I Left Collier Seminole, now back to EG Simmons County Park

Map shows the extent of all my rides

After my long kayak trip that I mentioned in my last blog, it was time for some more bicycling. The Blackwater River was really the only place you could paddle in the park, so there was no need to take the kayak off my RV.

In 5 days I biked over 75 miles, trying out every park trail and the nearby wilderness roads in the Picayune Strand State Forest. 

 I did some of the roads multiple times. You could take a state park hiking trail and then access the abandoned paved roads in the state forest. To get from the park to the nearby hiking trails required a 3/4 mi sprint down the bike lane on the Tamiami Trail. Going Northwest there was a wide bike trail to another hiking trail and beyond to a housing development and a huge tomato farm.

Actually, I first discovered this area in 1994 right after the forest took over the land from the developer. They still hadn't blocked all the roads into the area. You could boondock along the canals for free. After that, they cut off all automotive access to the area and stopped all camping.

This is what Miller Rd looks like, I took a break and sat on a big rock for lunch.

This state forest wilderness was purchased 30 years ago from a scam developer that tried to sell the mostly underwater lots to suckers up north. He put in a few roads and canals and that messed up the environment for water reaching the Everglades. It also messed up the environment for all the wild animals that lived here like Deer, Bears, Panther, Alligators and all sorts of birds. I saw deer & alligators and some wood storks, but the only picture I got was of the two alligators in a tiny park pond along the hiking trail.

However, this week, I've seen a lot of heavy equipment working around some of the roads and some power lines being installed. Maybe they will eventually allow some camping in a few places, gosh they have 75,000 acres, it would still be a wilderness.

In all my biking in this area I never passed another biker, Even though every camper seems to bring their bikes, very few ride them out of the campground.

I have no camping reservations for the next 5 days but hope I can get a campsite at either Lithia Springs or EG Simmons County Parks that I stayed in 2 months ago on my way south.

I checked the Alafia River water level and found that because of the drought the river was low and was not paddleable so there was no use of trying for a campsite at Lithia Springs.

I left at 8:30 am on Wednesday morning and headed for EG Simmons County Park on Tampa Bay. Since traffic was light in the morning I stayed on I-75 all the way and I got there at 11:30 am. Of course it was full with 6 names already on the waiting list for campers leaving today. I decided to wait and when the last site was assigned they said I could stay in a non-power site and that I would be first on the waiting list on Thursday. That will save me going to a nearby Walmart and driving back at 7 am.

While I was getting set-up I turned on my water pump and found that it had quit working. I called a nearby mobile RV repair and they said they could replace it for $400. What the F$$$?  Too much. I ordered a new pump from Amazon for only $80 and it should get here by Friday. I found that the non-power site still had a water connection so no pump was no problem, but I need to replace the pump for when I'm on the road. 

I found it not that hard to remove.  When my new pump comes on Friday it should not be too hard to install. It will give me something to do and keep busy.

UPDATE - Pump arrived Friday at 12:30pm, all installed and everything back together at 1:30pm. All working again.

It has been so hot here. Every day in February except two were in the 80's. I need to paddle or bike early in the day while it's still cool. I will be here through the weekend and then will head back to Silver Lake near Brooksville on the Withlacoochee River and 46 mile long paved bike trail.

 

Reached my Most Southerly Destination

 After 2 weeks at WP Franklin my time was up but I didn't have reservations at Collier Seminole State Park near Marco Island for two more days so I need to find something to do and places to camp. 

I left on Monday morning to bike on the John Yarbrough Linear Park Trail in Fort Myers which runs along the 10 mile canal.

It was very scenic and ran through mostly wooded areas. It crosses several busy highways where they route you to a nearby intersection crosswalk with traffic lights. I started on the south end and biked the 6 mile trail from their new parking lot up to the Page Field Airport. 

I had lunch there and watched all the private planes land. Near where I began there was Aldi's, Walmart, Lowes & Home Depot for shopping, it was a very busy area. I chose the Home Depot to camp for the night.

Haircut and my missing bridge
that fell out on my  birthday.

