All my Friends have left

 On Friday Dec 22 we decided to take another bike ride west of Fishhawk Creek to Boyette Springs and Shadow Run Parks. I have done this ride many times with Peggy so I lead Barry & Kimberly to the Boyette Springs Park with no problems but then my memory of the route got a little fuzzy, I was trying to find the path shown by the dashed red line through the Bell Creek Nature Preserve with all of its hiking trails. First I got a little lost trying to find the entrance which is a little gate off of Brughfield St. Then when we found it instead of the short sandy trail shown by the dashed red line to Donneymoor Dr, I rode all around on the blue trails shown on the map below. Barry found the right way while I rode around in circles. We eventually got to our lunch spot on Lake Grady. It turned out to be a nice 20 mile bike ride from camp.

On Saturday we decided to do the Alafia (Al-a–fee-ah) River again from Alderman Ford to our camp, the flow had dropped from 315 cfs to 140 cfs but there was still enough water for a nice paddle. Barry decided to bike the shuttle, about a 7 mi bike ride.

 I passed by this little alligator on the log and didn’t even see him, Barry took his picture after I passed by. The 9 mile paddle took about 3-1/2 hrs.

 Barry dropped Kimberly off at a friend’s house on Saturday night for a visit but then on Tuesday she flew to Nashville to help a community devastated by a tornado last month, she won’t rejoin our trip.

On Sunday and again on Christmas we watched the NFL football games on TV.

By Wednesday we decided we needed to paddle again, so we did the Lower Alafia again which had dropped from 215 to 120 cfs. I was pleased that there was still enough water that we made it over the shallow shoals without touching a rock.

Barry again did a 8 mi bike shuttle.

We saw the biggest alligator yet on this section.

 We paddled about 7 miles to reach the Brandon Boat Ramp. If you liked flatwater you could paddle another 9 miles and reach Tampa Bay. Of course there would be a lot of motorboat traffic.

The light rain started late Tuesday night and continued to about 10 am on Wednesday. Barry decided maybe this was a good time to start driving north.  If the traffic was not too bad he might paddle the Ichetucknee River near Lake City and then stay overnight at Ocean Pond campground. However there was a lot of slow traffic near Ocala so he got off on US301 and decided to start heading further north which could possibly get him home to Pittsburgh by Friday night.

Peggy loved these rivers and was always ready to paddle

Lithia Springs near Tampa

 

After staying overnight with my friend's Paul & Helen, I planned to shop and stay overnight at a Lowes near the campground so I could get to campground early on Sunday morning and get a campsite when the weekend campers leave. This campground does not take reservations. 

When I got near Tampa the forecasted heavy rain started, I thought that will chase the weekend campers away, so I decided to go directly to the camp at about 11 AM Saturday. I got campsite #50 near the river take-out beach trail.

Barry & Kimberly arrived on Sunday afternoon and we paddled the Upper Alafia River on Monday at a flow of 315 CFS. Which was great since it had been very low the past two weeks.

This is another favorite campground I havestayed here 15 different times over the past 24 years. Lithia Springs County Park has a large spring which is their swimming area. The water flows into the Alafia River. 

There are two sections we paddle. I like the upstream section from Alderman Ford to the campground which is a 9 mile paddle with a good current and little sandstone rapids. The difficulty for beginners is not the rapids but there are dozens of fallen trees to duck under, or paddle around.  Turtles, large birds and alligators are easy to see.

We had our campground host Chris drive Barry's van and our three kayaks to the put-in and then he dropped the van back at our campsite. 

Here is a picture of Chris last year with my kayak. He used to take Peggy & me along with our canoe with his jeep. I really appreciate all the help he has given me.

The lower section starts from the campground and is almost 7 mi to the Brandon Boat Ramp. No fallen trees, just limestone riffles. The last 3 mi has some big houses and some small motor boats, so I don't like it as well as the upper, but if the river level is low it is still paddleable.

The river level was dropping fast; we ran the upper at the peak flow of 315cfs on Monday and decided to paddle the lower on Wednesday which already had dropped to 215 cfs. The lowest I ever run the lower was 140 cfs. 

Barry dropped his car at the boat ramp take-out and peddled his bike back to camp, only an 8 mi ride on bike trails and neighborhood streets.

On Tuesday we took a 19 mi bike ride through all the concrete trails at Fish Hawk Ranch. As usual even though there are thousands of homes very few residents use these beautiful trails in their natural areas.

The weather all week was cool, 50 in morning and 65 for highs but finally on Thusday it is getting sunny and warmer.

