climb more stairs to the top of south rim.

If you head east, you can get a view of Hurricane Falls and a glimpse of Oceana Falls.

You then retrace your steps and cross back over to the north rim across the dam over the river and back to the interpretive center.

In all, you manage 1,099 steps of which 568 were up from the bottom of the gorge to the top of the north rim. Interestingly, the park ranger rated this as “difficult” while the ranger at Amicolola Falls rated their 600 plus as “strenuous”.

This was a wonderful hike. I returned about 3:30 pm and headed back to Jasper. I had dinner at an Asian restaurant and guess what my fortune cookie said?

Daffodils – Day 3 – Gibbs Gardens

7 March 2017

Wow! What a day. It first started with daffodils and ended with water falls.

Gibbs Gardens are located near Ball Ground, Georgia and were established in the 1980’s by Jim Gibbs, a nurseryman from Atlanta. It is a 300 acre estate/garden with 50 acres of daffodils with over 20 million bulbs and over 100 varieties.

The gates had not opened and therefore I was first in line. I had a ticket for the tram at 10 am and an hour to kill, so I started walking and followed the signs to daffodils. Once you got to “Daffodil Hill”, they were everywhere!

Daffodils belong to the genus Narcissus and they are also called jonquils. As a kid, I knew them as daffodils, jonquils, and by a couple of variety names as yellow jonquil, butter and eggs, and paper whites.

Some think they were named from the Greek legend of Narcissus but no one knows for sure since Narcissus has many connotations.

This was a trip down memory lane for me. What was in bloom in the gardens was exactly what I remember blooming in both my grandmother’s yards: daffodils, yellow bells, bridal wreath, and flowering quince. Today yellow bells are more commonly know as Forsythia and bridal wreath is known as Spirea.

What originally attracted me to daffodils as a kid were their aroma. Some had no smell at all but others could overpower you with their scent. The ones I smelled on the trails were not terribly strong but it could be age has affected my olfactory perception. However, as I walked through parts of the garden it became quite heady.

In addition to daffodils, they have a Manor House which I assume Jim Gibbs lives in part of the year.

They also have a Japanese garden but it was not in bloom this early.

However, in a previous blog I wrote about Pachysandra, or Allegheny Spurge. I had never seen it before. This time I got to see it in bloom! We botanists take our joy where we can get it.

I’ve posted a video of the garden on Facebook so you can get a better concept of the gardens.

After leaving the gardens, I headed for Tulullah Falls. See the next blog.

Daffodils – Day 2 – Amicolola Falls

6 March 2017

OK, my sciatica is bothering me but less than usual on these long drives. I discovered a new use for heated seats. It seemed to take some of the pain away or at least mitigated it.

In any case, I was getting into Jasper, Ga too early for my Microtel reservation. When I started panning this trip, I looked for something other than Gibbs Gardens to do. Bless TripAdvisor. They suggested Amicolola Falls State Park and the trail to the falls, the tallest waterfall in Georgia at 729 feet.

Instead of heading to Jasper, I detoured off the interstate to Dawsonville. I loved traveling the back roads even though the speed limit was mostly 45 mph because of the mountainous terrain and “S” curves.

Welcome Center at Amicolola Falls State Park.

I pulled into the park about 2 pm and paid my $5 admission. I asked the ranger about the trail. It depends on which web site you go to, but there is some confusion about the distance and even when you check maps, most are not to scale and you cannot determine the distance. She said it was a 2 mile rounnd trip hike and warned me it was strenuous.

The trail up to the falls is approximately one mile and is along a mostly paved trail, well marked with blazes and signs which then turns into a series of stairs to the top.

Your first stop is the reflecting pool at the base of the falls.

Reflecting Pool from the base of the falls.

The stairs and trail were made from labor of Georgia convicts with the approval of the state park service and the Department of Corrections. All I can say is thank you to those who built this amazing set of stairs. The longest section is 435 stairs but all total, they exceed 600 steps. Conveniently, every so often, there is a landing with overlooks of the falls and benches to rest.

