Category: Torreya State Park

18 January 2016

I got a great night of sleep last night in spite of not having received my queen size air mattress.  Sleep didn’t look too good earlier in the evening.  The camper next to me was watching movies on tv with his windows open. The camper is not much to look at but the TV has surround sound.  However, the movie was over around 8:30 pm and I slept well.

Again, park trail maps lie.  Either that or my Garmin is badly misreading data points via satellite. There are two trails in the park with several connecting trails.  The first trail, called the Torreya Trail,  starts at the Gregory House and follows the Appalachicola River and then breaks away into the park.  It is a 6.5 mile loop.

The second trail is the Torreya Challenge Trail. To get to the trail head, you have to hike in 1.03 miles (there calculation, not mine). Once you reach the trail head, it is a 6.5 or 6.75 mile loop, depending on the map or the bulletin board.

My Garmin said I did over 9 miles today.  It felt like 9!  I’ve hiked over 9 in a day twice last year: Grand Canyon South Rim and Point Reyes National Seashore – Glen Camp trail. I was as tired today as then.

The hike started out foggy and very humid.  You could barely see the trail markers at first.

Florida State Parks have a convention for trail markers.  Blue blazes on trees (actually blue spray paint) are for connecting trails and red/orange is for main trails.

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I met one hiker starting out.  He went counterclockwise around the trail and I went clockwise.  We met again at mile marker 3. He was a much faster hiker than I and he intended to do both loops today.

On my last leg of the trail, some young adults stopped where I was resting. One young man lives directly across from Broward College, South.  His girl friend is majoring in marine biology.

The last two hikers I met are staying in the campsite.  In talking with them after the hike, they started the hike at 11 am and finished before I did.  I started at 10 am and met them on the way out. They also said their phone measured over 9 miles.

It seems I start out strong, but have to catch my breath (and get my heart rate down) on the hills.  I’ve learned breath control in hiking and when I get to the top of a climb, I rest 45 seconds to 60 seconds – enough I don’t hear my heart pounding in my chest.

As the hike wears on, I end of resting part of the way up a climb. Towards the end of the hike, I may have to stop 3 or 4 times in a climb to get my heart rate down.

Depending on how I feel tomorrow, I’ll either do the Torreya Trail loop or drive to Falling Waters State Park to see the tallest waterfall in Florida.

17 January 2016

I left Lakeland around 8:30 am. It takes forever to get anywhere in Florida – either due to traffic or the length of the state.  It takes less time to drive the length of California than to get to the panhandle.

All during the drive I was contemplating checking in at the park and then driving further west to Falling Waters State Park to see the tallest water fall in Florida. As I drove, it kept getting cloudier, so I decided to check in and pitch camp.  I can do the other park later in the week.  It was a good call.

Last Friday, I did a dry run on pitching my new tent.  It is a Kingdom 8 from REI and will sleep eight people.  More importantly, you can stand upright.

My reasoning was if I were to do state parks this year, I would want a little more comfortable camping experience, especially since I wouldn’t be back packing into a campsite.  The Kingdom 8, to quote someone, is “YUGE”.

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Today, I got the tent up in under an hour and feel confident it will only take he about 30 minutes from now on.  This is luxury camping.  I have a living room, kitchen and garage as well as a bedroom and bathroom!

I checked in much later with the ranger/host and met a couple of campers.  Dinner was prepared inside because of the slight chance of rain turning into a deluge.

I had a pork chop sautéed in butter and rosemary and cabbage sautéed with baby Bella mushrooms and garlic.  To toast the occasion, I had a Chloe Chardonnay from Sonoma.  Life is tough.

As you can see, I really do have all the comforts of home.  I don’t even have to get up and hike to the bathrooms in the middle of the night. The toilet has a chemical compound that solidifies any liquid waste and deodorizes any smell.  It comes with its own disposable bag.

Tomoorow, I plan to hike the Torreya Challenge, a 6.5 mile hike in the steepest terrain in Florida.  I suspect I will be walking up and down hills the whole way.

16 January 2016

The itch to travel got to be too much so I planned a three night camping trip to Torreya State Park in the Florida panhandle.  For those who followed my cross country blog, this was the park I packed out of in the middle of the night due to a hurricane warning, near Bristol, Florida.  The park has 12 miles of challenging trails (for Florida) and I wanted to try my hand at some of the most difficult hiking in the state.  It’s the elevation.  Relatively speaking.  The highest elevation in Florida is near the park at a staggering 345 feet above sea level.  That is the lowest, highest elevation of 50 states.

I decided to divide the drive to the panhandle into two parts and put in at Lakeland, Florida for the night.  I’m at The Terrace on Main Street.

I stayed here last year when a friend and I toured the Frank Lloyd Wright campus of Florida Southern.  The Terrace is listed as an historic hotel of America.  The hotel was renovated and it’s centrally located to downtown.

Lake Mirror is directly across the street and is famous for its swans.

The original population was wiped out by 1954 but the Queen of England donated a pair and now over 80 live in and around Lake Mirror.

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The lake is the centerpiece of the town and is a beautiful walk.  It’s equally impressive at night.

Near the hotel is Harry’s Seafood and Bar where I ate last visit and this one.  They specialize in New Orleans cuisine and I have to admit it is pretty close to the real thing.  Tonight was blackened redfish with collard greens.

Tomorrow I hit the road for Torreya and three nights of tent camping.  Let me explain.  It’s actually tent camping from a car.  I realized this new year I wanted to explore more of Florida’s state parks (also to save a little money and not do another cross country trip so soon). I invested in a new tent that is large enough you can stand upright.  As I get older, this becomes more important.  Once I get it set up tomorrow, I’ll send photos so you can see.