Days Before and After at Alafia River

December 17-22 & 27-30, 2022                             Most Recent Posts:
Alafia River State Park Site 5                      Winding Up Wekiwa Springs
Lithia, Florida                                   More Wonderful Days at Wekiwa Springs

My days at Alafia River State Park before flying to visit Carrie and her family for the holidays were very different than my days after I returned.  All of these photographs are from the days before my trip north.

I had a two week reservation split into thirds.  The first 5 days at the park 6 days in Maryland two of which I was flying and 3 days back at the park before leaving on December 30.

My site was a pull through which is always nice though seldom as private as a back in.  The real advantage is that I could both take the car off and put it back on the RV in my site which was a serious blessing when I had to move on.

This was the view from my bedroom window.

Alafia River State Park was a phosphate mine beginning in the 19th century.  Mining altered the landscape and created new landforms such as small lakes and steep grades.  The 7743 acres  was donated to the state in 1993.  Currently it is well known for its mountain biking and equestrian trails. 

The forest has grown back and the area where mountain biking exists is an erratic mixture of pond depressions and abrupt hills jutting from the surface. The park claims to have some of the most radical elevation changes in the state which of course is primarily flat flat flat.  This left over strip mining topography has 20 miles of trails much of which can also be hiked.

This is the view out my living room windows of Lake Hurrah.  I’ve never seen anyone but ducks and a few fishermen using the lake.  Still it’s a pretty spot.

I spent most of the beginning days here both hiking and reading on my patio.  Unfortunately for me, the recent hurricane had taken out the boat launch and bridge on the Alafia River.

As with most state parks, happily the trail heads were easy walking distance from my site.  Some of them were mown through tall grasses on their way into the woods and others were wooded from the start.

My first hike took me by a new addition to the park.  They call it Comfy Camping.  I’d not been here to Alafia in two years because of Covid and vandalism.  Thus I had never seen this.

There are 3 set ups like this one that you can reserve.  It would be fun camping for a family group.

The sites were occupied several times during my stay here.

But I was never able to get pictures of the things under the covers by the outdoor tables on the right.   I assume they are the advertised camping cook-station table with a butane burner as well as a charcoal grill.

Picnic table under a shade structure and Nice hammock on the left.

And very nice campfire seating complete with flower pots.  You can see a campsite in the short distance.

The tent entrance has a nice bank of solar panels but they would not support heaters or air conditioning.   The website says “starts at $99 a night” with a queen size bed.   There are some nice pictures of the inside of the sleeping quarters on the website.

From there I walked on by the horse barn which has 6 very nice stalls for folks who want to ride the trails and spend the night in their RV or horse trailer.

While I was walking along the road by the horse barn on my way to the trail head for the trail that goes around the lake, I saw this duo.

It’s a bit hard to see the hat and googles worn by the dog since they are both black.

The lake trail head goes along a mown path through a field to those trees in the distance.

I believe it is an all purpose trail open to bikes, hikers and horse back riders.   I saw no one.

And the little back dot ducks were the only wildlife around.

Nearly every day I went out on one or another of the trails open to hikers.  Most are through the woods.

and often over bridges or other wooden structures set up by the SouthWest Association of Mountain Bike Pedlers who originally created and maintained the mountain bike trails which are now maintained by the Friends of Alafia club.  In previous posts I have shown pictures of some of the swoops and swirls on those trails.   If you’d like to see them, type in Alafia River in the search box at the top left of the blog.  I’ve read that the bike trails are rated Epic  by the International Mountain Biking Association.  Epic sounds pretty serious.    I intended to get pictures of those more difficult bike runs after my trip North but of course that didn’t happen.

On another day I came upon this hawk sitting on a snag right on the trail.  I was very close to him and stood stone still watching him and taking pictures for quite some time.  Unfortunately as you can see from the shot below, the sun was directly behind the hawk and I was afraid to pass him to get shots from a better angle where he might be something more than a shadow.  I was pretty sure he’d fly away if I tried to pass right by his perch.

So unfortunately these were the best shots I have.  The one on the right shows him  standing facing the same direction as the one on the left but turning his head around and looking behind him.   Amazing that they can do that.  Makes for 360 degree vision.

Other trails on other days.

This particular pond had an alligator lazing on its far bank.  The only gator I saw in the park.

I was very taken with this tree stump and wondered how such a design could have happened.

Isn’t it beautiful?  Is it natural?  Or a woodburner with portable tools?

The day after I returned to the park I was sick and unable to do anything for the remainder of my stay.  It was quite a difficult ordeal to pack up and  move to Highlands Hammock where I did go to Urgent Care in Sebring for all the good it did me.  It is very hard to be traveling alone when you are ill.  But that’s for my next post.

Winding up Wekiwa Springs

December 14- 16, 2023                                                  Most Recent Posts:
Wekiwa Springs State Park           More Wonderful Days at Wekiwa Springs
Site 47                                                           Back to December – Wekiwa Springs
Opopka, Florida

SAINT JOHN’S RIVER STEAK AND SEAFOOD

As you’ve seen from my last two posts, I’ve had a wonderful time at Wekiwa Springs mostly kayaking and some hiking.

