Settling down for 12 days at Lithia Springs Park

 It was cold at Magnolia Springs, 30’s in the morning but sunny and high 50's by the afternoon. but I did get a short 6 mi bike ride on their trails. The trails were hard packed and were free of branches. The trail went around the lake and past lots of empty cabins. The trail was scenic and free of hikers at this time of year.

I left on Saturday morning and drove 5 hours from Ga to East of Tampa. After some grocery shopping I stayed overnight at a another Lowes parking lot in Valrico, FL, since it is only 20 minutes away from Lithia Springs. I love this park and have been coming here for years since they don’t take reservations and if you get here early when the gate opens you can usually find a campsite. I got campsite #38 across from the riverside campsites which were all full.

I usually camp here over Christmas time, and was not planning on coming here this year until late February. 

My plans were to stay in Northern FL in the Osceola National Forest and then drive over to the Withlacoochee State Forest in December. Since the National Forest was closed due to Hurricane Helene, I headed 60 miles south of the Withlacoochee, where I have reservations for first two weeks in December.

Sandhill Cranes on Fishhawk's bike trail

I like Lithia Springs because you can paddle, hike or bike ride. It is on the Alafia River, which is very wild and scenic. I’m not sure what I’ll run into this year since the storm and flood may have blocked the river with large trees. But I’ll try exploring the river later this week. Lithia Springs County Park has a large spring which is their swimming area. The water flows into the Alafia River. This is another favorite campground I have camped here 17 different times over the past 25 years.The biking is mostly on miles of concrete sidewalks that run through the natural forested areas and small lakes in the large housing development next to the park  called Fishhawk Ranch. Here is a map, I created of all the trails in the development and beyond, where I like to ride. Fishhawk Ranch Trails

Three days at Magnolia Springs SP in GA

On Sunday I headed to Augusta hoping that some part of the Savanah River Trail would reopen but there were hundreds of trees down and they were doing a major cleanup. The TV news said it may not open until after the New Year. So I stayed overnight  at a Lowes and left the next morning for a short 1 hour drive to Magnolia Springs State Park,. The last time Peggy and I were here was in 2018 when we were on our way to Jekyll Island.

There are a couple of trails to walk or ride a trail bike but there were too many branches on the trail for me to attempt. So I rode my bike around the park roads and took a short trail walk. The skies were cloudy but it hit 70o on Monday & Tuesday. A very light rain came in on Tuesday night and it was damp and cool on Wednesday so I wrote this blog.

This was the site of the largest Confederate prison during the civil war. Camp Lawton, near Millen, Georgia, housed 10,000 Union prisoners at the end of the Civil War. When General Sherman’s forces approached in his “March to the Sea”, prisoners and guards quickly fled leaving the remains of the camp—and even its exact location—lost to history. But a Yankee prisoner had descriptions and sketches allowing them to locate the approximate site location. PBS did a story about a group of archeologists who spent 3 day here 16 years ago with a team and helped locate artifacts and its exact location. 

This is a nice clean park that is probably popular in the summertime, but it was pretty empty at this time of year,

I will leave tomorrow for another short 3 hour, 140 mi drive to Laura Walker State Park near Waycross, GA near the northern edge of the Okefenokee Swamp

A big cold front is coming in tonight and even though I’m heading south near the FL border, it is expected to be breezy and high around 60o. Peggy and I were last here in 2017 and did a little hiking & biking. I played a round of golf when we were here in 2008 on the course that is part of the park.

2008 Golfing at Laura Walker State Park in GA

My new travel plan is to drive 4-5 hours on Saturday to near Tampa, camp at a Lowes in Valrico, FL and then on Sunday morning see if I can get a nice campsite at Lithia Springs County Park. They don’t take reservations so I always try to get here by 8 am on a Sunday morning in order to get a good campsite after the weekenders leave. However it looked like many more campers left on Monday morning than on Sunday.

Hurricane Helene has caused big changes to My Plans

 I left Greg’s home on Thursday after the overnight rain ended at 2pm. It was only a 1 hr drive to North of Greenville. This is the beginning of the beautiful wide paved Swamp Rabbit Trail that goes though Greenville. I parked at an Ingalls Super Market parking lot where they said overnight parking for the trail was OK. I left Greg’s home on Thursday after the overnight rain ended at 2pm. It was only a 1 hr drive to North of Greenville.

This is the beginning of the beautiful wide paved Swamp Rabbit Trail that goes though Greenville. I parked at an Ingalls Super Market parking lot where they said overnight parking for the trail was OK.

So I did my 25 mile bike ride to Unity Park and back. It is mostly downhill heading into Greenville so I peddled about 3 mph slower coming back. I checked out where I could park my RV when I did the next part of the trail past Reedy Falls and past the zoo. I got back about 3 pm and it was nice and sunny and warm. I decided to stay overnight here again and start working on my new plans.

