After 100 days, I'm back home

 As I described in my last blog I was at Ocean Pond Campground for the past 6 days. No kayaking but I biked the four big loops shown on the map posted on my last blog. So this year I ended up biking 780 miles on my new gravel bike and paddling 110 miles in my kayak. I got lots of cardiac rehab and gained a couple of pounds, hopefully all muscle.

I always watch the weather before I commit to the long drive home. I was ready to come home after my 100 days on the road and it looked like spring-like weather was coming to Cleveland starting with the first day of spring on Monday. But the forecast for Saturday in FL was lots rain all day where I was camped. I was surprised when I awoke that it was still dry but rain was coming in an hour. I quickly broke camp and was on my way by 7:45 AM. I did drive through a little of very light rain in southern GA. Traffic was light and I made really good time. I entered SC at 1 pm which was way too soon to stop for the night.  So I pushed on through Columbia & Charlotte which was slow but still made it to a nice quiet Walmart in Elkin, NC by 5:30 PM.

When I looked at Sunday's forecast I saw that it was snowing back home but would stop in the morning and there was some snow in the mountains of WV. It was a sunny but a cold day. When I reached southern WV there were dark clouds and snow flakes, but no travel problems.  I made it home at 3 PM, Westlake was the only place I saw any snow on the ground for my entire trip. 

My daughter's Joan and Pam came over and helped me unpack the RV. It was so fast it would have taken a few days with me unloading by myself, I really appreciated their thoughtfulness.

Finished another week at Silver Lake and now at Ocean Pond

 

During my last week at Silver Lake I biked twice and paddled twice.

I paddled upstream for 3 miles and stopped at this nice beach for lunch and then headed back to camp. I don't know if this is private property or not but it doesn't look like a good place to park.

I kayaked upstream twice this week. I didn't see any gators or birds like my downstream paddle and you also pass some homes along the way. But you will see a lot of turtles sunning on the logs.

In all my bike rides to Brooksville over the past 4 years on the paved 10 mi long Good Neighbor Trail, we usually stopped at the train museum and park at the end of the trail. There is not much else around there. 

I was wondering where all the stores in Brooksville were. I looked on the map and saw that if I just biked through a few quiet neighborhood streets I could make my way over to all the stores and restaurants and even a Walmart. It did make it a 30 mi long bike ride.

I got a nice early start from Cypress Glen campground at sunrise, 7:30AM on Sunday morning (3/12). I stopped at a Walmart and Aldi’s near Starke and got to Ocean Pond campground in Osceola National Forest near Lake City, FL by 11:15 am. They do not take reservations and have a 14 day camping limit. 

I was hoping to get one of the 19 sites with electrical & water hookups and lucked out, someone had just pulled out of #6.  It's a nice big site with lots of shade and trees to tie up my hammock.

The power sites are normally full everyday but from Sunday to Thursday if you get here by 10-11 AM you can usually get a site. All the campsites are always full on the weekends. There are three different camps at Ocean Pond, the second one has about 20 water hookup only sites and the last one is in a nice woods but no water hookups, it is better for tent campers. They raised the price this year so the sites with senior discounts are only $20, $10 and $6. The extra $10 for the power sites makes the non-power sites more popular than in the past.

On Sunday night I finally got the first heavy rain on this whole trip. A cold front also brought a tornado watch but it never got that windy but it didn't stop raining until noon so I took the time to write this week's blog.

Ocean Pond is a 2 mi diameter round lake and if it were not windy you could do a nice 6 mile paddle along the shore line. I have never paddled here. I have biked all the forest roads in the area shown on the above map. The best ride is the one over to Olustee Battlefield State Park, it is the site of the biggest civil war battle in FL. There are a couple more rustic campgrounds in the area, Hog Pen and Cobb.

I don't have a date yet when  I plan to leave and head for home. It mostly depends on the weather. I have usually made it home from here in 2-1/2 days.

Back to Cypress Glen campground on Silver Lake

 

I miss peddling and paddling with Peggy, this was her favorite campground to do both.

I got site #45 this year, two sites away from the site in this picture but close to Silver Lake. They paved the campground road since this picture, making it easy to bike to the paved Withlacoochee State Bike Trail (46 mi).

This area is a beautiful State Forest but the two main reasons we come here is for the paddling and the biking. 

Canoeing & Kayaking

We are only 100 yards from launching our canoe into a wide spot on the Withlacoochee River called Silver Lake. The river is slow so you can paddle upstream or downstream from our campsite and then paddle back so no vehicle shuttle is necessary. However if you do want to set up a shuttle you can drive down the road about 10 miles to a wayside park in Nobleton, drop off your vehicle and use the paved bike trail to bike back to the campground. You can also paddle upstream and try the narrow winding Little Withlacoochee if the water level is high enough or continue upstream on the main river past the Crooked River Campground as far as you like and then  paddle back to camp.

I got here on a Monday afternoon and was able to bike three times and paddle twice this week, I did a 6 mi rt kayak trip upstream from my campsite and then I did the 9 mile paddle downstream around Hog Island and back. I left early to avoid the forecasted high winds, when I was returning across Silver Lake the winds were really picking up but luckily they were behind me on the lake.

I saw lots of large birds near Hog Island; Ibis, Egrets, Heron and a few big Wood Storks . I saw a few small gators including a tiny baby gator. It was unusual, but I also saw a small snake swimming across the river.

Biking

You can bike 1-1/4 miles on the nice paved roads through the campground and intersect the 46 mile long paved Withlacoochee State Trail  at  mile marker 9 (K on map). 

From there you have 3 options. Pedal south to Trilby the start of the trail (21 mi RT), I did that on Tuesday.

You can go north about 1 mile to the paved Good Neighbor Trail (This link has some nice pictures) The trail goes west to the City of Brooksville (26 mi RT). I did that on Thursday. This section has some small hills and a few curves but is still in the shade most of the way. It ends at a city park and train museum.

On Sunday I took the route north to Floral City (31 mi RT). It was another hot day so I left before 9 am. Also there were a lot less bikers on this popular trail at that time. By mid-day you will see dozens. The map I posted shows these options, the white dots are one mile markers.

I usually see a few Gopher Tortoises near the trails. They dig huge holes in the sandy soil and after a few days they dig another new home The old hole becomes a home for other  animals that can't dig such nice holes for their homes. The gopher tortoise is about as charming as a tortoise can get. Originating 60 million years ago, it’s one of the oldest living species on the planet and the only native North American tortoise species east of the Mississippi River.

This campground has some other wildlife beside squirrels. We once saw some Coyotes passing by and if you hear leaves rustling at night, its probably an Armadillo.

 I think February set records for High temperatures in central FL this year. There were only 2 days when the daily highs went below the 80^o's for the whole month of February including the first week of March. And next week the forecast is still for highs in the 80^o's, maybe when I leave here and head to northern FL it will cool off. Up there they are forecasting highs only in the 70^o's and lows around 50^o.

My plans are to stay here for one more week and leave early next Sunday (3/12) and look for a campsite at Ocean Pond campground in the Osceola National Forest off I-10 in northern FL, west of Jacksonville.