Everyone I met on the trail told me how strenuous the climb was, and I began to have misgivings. However, I managed just fine. I’ve learned to control my pace and breathing on climbs. I still feel the Appalachian mountains are tougher than the Sierra Nevadas, the Rockies, and anything I climbed out west.

The falls were pretty spectacular and I immensely enjoyed the hike to the top. Once at the top, I climbed a little farther to the lodge. This looks like a perfect place to stay. It’s very new and modern but fits in with the scenery.

The view from the back deck was spectacular.

The lodge is the starting point for a connecting trail to Springer Mountain, 8.5 miles away. Springer Mountain is the beginning of the Appalachian Trail and I’ve always wanted to hike on Springer. Another bucket list item!

What happened next was typical Fred. I thought the return trail, according to their map, ran behind the lodge. It showed a connection with an exercise trail. I followed what looked like a disused trail behind the lodge to head back to the jeep. I rationalized that most people probably did not do the loop and simply returned the way they came.

As I got further down the “disused trail” I finally realized it wasn’t the return trail at all. The only bad thing was it dropped rapidly in elevation from the lodge, so I now had to hike back up and find the return trail.

I returned to the overlook at the top of the falls and finally saw a sign you would only see coming back down from the lodge for the East Ridge Trail. On their map, it shows the falls trail is marked in blue blazes and the East Ridge Trail marked in brown. There were no blazes anywhere along the length of the trail, but it was certainly worn with use.

I met several people on their way up to the falls on the return trail. I would not recommend it. Take the stairs up and the East Ridge Trail down. The East Ridge Trail is steep and rocky and only the bottom 1/3 has switchbacks. That said, one young lady jogged up past me, reached the top and then jogged past me on the way down.

At 4:30 I made it back to the jeep, tired but thoroughly satisfied.

Daffodils- Day 1 – Paynes Prairie

5 March 2017

It’s strange what stimulates your mind, particularly as you age. Several weeks ago, I thought about what got me interested in becoming a botanist, and particularly concentrating in taxonomy and classification of plants. That led to my wondering what was the first flower that registered with me. I came to the conclusion it was daffodils.

Both my grandmothers had them in the yard and I learned what they were at an early age. I also learned they were the harbinger of Spring, at least in my area of the state of Mississippi. Later I was to learn that in north Mississippi, it was crocus.

By early summer, the daffodil blooms were gone and you mowed them down to allow the bulbs to go dormant and they would magically appear the next spring, often in greater numbers. I soon learned there were varieties like butter and eggs which really didn’t look to much like the classic yellow ones and paper whites which had the yellow outer layer of petals with a white cup.

That got me to thinking I hadn’t seen daffodils bloom in over 35 years and I decided I needed to plan a road trip to do so. Best layed plans…. Apparently it has been a very early spring and everywhere I searched, gardens were declaring the bloom over.

I did sign up on Facebook for a daffodil site and low and behold, I later received a notice from Gibbs Gardens in Ball Ground, GA that although the early bloomers were gone, there is a mid and late season. Gibbs advertises itself as the largest collection of daffodils in the U.S. With over 20 million planted.

Since this was to be a daffodil trip, I decided to stay in motels for the journey and not camp. The only problem was getting out of Florida. I knew not to try a 10+ hour drive to Ball Ground, so I decided to stay the night in Valdosta.

I was going to get to Valdosta early enough, And so I started to look for a side trip. I knew I would be passing Gainesville on I-75 and had always gotten a glimpse of Paynes Prairie and the exit to the state park. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve passed the place and never stopped, so this became a mission. I’m glad I did. Apparently Bartram, the botanist, not only wrote about Manatee Springs (see previous posts) but also was one of the first to see what is now known as Paynes Prairie.