Reedy Falls in 2023

It was hard finding places to camp that would have something to do since many of the GA campgrounds were closed for all of next week. The only ones I found available were Magnolia Springs SP south of Augusta and Laura Walker SP on the north side of the Okefenokee near Waycross GA. Next week that’s where I’ll stay but I still have about 10 more days to find camping spots.

On Saturday morning I decided to drive to a Walmart near the trail in Greenville, it was only a 20 minute drive and I could park there and plan my next few weeks before my next confirmed reservations at Cypress Glen campground near Brooksville, FL. It took me all day to get reservations and complete my planning so I’ll not get back on the trail until Sunday morning. After that I’ll drive a couple of hours to Augusta to see if parts of that trail have reopened.

I just found out that Lithia Springs County Park near Tampa has reopened but that will take me 2 hours further south than Cypress Glen but it might be the only nice place to bike & paddle. So this is my new Tentative Trip Schedule.  

At Greg's beautiful home in Sunset, SC

I left at 8 am on Monday morning, the overnight rain had ended, from Forest City, it was on;y a 2 hour drive to Greg & Sandy's home in Sunset, SC. It turned out Greg had just got back from a tennis tournament in Memphis, TN and Sandy was in CA for a funeral. I plan to be here 3 days visitng and biking,

Greg Lewis is a long time paddling buddy originally from the Cleveland area that I have known for almost 50 years. He and his wife Sandy built this beautioful home in the mountains above Lake Keowee almost 15 years ago. 

Peggy and and I have often visited them when they were home and did some hiking and biking with them in the area.. 

They would visit us at our cabin in WV and Greg & I spent many days paddling the Upper Yough. We biked with Sandy on the GAP Trail along the Casselman River.

When we first bought our Tandem Bike, Peggy, Greg and I headed over to Pickens, SC to peddle the Doodle Trail, an 8 mile long paved trail that goes to Easley, SC.

It was cool on Monday but Tuesday was a sunny 75^o F day.

So on Tuesday Greg and I decided to do the Doodle Trail. I had forgotten all the small hills. Our 16 mile ride had over 800 feet of elevation changes to traverse. It was a good workout. We decided to have a late lnnch at a nearby Mexican restaurant and skip dinner. On Monday Greg had cooked me a great fish dinner.

Greg is painting the inside of his garage this week so when they come to do a colorful chip floor he doesn't get paint on it. I'm trying to catch up on all my e-mails and plan to leave on Thursday.

I was going to do the Doodle Trail on on my way to Greenville, SC, but the weather forcast is for a rainy Thursday, so on Friday I will do the Swamp Rabbit Trail that I also did last year. The weather is supposed to warm again to the mid-70's.

I heard parts of the trail may still be closed from Hurricane Helene. I think I'll stay at a Walmart in Traveler's Rest and start at the North end of the trail and see how far south toward Greenville I can go until I need to turn around.

Galax and the New River Trail

 I decided to leave a day early because of the heavy rain forecast for Cleveland on Sunday. That turned out a good choice since Saturday was sunny & cool. Since I was planning to visit my friends Greg and Sandy Lewis in SC on Monday I had an extra day and that worked out well also. I did the same thing I did last year. Overnighted at a Lowes in Galax, VA, it was very quiet and had good Wi-Fi. A mile down the road there is a great Mexican restaurant and had the same Mexican stir fry as last year. 

Chestnut Creek Falls

The New River Trail starts in Galax and follows the beautiful little Chestnut Creek for 10 miles down to the New River and then  40 miles along the New.

Trail Tunnel

Last year they were replacing 3 bridges so you couldn’t take the trail downstream along the New River. You could only go upstream 5 miles to the town of Fries.

Both Directions Closed

There were no signs of hurricane of flood damage along Chestnut Creek so I was hoping to go downstream 2-1/2 mi to Byllesby Dam. 

It turned out both directions were blocked since the hurricane’s big flood took out parts of the upstream trail. The downstream trail totally washed out hundreds of tons of gravel destroying the trail that they had repaired last year. It may be finished next year a worker told me. 

Conflunce of New & Creek

I decided to drive a few hours to Forest City, NC so I would only have 2 more hours to drive in the morning. My GPS decided to give me a shortcut that I knew would be interesting when I saw a sign that said no semi-trucks. It was a five mile long narrow switchback road down the mountain to I-77. Luckily only a few cars were coming up hill. 

The when I was on I-40 my GPS said road to Forest City was closed and was trying to take me a much longer route to Asheville. This time I ignored it since I wanted to stay overnight in another Lowes parking lot. There were no closed roads but hundreds of fallen trees along the road from the hurricane.

Leaving on Winter Trip - Saturday 11/09/24

 This is my revised schedule.

I am leaving a day early because of forecast rain on Sunday. I started my trip last year here also, it was cool but dry, read Last Year's Story & Pictures