 

Peggy checking out the FL Sandhill Cranes on the Fish Hawk trails.

On Thursday I decided to rest and work on my blog while Kimberly left early for a long bike ride and Barry left after lunch for a short bike ride.

On Friday we wll all take another long ride through the trails in Fish Hawk Ranch.

The Alafia River should still be high enough on Saturday for another upper run. The temperature are forecast to warm into the mid-seventies with sunny skies.

More Paddling - More Biking - Cooler Weather

 

We had a shopping and rest day on Sunday. Sunday was warm in the low 80's and I watched the NFL games on my TV. 

The Withlacoochee River was very low but it is still paddleable, Barry, Kimberly and me went upstream for a 6 mi paddle on Monday.

On Tuesday it was back to biking and we took a long 31 mi ride to Floral City. It was a nice sunny day. Here I am taking a rest on the way back.

On Wednesday we decided to Kayak again. This time down to Hog Island and back, a 8 1/2 mi paddle with a very low water level. It took us 4 hours.

Here is when Peggy was at Hog Island for lunch, either the table is very tall or Peggy is short.

On the weekend we will go separate ways. Barry and Kimberly plan to vist Erin Bethea in The Villages at Recreation Plantation RV Resort. I am going to visit my friends Paul & Helen at their beautiful home in Inverness.

On Sunday I will try to get a good campsite at Lithia Springs County Park near Tampa, and hopefully we will get together again.

There is supposed to be a big rain storm coming in on Saturday & Sunday bringing 4" of rain into the Tampa Bay area. Maybe it will bring the rivers back up to normak levels.

Friends arrive at Cypress Glen

 

Well, I took a 25 mi bike ride and got my haircut on Tuesday, and then on Thursday headed north on my bike to Floral City which was a 31 mi round trip ride.

On Friday I got a text from Barry Adams that they had paddled for three days in the Ocala NF area and were now coming to meet up with me at my campsite at Cypress Glen.

They didn't get here until dark and set up their tent. Barry is traveling this year with a young paddler/biker from PA, Kimberely.

We decided to bike to Brooksville on Saturday and maybe go shopping, but we ended up just resting in the nice park at the end of the trail. We then headed back to camp.  It was a very warm day, it might have hit 80.

We decided to go out to dinner at the new Mexican restaurant, El Sol de Mexico, at I-75 & SR50. It was very good, not Tex-Mex, and very resonably priced.

Sunday might be a rest day, we will see what develops.

Good Neighbor Trail to Brooksville

Rainbow Springs & Cypress Glen in the Withlacoochee State Forest

Rainbow Springs, like Silver Springs used to be a private park and zoo. But years ago FL State Park bought the spring and park in Dunnellon, FL It's been years since I have been here, I used to camp at the park right on the river but they reworked the campground and we never came back. I camped in a quiet spot at Walmart and got to the park at 8:30am. It is a long walk from the free large parking lot to the put-in ramp and swimming area. I have a nice canoe cart and had no trouble getting my kayak to the launch. There is a nominal $2 fee per person to walk into the park. I walked back and waited for Erin & Kathy to arrive. While they were running the shuttle, I dragged their kayaks down the trail with my cart as well. 

It is only a 5 mi paddle to the free take-out. Many paddlers put-in 1-1/2 mi downstream at KP Hole County Park and paddle up & back to the spring. This is a very popular place to paddle, scuba dive or swim in the 72^o spring water. However the right side of the river all the way to the take-out is loaded with houses, the left side is more wild and scenic.

There is a newer bike trail that connects to the 46 mi Withlacoochee State Trail and crosses the river near the take-out. They eventually plan to connect this bike trail to the Cross FL Greenway that I peddled yesterday.

It's only a 1-1/2 hr drive to my campground, Cypress Glen, one of 3 campgrounds at Silver Lake outside of Brooksville, FL. It is a really nice State Forest campground, with power & water hookups. They do take reservations but you only need one if you are here on a weekend. I planned to stay for two weeks and needed to make reservations. 

It is 1-1/2 mi through the camp on the paved camp roads to the Withlacoochee StateTrail. You have three nice options from here, you can bike 11mi to the southern terminus, bike 12-1/2 mi to Brooksville on the Good Neighbor trail or bike 37 miles North to near the Dunnellon. That's too far for me do I usually just do a roundtrip ride to Floral City and back.

The camp is right on Silver Lake, a wide spot on the Withlacoochee River. It is slow moving river and you can paddle upstream or downstream here for miles.

When I got to the park the road was blocked since the EMT's were waiting for a helicopter to land in the road and life flight someone who fell off a ladder, to Tampa. After they flew away I was allowed to enter the park.