On Tuesday, Pat & Tom invited me to spend the day with them at his mother Rita's condo in Naples. Since there was no place for an RV to park there, I parked at a nearby Sam's Club. I had the morning to go get a haircut, my first of the trip. I was starting to look like a homeless person and felt I should look good visiting all my friends.

Before Tom picked me up. I called Joe & Sue Sivo since they had a condo next door to Rita. I was happy to find out that they were there and could stop over for a visit as well, They recently moved from Sheffield Lake to Chapel Hill, NC. They just got down to their condo in Naples in January.

Tom & Pat put on a nice lunch and I also met Tom's sister and brother in-law. I had a great time talking about old times and enjoying all their company. 

I realized that it would be dark in an hour so Tom drove me back to my RV and I headed to my overnight camp spot at a Cracker Barrel Restaurant near Marco Island. There were plenty of RV parking spots and I had a nice roast beef dinner. 

I left about 7 AM and headed to Collier Seminole State Park only 20 minutes away.

I snuck in the park before it opened at 8 am since the check-in time for my reserved campsite was not until 3 PM but I needed something to do today and it would be easy to drive the RV to the boat launch and unload my kayak there since it is more than a mile to the campsite. I was able to be on my adventure at 9 AM. The paddling trip must be done at near high tide to be able to get through Mud Bay. This is the link to the nearby Tide Chart. The tide takes 1-2 hours to fill Mud Bay.

There are channel markers all the way to Blackwater Bay.  The park says "The adventurous paddler can follow the Blackwater River out to the Gulf to explore the islands, or continue on to Mud Bay and then back to the Blackwater River and the boat launch".  After paddling up the Blackwater River, there was a strong current with the tide flowing against me all the way to the bay. I was able to find my way through the hundreds of small islands and eventually found the place called they called Grocery Place where I stopped for lunch at 12 noon.

 I was sure glad I had my GPS with me, trying to navigate through those small islands with no channel markers would have been impossible. There were some fishermen in small boats that I came across but I asked two if they knew if I was going the right way to Mud Bay, they had no idea.

Mud Bay had enough water if you were careful to avoid the shallow areas but I had a hard time finding the river I was looking for to get back out of the bay. But I finally found it and was back to the start after paddling 14 miles in 5 hours. 

In 2017, I paddled here with Peggy and we paddled out the Blackwater River to the bay and back, that was a 12 mile trip. I liked that I was able to navigate the entire route this time by checking the tide charts, later in the week the tide may have come too late in the day.

Now I just need to figure out what next adventure will be.

Visitors This Week

 

Sunset on the Caloosahatchee

Lock & my camp 

My campsite, shown in the picture, is at a Lock on the Caloosahatchee River, the locks allow boats to cross the state of FL from Fort Myers to West Palm Beach. It's a popular campground but each year I have been able to reserve a campsite.

Telegraph Creek Dinosaur

Last Saturday I paddled 3/4 mi West of the lock to Telegraph Creek. Each year I look for the  Telegraph Creek Dinosaur. Well after all these years I guess the flood after Hurricane Ian took him out, no more Dino.

The creek was low and I did see a really big alligator. He didn't move when I paddled past him going upstream but when I was coming back I stopped to take a picture, he slowly sank into the water.

I usually can paddle 3-1/2 mi upstream but this time I couldn't make it past some of  the dead fall left from the storm blocking my way, 

When I got back to the big river the wind was really blowing hard and if I didn't paddle hard I just sat there and If I stopped paddling I blew back downstream. So it was a sprint and I was sore the next day from the workout.

On Monday, Pat & Tom Foos arrived with their E-Bikes. Our plan like last year was for them to load up my bike and the three of us will explore all the bike paths in the nearby development of Babcock Ranch. From their brochure:  "Babcock Ranch spans over 17,000 acres of land and will eventually consist of 19,500 homes. Planned healthcare options and new medical facilities designed to support a larger population of residents and an abundance of parks open spaces, additional golf, and 50 total miles of trails, will create an open invitation to stay active and well." 

