Now at EG Simmons County Park for the next two weeks

After Barry left to head back to Pittsburgh I did 3 more bike rides totaling 40 miles around the Fish Hawk area. I thought I would bride in the opposite direction to see if the little Mexican restaurant (La Villa) was still in business. It was there with a similar menu but with much higher prices than 2 years ago.

There is a housing development (River Hills) here which surrounds a golf course and has some hiking trails in the forest along the Alafia River. I decided to see if I could find them. I couldn't find the start at the southern end since it involved crossing a golf cart path. but that was the right way to go. 

After some bike riding around I found the north end of the trail and started walking it when I saw a sign that said bikes yield to hikers. I went back and decided to ride on the very narrow but hard packed trail with no mud or big roots to jump over. Where it was swampy the trail uses a narrow boardwalk with no railings. It was a good trail but narrow and goes along above the river. The trail is very scenic and well marked. There were other loop trails off the main orange trail but I didn't try them. My 14mi ride was mostly on neighborhood streets and walkways.

On Sunday 1/7 I left at 7am to go to EG Simmons Park, I got there when they opened the gate at 8am and found they had a dozen empty sites to choose from. I like the east campground since the sites are large and the canal is behind the campsite to launch my kayak.

This week had unusual weather for January in FL. It was very changeable going from stormy rainy to cold, to warm weather making it hard to decide what to do. I never took my kayak down since the warm days were also very windy.

A river runs through it when it rains

I was able to get in 3 nice bike rides totaling 29 mi, around the park and around the streets of Ruskin, FL.

Luckly the campsite was sandy since in a hard rain the water runs right past my door but an hour later it is dry.

This weekend I will watch the NFL playoff games and hopefully get to paddle around the canoe trails in the park next week.

Night Visitor

Well marked canoe trail

Peggy viewing St Pete skyline from the park