E.G. Simmons County Park on Tampa Bay

We left Lithia at 8 AM on Sunday morning for a short drive to another Hillsborough county park, E.G. Simmons Regional Park on Tampa Bay. We stayed here last year and enjoyed our stay and since they didn't take any reservations we figured that it wouldn't be hard to get a site on a drizzly cool Sunday morning. We got here after grocery shopping at 9:00 AM. We were 14th on the waiting list to get in but he said that he expected at least 20 persons to check out. You can't check-in until after 11:30 AM but at least we got a nice site that was close enough to the office to have Wi-Fi internet access.

We signed up for three days but expect to stay until the following Sunday. A cool front had come in but it was supposed to start warming and be dry though the weekend. We biked into the town of Ruskin for shopping a few times and the temperature finally got back over 80o by Thursday.

Lithia Springs near Tampa, FL

Peggy hiking on the Florida Trail

Bill Miller & Cathy Needham spent 3 days with us at Silver Lake. We hiked the trails and biked on the Withlacoochee State Trail, a 46 mi long, 12’ wide, paved bike trail.
It was cool every morning but pleasantly warm by the afternoon. I was able to paddle my kayak a few times but the river was very low due to the drought conditions. So I just paddled a few miles upstream and downstream of our camp. In all we spent 10 days here.
Bill & Cathy needed to head back North so that they could be back in Cleveland in about a week.
 Peggy & I drove a little further South to Lithia Springs County Park on the Alafia River. We got the same campsite right on the river that we had camped at the last few times that we camped here.

John at Lithia Springs Campground

 

Lithia Springs

Alafia River at campsite

This river was also very low so I just paddled downstream from our camp on the Alafia River past the springs until it became too shallow to easily paddle then paddled back upstream.

John back in his hammock

I had a nice rest in my hammock when I returned. We went for a bike ride on Monday through FishHawk Ranch which is a housing development with over 25 miles of concrete bike trails, that weave through the community connecting parks, houses and shopping centers. We did some grocery shopping, and then headed back to camp. In all we pedaled 14 mi. on the sunny and breezy 70^o day.

We are now in Florida 2/2009

We left Bobbie’s house early Thursday morning and got such a good start that we decided to drive to Silver Lake which is just off I-75 North of Tampa. The weather is close to 80oF, so unless it gets colder we may stay here a while since we can hike on the good trails, bike on the Withlacoochee State Bike Trail, a 46 mi paved bike trail or paddle my kayak on Silver Lake and the Withlacoochee River.
There is a library with internet within easy biking distance and a grocery. I talked to Bill Miller & Cathy and they will be heading north in a few days and may camp with us.
Not sure of any plans after that we may head further south if it gets colder here.