There’s a relatively new welcome center and there is a short trail from there to an observation tower. The views were great but the tower shook and squeaked as you walked up and down. Maybe it’s settling into the muck of the Prairie.

Welcome Center at Paynes Prairie State Park.

Wacahoota Trail at Paynes Prairie State Park near Gainesville, Fl.

A view of Paynes Prairie from the Observation tower.

On the way out, I toured downtown Micanopy, another first. Very quaint and very touristy with antique shops every other store.

I pulled into Valdosta around 5:30 pm, ate dinner and turned in. I was on the road to Jasper, Ga by 9 am.

Dakotah Winery and Manatee Springs State Park

22 February 2017

It was a rain day and instead of bicycling, I visited the Dakotah Winery and Manatee Springs State Park.

The Winery is about halfway between Fanning Springs and Chiefland and I pulled in just at opening time. They were just starting a fire in the fireplace and they wanted to know if I wanted a tasting. I deferred until I had a good look at the place. If you wish some item relating to wine, they have it.

Their first vineyard was planted in 1985 and they specialize, like most Florida vineyards, in muscadine grapes. In talking with the owner, I found out there are some 300 varieties of muscadine grapes – all from the native muscadine I used to eat as a kid – Vitis rotundifolia.

They do have a Chardonnay, a Cabernet and a Merlot but those grapes are flown in from California. Their muscadine wines are a little sweeter and more grapey and I must confess, stir memories of eating muscadines as a kid. Some would grow the grapes at home but mostly, we would find a vine in the woods and pick enough to eat or bring them home for jelly.

As you know, in the south, no one ever takes a drink and would never make wine. However, almost all households would make either muscadine “acid” or elderberry “acid” or Blackberry “acid”. Ah, wine by any other name….

I admit, I preferred the muscadine wines. I bought a couple of bottles and I think they will be great sipping them by the pool on a hot summer day.

Dakotah Winery gardens and wildlife sanctuary.

They have a nice garden/wildlife sanctuary in the back of the Winery and there are wood duck boxes all over the place. The wood duck is the logo of the Winery. If you’ve ever seen a wood duck house, the hole looks too small for that size bird. The way they enter is flying directly into the hole at what seems like 90 miles per hour and you wonder if the duck survives the impact with the back of the house, but they always seem to do so.

From the Winery, I headed down south to Manatee Springs State Park, my destination for some tent camping in March. The park is larger than Fanning Springs State Park and it has 8.5 miles of trails.

When you look at the Springs you can see the water bubbling up from the depths.

Manatee Springs bubbling up from the depths.

The springs were visited in 1774 by the famed explorer and botanist, John Bartram and his notes contain a description of the springs. Manatee Springs is described as a first magnitude spring (greatest flow of water) while Fanning Springs is a second magnitude spring.

I got a chance to visit where I would be camping and also walked their board walk to the Suwannee River. Guess what was waiting for me?

Black vultures. I really must be looking haggard. They are following me around.

I returned to Chiefland and ate at Bar-B-Q Bills, recommended by the Winery. So far all these “Great” places to eat have simply been OK.

I then decided to visit, by auto, the last (or first, depending on where you start) stop on the Nature Coast State Trail, Cross City, Florida. Of the towns along he trail: Cross City, Old Town, Fanning Springs, Trenton, and Chiefland, the only one with any character or charm is Trenton.

I drove back to the cabin, took a nap, and will dine in tonight. Tomorrow I start the homeward journey and depending on how my hip holds up, I’ll either drive straight through or spend the night en route.

By the way, I’ve self-diagnosed as sciatica. Apparently arthritis of the hip gives pain the the front of the thigh and groin area while sciatica is painful in the back of the buttocks and hip. Anyone know any good exercises to allege sciatica?

Nature Coast Trail and Trenton, Fl – Day 2

21 February 2017

I have come to the startling conclusion that the older I get, the steeper hills are, miles are longer than they used to be, and distances can be really be far even on a bicycle.

