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.