I decided to have a rest day in my hammock on Saturday. The weather was sunny and a hot 87^oF.

It was hot again on Sunday morning with a forecast of late afternoon showers, so I did a 25 mi roundtrip bike ride in the morning to Brooksville & back. Peggy loved this trail. river and campground.

When I looked in the mirror I realized that I badly needed to get a haircut.

Peggy used to cut my hair but I may peddle south past the end of the trail tomorrow to near Dade City and go to a barbershop.

 

Juniper Springs and the Cross Florida Greenway

I made it over to Juniper Springs, once a favorite campground of mine. But over the years the Ocala National Forest Park has deteriorated, not the campsites, but the park itself. The best part of the park was this wooden walkway that paralleled the river and was a way to really see the river for park users who were not paddling. The park had volunteers that repaired the rotting boards and it was always walkable. Then some bonehead park administrator decided to hire a contractor to repair it. The cost was very high and they did a few hundred feet and decided it should be totally replaced but they did not have the money to do that so they just closed it. Then they hired a contractor to run the canoe concession, manage the campsites and run the boat shuttle. So they now charge you to put-in, and only do pickups at the take-out rather than letting you run a car shuttle and paddle at your own pace.

Well, you know me, I don't follow rules, so we did our own shuttle since Erin & her friend Kathy both had cars, and Kathy's rack could hold my kayak as well as theirs.

I picked a campsite that I knew had a secret trail to the river that was easier to use then the pay-for boat launch.

The river was great, no one else on it and a few fallen trees that we had to duck under. The fast current helped, we paddled the 7 mi river in 3 hours. But it was a very cool day, Low 50's, so we saw no aligators and very few turtles.

I may skip this river on any future FL trips, but don't let my bad review stop you from trying the river at least one time.

I was cold and tired when I got back to camp and the temperature Wednesday morning was 35oF. I decided to skip paddling Silver Springs and just sleep-in, get some fuel and find a nice quiet campsite for the night. I pick a big Lowes store next to an Aldi's.

It was sunny and warmer on Thursday and just 3 mi from the Lowes was the Cross Florida Greenway, a paved trail that crosses over I-75. It has 4 underpasses for busy roads and only two road crossings on counry roads. It starts at Santos State Park and ends at FL-200. I did it the 16 mile trail from a Walmart on FL-200 to Santos and back. I peddled 32 1/2 miles in 3 hours and then headed to a Walmart in Dunellon for the night and hope to paddle on Friday with Erin & Kathy on the Rainbow Springs River.

I did think I saw someone who looked a lot like Peggy at the Land Bridge Crossing over I-75.

Ichetucknee Springs on Monday

It started to rain on Sunday morning and I needed to go shopping and get some groceries, so rather than break camp and drive to Lake City and back, about a 40 mi round trip, I decided to just check out, shop and stay at a Lowes overnight. I could go out to eat for the price of my campsite and get an early start on Monday morning after a short 20 mi drive to the Ichetucknee Springs River. 

The striking clarity of the Ichetucknee River rates it as one of the best, if not the premier example of a spring-run stream in Florida. The park protects 3.5 miles of this cherished river, as well as its major springs and numerous seeps. The clear, cool spring water of the Ichetucknee River travels a couple of miles downstream before meeting the darker, tannic Santa Fe River. 

The current is fast and in the summer it is a favorite place for people to float on inner tubes. So for paddlers it is best to avoid the summer or warm weekends, then you might have the river to yourself. I have always started at the take-out and paddled the 3 miles up to the spring, then you can float back and enjoy the scenery, white-tailed deer, raccoons, river otters, wild turkeys, wood ducks, ibis and great blue herons can be seen from the river along with dozens of turtles on the fallen logs.

Sometime plans don't exactly work out. On my drive over to Lake City I heard a loud thumping sound coming from a tire. Being a Sunday, not much I could do until Monday morning. I found my 9 year old tire was starting to delaminate, I needed to buy at least 2 tires in town. Sunday's dinner plan didn't work either, it was only 1/4 mi walk to the restaurant from my RV but it was raining so hard I decided to have some leftovers instead. Luckily I found a nice tire store right across from the Walmart and they had enough tires in stock, so I decided to buy all 6 tires and be done with it. I was on the road to the Ichetucknee by 10 am. I was on the river after 11 am and paddled to the source of the spring. I did see 3 river otters, 2 curious deer watching me paddle by and hundreds of very tame turtles. None jumping in the water when you paddle by like on other rivers. I also saw more paddlers going downstream, at least 20 in 5 or 6 groups, than I have ever seen before. 