At a rest stop I tried my hand at a timer setting.

The map provided by the park shows the mileage to Trenton as 7 miles. I passed the 7 mile marker quite a ways from Trenton. All total I did 21 miles on the bike this day when it was only going to be 14 round trip. Life is funny like that. One thing I noticed is that my hands tingled after the ride. I can see that long distance riders could experience nerve damage. My butt didn’t tingle but it did get sore. Strangely, my hip didn’t bother me.

The bike path is well marked, paved, and mostly level. They have rest shelters along the path every 1 1/2 miles or so and mileage posts to depress you since you are sure you just pedaled two miles and the mileage post says only one.

As I started out, I was impressed with the spring wildflowers. There was nothing blooming in the park and so I assumed this would be a dull trip flower-wise but I was pleasantly surprised. One stunner all along the trail was Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) in full bloom. I had forgotten how pretty these can be. They stick with me memory-wise because my mother used to watch birds eat the black “cherries” when they were ripe, get drunk off the fermentation, and fall out of the tree.

I had the path to myself as I began at 8:30 am and finally did pass a walker about 1/4 of the way to Trenton. Once I reached Trenton, and on the return trip, I probably me 13 bikers and 1 more hiker. Even so, this is not a heavily traveled trail and you can see why some of the reviews on TripAdvisor call this Florida’s best kept secret.

Along the way I passed the Lancaster Correctional Facility. It spreads out over a large piece of ground just outside of Trenton. I kept a lookout for escapees. I also felt relief when they didn’t detain me.

Trenton is a righteous town! It’s he county seat of Gilchrist County and is the largest town in the county. The 2010 census put the population at 1,999 and it has an estimated 2015 population of 2,066. Must have been some long winters in there some where.

My first stop was the bathroom at the Old Depot which is one of several trailheads for the Nature Coast Trail.

The old Trenton Depot now used as a trailhead for the Nature Coastal Trail.

I love depots. I used to live by the one in my home town of Morton and my great grandfather, at one time, was an agent. Everything used to arrive by rail in Morton and grandfather owned the local hardware and was all time having to pick up goods there. This was back in the day of coal locomotives and as I traveled the trail, I thought I could smell the smoke – a very distinctive smell. Close, but no cigar. There was a tire recycling center along the trail and the odor from all those tires was very similar to coal smoke.

My second stop was the Suwannee Rose Cafe/Quilt Store/Gift Shop/and Exhibition Space.

The Suwannee Rose Cafe, Quilt Shop, and Quilt Gallery in Trenton, Fl.

As I walked in, a woman who introduced herself as Dianne, greeted me as “Mark” and shook my hand. I told her I wasn’t Mark and she apologized. I told her I wanted to look at quilts and she said it was my lucky day. Down a hallway, past the kitchen, was an amazing array of quilts. It was part of a national traveling exhibit of thousands of quilts. It was a themed exhibit where everyone had to incorporate to colors of a piece of cloth into their quilts.

This was the inspiration for the exhibit on display at the Suwannee Rose.

Winners were selected for cash prizes and she was pleased to show me the third prize winner for the entire contest.

Third Prize winner of thousands of entries. The young girl’s hair is composed on a lot of different colored threads with unbelievable needlework. Work by Delores Fegan of Stanford, Ky. Contest sponsored by Hoffman Fabrics.

Really, the work was jaw dropping. There was one Florida entry and one from Hattiesburg, Mississippi (this one by a man) but the most poignant was from Jopland, Missouri that had been severally damaged by an F5 tornado with over 160 deaths. Almost all worked the colors into their quilts and also the butterflies. The Joplin entry stated how school children said they survived by being saved by butterflies or butterfly people.

Dianne is the promoter for the quilt festival scheduled in Trenton for March 18 and she designed the poster for the event.