Right now they are building new homes like crazy, prices are $300 -$600K and up. We explored the outer perimeter of the development on many of their wide bike paths. In the new areas we biked down the newly paved roads. We started at the big Publix Grocery store and when we finished our 17 mile ride we stopped for lunch next door at a great little restaurant, M'Xuma Tacos.

It wouldn't be that far from my campground, if they ever put in a bike trail.  It is not safe to take the main roads to get here. There are no bike lanes or berm on River Rd. If you can, drive over and check out the nice trails all around this development.

 

Nine Mile Ride

On Wednesday I did another 9 mile neighborhood bike ride but it required me to go about a mile down River Road to get there. I did short sprints using wide spots and waited until there was no traffic to do the next sprint. I made a good fast pace on the long dead end roads.

On Thursday my friend's Kelly & Brent stopped by to say hello. They were heading to Brent's parents who live about an hour north of here. Brent was in Palm Beach all week and drove over to Fort Myers airport to pickup Kelly who just flew in from Chicago this morning.

I enjoyed seeing them but it was a hot afternoon and they were anxious to get back in their Alfa Romeo rental car and get ahead of the rush hour traffic in Port Charlotte.

After Super Bowl Sunday I'll be heading a little further south. I hope to overnight at a Walmart or Lowes on Monday night after a bike ride on the John Yarbrough Linear Park Trail. It is a 6 mile long paved trail that goes between Ben Pratt Parkway to Colonial Blvd following an the old Ten Mile Canal.  There is a large park nearby that I may also explore, Lakes Regional Park, right across from the Lowes store.

Hot on the Caloosahatchee

On my last blog I mentioned I would bike on Thursday with Barry & Sue on their E-Bikes to Bayfront Park in Sarasota. We all enjoyed the views of the Sarasota Causeway Bridge and it was certainly worth extending the bike ride off the trail on the new Ringling Parkway's sheltered bike lanes. Only the last 1/4 mi is missing but the traffic is very light. It was a 30 mile ride and we stopped at a Rally's on the parkway for lunch. That was my only ride with them as we seemed to always have different plans.

Venetian Waterway

Circus Lift Bridge on S Tamiami Trail

On Friday I did a 22 mi bike ride south along the Legacy Trail to the Venetian Waterway which has trails on both sides but very few options to easily cross. I found the easiest and safest way to cross was over the Circus Lift Bridge which has nice wide sidewalks. I headed to the end of the trail at Caspersen Beach on the Gulf of Mexico.

Site 24

My two weeks at Oscar Scherer State Park was over on Monday and did my bi-weekly shopping on the way to WP Franklin Locks on the Caloosahatchee River just East of Fort Myers. All their sites are on the river, either in the freshwater upstream or salt water downstream of the lock.

It was very hot, temperatures are forecast too be in the mid 80's for the next two weeks. I plan to do more kayaking than biking here since there are very few options for nice bike rides.

So on Tuesday I paddled the Caloosahatchee upstream  about a mile to Hickey Creek. This winding creek has many homes along it but finally ends in a nice park which was a good place for lunch.

On Wednesday I rode my bike around the neighborhood housing developments and even did a trail ride in Telegraph Creek Preserve which has hiking trails right across the road from our campground. 

They allow bikes and it is hardly used by anyone. When people get to the end of the campground driveway at River Rd (SR 78), they see the 55 mph traffic with no bike lanes so they turn around, but you only need to use the road for less that 1/4 mile. I was able to bike through the 3 neighborhoods for about 9 miles and did the 1-1/2 mi trail shown in green, beyond where I stopped it got sandy.

On Thursday I again kayaked upstream past all the million dollar homes with their big yachts out front to the Caloosahatchee Regional Park which is a rustic park with mountain bike trails and a tent campground, no RV's. It has more than a  mile of frontage along the river and has one tiny place where you can stop and enjoy a lunch at a picnic table.  The shore is lined with large boulders and this was the only place to stop.

Next week I hope to be visited by my niece Pat and Tom Foos who are staying at his mother's condo in Naples. Then I hope to see my kayak friends, Kelly & Brent, who are also my next door neighbors at Beaver Creek. They are flying in to visit Brent's parents near Post Charlotte.