On the afternoon of the 14th I drove to Sanford to meet Shayne and Bev at St John’s River Steak and Seafood which is on Lake Monroe fed by the St. John’s River.

The St. John’s is Florida’s longest river at about 310 miles.  It is one of the only rivers in the northern hemisphere that flows northward.  It’s a very slow moving river which drops about an inch a mile from its headwaters in Kissimmee Prairie State Park to the Atlantic Ocean.  A total of 30 feet.  One of the smaller rivers that feeds the St. John’s is the Wekiva whose headwaters is at Wekiwa Springs.

St John’s is an interesting river in so many ways.  Its drainage basin covers  about 12,400 square miles or about 21% of the state.   It drains north and east central Florida, an amazingly large area.  But it is such a slow moving river that pollutants are not flushed out easily and run off from agriculture, urban areas and discharge from water treatment plants are major sources of pollution.  It’s very sad.  At times when the river is low, tides from the Atlantic Ocean may cause reverse flow bringing salt water 161 miles up stream to Lake Monroe.  The city of Sanford sits on the southern shore of the lake. 

The recent hurricanes and river flooding did a great deal of damage to the city and the restaurant.  The photo below is what was the restaurant’s patio facing the lake.

Inside things were going along as usual luckily.

It was wonderful seeing Shayne and Bev again and my oysters and seafood gumbo were excellent.

Here are a couple of pictures of the restaurant’s lake front in pre damage days.  Perhaps next year we will come back and they may have it all repaired.  Assuming no more hurricanes come which is by no means assured any longer in November.

ON THE SPRING RUN

I was out on the spring run both that morning before meeting them and the next, my last day at Wekiwa.  I was paddling around the edge of the spring basin before heading on out to the spring run when I saw this alligator lazily moving along.  He could easily be seen by folks on the bridge connecting the spring itself to the kayak put in area.  No kayaks allowed in the spring only swimming.

Aren’t they wonderful looking.  So ancient like the armadillo and the opossum.

He was sliding down in the water a bit.  Sometimes they get so low only their eyes show above the water line.

He was only this far away from me.

And then. . . . .

What is that little pied billed grebe doing?  Surely he should be quickly heading in the other direction.  He’s exactly the right size for an alligator snack.

Apparently the grebe somehow knew the gator was not hungry today.  Seriously a mystery of nature. 

The gator swam right by the grebe without seeming to  pay any attention at all.  THANK GOODNESS.  Any other outcome would not have been something I’d like to see.

I so look forward to seeing the grebe in the spring basin nearly every morning.  This day was the only one out of two weeks where I saw the gator there.

Further on along the spring run the reflections in the water were wonderful

 

I took several photographs here from different spots before I noticed . . . .

the little buck relaxing and almost hidden.

You can see from both of these shots how difficult he was to spot.

This closer one shows his antlers.

From then on, I had my eyes peeled and not too far away I found what may be two of his ladies fair.  They were clearly watching me.

I’d heard hawks calling on many of my paddles and even seen them high up in the skies but today I saw one in the trees over my head. 

Thank goodness the spring runs relatively slowly since trying to look at the water and who is on it, at the bank and who might be there and in the trees and sky is quite difficult.  I need eyes everywhere.

The little green heron may be the most frequent sight on the river.  This one I would say looks rather frumpy today.

There are multiple green herons on the river.  This one looked a bit out of sorts.  His “hair” made me laugh.

If any of you better birders know what this means, please tell us.

I watched him for quite a while trying to see if something was upsetting him and when he moved up into the tree, it still was not clear.  But one might be forgiven for not recognizing this bird  as the same variety as the one  in my initial grumpy shot.

LAST DAY AT WEKIWA SPRINGS

Since today was my last day, I thought I’d include this shot of 6 of my 8 neighbors.  They were quite a yippy group.   I cannot even imagine traveling with 6 little dogs.

I haven’t shown a turtle “look mom no feet” pictures this time so here is one.  I really should do some research to find out what makes turtles do this and green herons get their top knots out of whack.

This female anhinga drying her wings was also a rare sight for me.  Because I go out first thing in the morning and am back normally by noon, I do not see anything which might be on the river in the afternoon when it is warmer.  Perhaps they are not a rare sight then.

Such a wild and free place.  Hats off to the State of Florida for its protection of its springs and their rivers.

Amazingly, two days in a row I saw the hawk and today two of them.

As you can see from the pictures I was behind them and pretty much under them.  I used my rudder to hold myself as still as I could lest I frighten them off.

Time to leave.

and it was time for me to leave too.  This is my last shot from the spring basin as I brought the kayak in to put it back on the car and move on to Alafia State Park and the holiday visit to Maryland I have already posted about. 

To say I was sorry to leave would be a great understatement.