Dianne, the publicist for the festival gave me a tour of the Suwannee Rose emporium and quilt display. She designed the poster for the upcoming quilt festival.

Apparently, quilting is big in Trenton. I counted three quilt stores and two quilt museums.

She insisted I stop by the main museum on Main Street (yes, that’s the official name) which she said opened at 11 am.

I had time to kill until 11 and decided to tour the town of Trenton. Folks, this town has more restaurants per capital than any place I know. I counted eight within 2 city blocks. I even saw the one I had planned on eating tonight, Cherry’s Seafood and Steakhouse.

Cherry’s Seafood and Steakhouse where I intend to dine tonight.

It was rated as one of the best in the region by TripAdvisor. I suppose it can support all the restaurants with the prison personnel down the road.

I stolled over to the court house. It’s hard to believe a town of 2,066 is a county seat with a courthouse. I liked the architecture and had a great time watching people go in and out from a park across the street.

Gilchrist County Courtouse in Trenton, Fl.

I headed back and found the quilt museum already open. They didn’t have a bike rack so they let me bring my bike inside. There was a lady doing needle point and we chatted as I toured the exhibits. What I liked about the museum was the antique furniture in the building and the quilts actually displayed on beds. There was an old fashioned quilting frame with pulleys that pulled the frame and quilt under construction to the ceiling so it would be out of the way during everyday chores – just like at my grandmother’s house in Pulaski, Mississippi.

Lunch was soup and sandwich, where else, at the Suwannee Rose.

While eating, I noticed some activity at the Depot across the street. It was a tai chi class! This is some interesting little community!

As I started the trip back, I ran into an older couple on a bicycle built for two. They were starting in Trenton and headed to Cross Town, 19 miles away. Add in the return mileage and I was immediately tired. Not them. They just finished a 55 mile trip from Oleto State Park the day before. Everyone I meet seems older than me, in better shape than me, and faster than me!

I also stopped and talked with a man from Pennsylvania. His wife had just injured herself on their last trip and so he was solo. He and his wife travel down here during the winter months doing trails. I think they find a central, location, stay a month, then move on to another and stay another month.

I extended my journey to the rail road trestle across the Suwannee River.

Railroad trestle across the Suwannee River near Fanning Springs.

The trestle is in pretty good condition. I then kept going to Old Town, Florida and then returned to the park. I admit I was tired. The 21 miles seemed longer but I can tell I want to do more trails in the future.

I must have looked more tired than I realized at the end of the trip.

Fanning Springs State Park – Day 1

20 February 2017

I finally got away from the house at 10 am and drove the Turnpike to I-75 to just below Ocala and then veered off to SR 27 and then 19. I passed Williston, Chieftan, and finally made it to Fanning Springs where the park is located just a little after 4 pm.

These are the quintessential small towns of the south and I would like to have an opportunity to explore them further this trip.

After meeting the ranger who was in the mood to talk (27 years as manager of the park) I found the cabin.

The park became a part of the state system in 1992 and as a consequence, everything is pretty new. The cabins are really nice and they tried to maintain the feel of the old CCC cabins in other state parks.

Cabin #2 has a L-shaped screened porch with swing, picnic table and ceiling fans.

After settling in the cabin, I walked down to the springs and saw the swimming area.

The springs are categorized as a category 4 spring but at one time it was a category 5, the highest.

The very clear waters of Fanning Springs.

Flow rate is reported in their brochure as 40-60 million gallons a day. Alas, no manatee sightings but I did see Jim Wilson’s favorite eating fish.

Jim Wilson’s favorite eating fish – mullet!

I then walked the boardwalk which leads to a gazebo overlooking the Suwannee River.

I sometimes forget what a large river the Suwannee is. Fanning Springs was a steamboat stop on the river at one time.

My next endeavor was to walk the 2/3 mile or 3/4 mile nature trail The brochure says 2/3 mile and the web site says 3/4. Who knows. In any case, it is through a hardwood hammock and very flat. I walked it just before dark and before the mosquitoes tried to take me off.