It was a sunny morning but after my big tire purchase I drove to the river and there was Peggy waiting for me to launch our canoe, I wish.

I got back to my RV by 1:30 pm after having lunch at the spring and was on the road to Juniper Springs in the Ocala National Forest where I checked in at 3:30pm, busy day.

Tomorrow's plan is to meet up with Erin Bethea and her friend who are in the area paddling several rivers.

Ocean Pond - Thanksgiving

Aerial View of Ocean Pond Area

It's been a warm week in Northern Florida, the highs have been in the mid-70's and lows about 60's.

I got here ahead of my plan late Wednesday (11/15) since there was rain forecast up in SC & GA. 

In past years it was difficult to get a campsite here during Thanksgiving week, but I don't know if the pandemic in 2020 & 2021 changed campers plans because this park was closed at that time. 

There were lots of sites available with Electric & Water when I arrived, but the entire park filled up last weekend. However by Monday 11/20 the park again had lots of available sites and did not fill until Wednesday afternoon. 

The lake doesn't offer much for me to want to take down my kayak and paddle, since although the area is scenic there are motorboats with fisherman that zip around the lake and it is no fun if it is windy. So in all the years we have been coming here I never attempted to paddle. I did find that the no traffic forest roads were ideal to bike on, but be sure to wear something bright during hunting season.

View from Hog Pen to my campsite

 

View from Olustee Beach to my campsite

I took my second bike ride, a 14 mi ride on the sandy forest roads, around the lake and stopped at Hog Pen Campground and had lunch at Olustee Beach along the way. 

A cold front came in on Monday night and we had had a little rain on Tuesday while I waited for a FedEx envelope to arrive from my bank. It never came, and even with calls and promises to deliver, it never arrived on Wednesday either. 

It turned very cool on Thanksgiving Day morning, about 48^o. But it was supposed to warm back to 60^o  with sunny skies. I decided to take another 13 mi bike ride, this time to the northwest of the lake. About 2/3 was on paved roads but I never saw even one car. No one else even takes their bike out of the campground.

Missing Peggy's Turkey Dinner
 on Thanksgiving 8 years ago

I decided I would stay here for 3 more nights and drive over to Lake City to buy some groceries and then spend Sunday night at a Walmart. Then on Monday, I can get an early start to drive to the nearby Ichetucknee Springs River take-out. It's easy to paddle for 3 miles upstream to the spring source and then drift back.

Ocean Pond Campground - Thanksgiving Week

Ocean Pond Campground is in the Osceola National Forest in Northern FL. See my last blog about why I left early to secure a campsite for Thanksgiving week. The campground totally filled late Friday and I wonder if I would have got a site if I waited until Sunday morning as I originally planned.

We did get almost an inch of rain while I rested, but it was warm and sunny with temps. in the mid-70's on Saturday morning. 

This map I made shows the options of different NF roads you can use to take a nice bike ride. So today I decided to do the 14 mile loop that goes east to Olustee Battlefield, site of a civil war battle. 

Forest Roads - No traffic and easy to bike on

They have a small museum with some artifacts, and a few canon and a small monument.

I swear I saw Peggy's ghost actually firing one of the canons or maybe it was just an a halucination. :-)

Nice Sunset from my campsite

Augusta's Savannah River Trails

Savannah Diversion Dam

 I've done this trail that runs between the river and the canal several times with Peggy.

To see a map of the canal and nearby trails: Download a map of Augusta's Trails

For the first 5 miles the trail is dirt and runs between the river and the canal. It may be muddy & have deep puddles after a rain.

Then the other paved trails split off, I took the 3.5 mi River Level Trail which goes to downtown Augusta and has views of the beautiful homes across the river. I did a 16 mi round trip and was on the road to FL by 11AM.

Peggy's Love Lock

Here is today's view

View of the homes across the river

I normally would have stayed for 2 days and biked the other trails as well but they were forecasting an afternoon rain and rain on Thursday as well.

So I got on the road by 11am for the 285 mile rainy drive to FL and stayed in my first campground of the trip in Osceola NF, Ocean Pond Campground. They don't take reservations here and only have about 16 campsites with electric power and water. Because it was mid-week before the start of Thanksgiving week I was fortunate that they had 6 empty sites when I arrived just before twilight. I got the same campsite I had last March.

Site 6

So Thursday will finally be a rest day for me, it's cloudy with a chance of rain but temps in the low 70's. Finally I'll be able to grill myself some Salmon & Zucchini.