Six nights at Pioneer County Park in Zolfo Springs

On Monday morning just as I left it began to rain, when I got off of I-75 near Sarasota to refill my Propane tank my GPS suggested I stay on these secondary roads, possibly an accident on my original route to Zolfo Springs. It was a good route and I got to Pioneer Parks by 11:30 am as the rain stopped. It's been cool and dry since then.

I decided to stay in the beautiful primitive campground. It has no hookups but my solar power is all I need since I picked a sunny site next to a small fishing lake, where the Ibis & Giant Egret keep me company.

View of lake next to my campsite

This is my view of the rest of the empty campground. Campers seem to like the sites in an open field with power & water hookups. Since it has been sunny all week my deep cycle batteries are fully charged by noon each day. I only run my generator for a few minutes if I need to use my microwave oven.

Vultures like to roost each night in the tall trees by the lake

The campground boundary is the Peace River that flows from Winter Haven to Port Charlotte, FL. Peggy and I have paddled several different sections in the past. We stayed here in 2019 for 3 days and camped in the crowded camp with 50 amp power. We brought our lightweight canoe & cart with us so we could pull our canoe back from the river take-out to our campsite that you can see in the distance.

Adjacent to the campground is the Florida Cracker Museum and a series of old FL buildings. They have stories and artifacts about the original settlers in FL called Crackers. They say the name was from the crack of their buggy whips. Each year during the last few weeks in February a big festival is held here.

Zolfo Springs is very small town about 10 x 10 blocks in size with a few essential service, but just north about 5 miles is the Hardee County seat, Wauchula, FL with lots of stores and schools.

I rode my bike around town and also did a 13 mile ride to a Walmart in Wauchula using a small county road, staying off the main highway US-17.

I plan to leave early on Sunday morning and bike around Babcock Ranch which is a few miles north of my destination for Superbowl Sunday, WP Franklin - Corps of Engineers campground, which is by the last lock on the Caloosahatchee River, east of Fort Myers.