Tomorrow is a bike trip. For those who don’t know, Fanning Springs State Park is next to the Nature Coast Trail, a bicycle trail made from old railroad lines in the area. If you go one direction, you travel 12 miles and end up in Old Town, Florida. Another direction takes you to Trenton (7 miles away) and a third direction takes you to Chiefland, 9 miles away. It’s fully paved and mostly in the shade and most importantly, flat as a pancake.

I’ve wanted to get back into cycling and so I recently purchased a Fuji Traverse 1.5 from Bicycle Evolution in Fort Lauderdale. I’ve known the owner Matt and his wife Leslie for several years and wanted to purchase from him. The bike is a hybrid, meaning it is good for paved roads and simple off trail bike paths. I love the bike. I put over 7 miles in two days at home just riding in the neighborhood and I look forward to getting on the trail tomorrow.

The trip up here was easy but I can tell I need a doctor to look into my left hip. It is probably arthritis but I need to know how far along it is. I had to make three rest stops to ease the pain in the hip. I’ll embrace Advil tonight before bed!

Torreya State Park – Day 4

20 September 2016

So much for gentle raindrops on the tent lulling you to sleep. Around 9 pm the bottom fell out. I doubt Noah was subjected to this amount of rainfall in so short of time. It was deafening inside the tent. It finally tapered off around 4 am.

I was more worried about the wind. You could really hear it roar in the tree tops but for some reason, it never reached ground level. I had staked the tent and fly fairly securely but the one complaint given about the tent on the REI website was the lack of stability in wind of over 50 mph. Everything was ship-shape when I checked the tie downs this morning.

The good news was the rain had stopped by the time I got up. I had to pack a wet tent but at least I didn’t have to do it in the rain. Tomorrow will be dry out day for the tent – if it doesn’t rain here.

The great news is the tent never leaked! I’ve been in downpours in tents many times and all of them leak. This one didn’t let a single drop in. I even kept the screens open for ventilation and I still didn’t get any rain inside. More importantly, there was no condensation inside. I’ve never seen the inside of a tent after a rainstorm that didn’t have some inside condensation. This tent was dry to the touch.

I always learn something new on each trip. The one thing I should have packed was door mats for the tent. It got really dirty and gritty inside with all the rain and foot traffic. I thought to bring rugs for the inside but not for the outside.

The table I purchased from REI was great. I may even purchase a second so one will hold cooking gear and the other will serve as a reading table (for the lantern) and to hold my wine glass.

I’m afraid I was a bad camper. Twice this trip I accidentally bumped my electronic key in my pocket and set off the car alarm – at 7 am each time. Good thing quiet hours are supposed to be over then, but I hate I disturbed some people sleeping in both days.

On the way in to the park the first day, I saw a single whitetail doe along the side of the park road. The same occurred the second day. On the way out this morning, a herd of whitetails crossed the road in front of me.

Although this is bear territory in Florida, I never saw one but did see several trees that had been clawed to get grubs. I assume it was a bear since the trees were rotten and pretty much shredded.

The trip back was uneventful except for the area around Palm Beach. It seems everyone on I-95 is trying to get to the Florida Turnpike and everyone on the Turnpike is trying to get to I-95. My GPS wanted to route me to I-95 at Jupiter, Florida (you can see I-95 from the Turnpike there) but decided there were traffic jams on 95. It then kept me on the Turnpike until there were traffic jams on that. I opted for bumper-to-bumper 6 lanes of traffic from Palm Beach to home on 95 rather than bumper-to-bumper traffic on 2 lanes of the Turnpike. I’ll never know if I made the right decision.

Added to the traffic problem was five cars were in a race south on the Turnpike and really put everyones’ lives at risk. They were even trying to pass each other on the right of the traffic lane just to get ahead of the other car. The speed limit on the Turnpike is 70 mph and I figure they were weaving in and out at 90 mph.

I thoroughly enjoyed this trip. The hike was great, albeit a little long, and the camping part was a lot of fun. Even dishwashing was not too onerous of a chore. I actually learned to relax, sitting in my REI folding chair, chilling with a glass of wine and listening to the wind in the trees, the owls calling out to one another, and getting to see constellations forever occluded in south Florida.

Torreya State Park – Day 3

19 January 2016

…or I should say Falling Waters State Park and Florida Caverns State Park. I copped out of hiking Torreya today and did these state parks.

I first headed to Falling Waters. I wanted to see the tallest waterfall in Florida (67′) into a sink hole. No water pools at the bottom – it simply goes underground thanks to our Karst topography. It is impressive as it tumbles into the sink hole.

The path to the falls is all newly done walkway and steps to the fall for optimum viewing. There are numerous sink holes along the way, prepping you for the falls.

You can then walk through a wire grass/long leaf pine community (again, all on boardwalk) and see the first oil drilling in Florida (they struck gas, not oil, and sealed it). Wiregrass is interesting in that it must have fire to produce seed. There is a close association with longleaf pine which also needs fire to reproduce successfully.

From there, I drove through their campsite to see what the sites looked like in case I wanted to come back and camp. This park seems relatively up-to-date with new facilities everywhere. Other than the falls and a few nature trails and a lake for swimming, there’s not much to it as far as entertainment. Just quiet and solitude. My kind of place.

From there I traveled back east along I-10 to Mariana, Florida and Florida Caverns State Park. I used to exit I-10 at Mariana when I would return to Mississippi and pass the park every time. I’d always wanted to see the place but was in too big of a hurry to stop. I’m glad I did this trip. I had an hour to wait for the tour and so quickly walked a trail near the cave.

Apparently, wildflowers did not receive the memo on global warming. Carolina jasmine was blooming. This is a Fall plant. You could always see it after the trees lost their leaves.

Carolina jasmine (Gelsemium sempervirens)

Trillium and rue anemone, both Spring flowers, were either in bloom or about to do so.

I added to my “never seen but heard of” plant list with Allegheny Spurge. My major professor thought this plant should be within my collection area and I knew he would be disappointed if I did not collect it in Tishomingo State Park where I did my thesis work. I never did. The damn stuff was growing like a weed in Caverns State Park!

Allegheny Spurge (Pachysandra procumbens)

Most of the caverns were prepared for public viewing by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) back in the 30’s. I was told it is the only cavern system in Florida you can tour. The others are mostly under water and even this one flood periodically.

I was surprised at the myriad of formations and the pristine condition of the cave. We had a guide and guide-in-training, so we got some interesting perspectives from each.

Guides said this was where the floor sank and created breaks that eventually resealed.

These were called sweet potatoes because of their shape. Apparently the CCC was always hungry and most of the formations are named after foods.

Floor of cave where water has etched the pattern

The guide said newer formations were white in color with calcite.

We did see one inhabitant of the cave.

Both of these parks are well worth a visit so put them on your Florida bucket list.

One other aside. There was a guy on the tour that looked exactly like my friend Chris – in height, hair color (and amount) and even the way he stood and the mannerisms. I spoke to him briefly and he and his wife were from Canada (Chris originally from England). A true Doppleganger.

For the past two mornings, we’ve been socked in by fog. One of the park volunteers told me he had been working here six months and had never seen it like it has been. I have to admit, the fog has been nice. It kept the temperature down and it would condense on the tree branches and drip softly on the tent all night long. It was very soothing and peaceful.

It is predicted to rain all night and all day tomorrow, so I’ll be packing up a wet tent for the trip back. I don’t mind since I need to clean the inside anyway and will need to air it out when I return.

From the dripping of fog condensate to rain on the tent, it has made for excellent sleeping weather!