I’m now at Oscar Scherer State Park near Venice, FL

Very Wooded Campsite #72

 As I mentioned in my last blog this park was not scheduled to reopen until the day after the first day of my two week reservation.

So I needed to find a place to stay for one night. I drove to Bradenton, FL on Friday afternoon and found another great spot to camp at a Lowes store after doing my weekly grocery shopping. It was a level spot with good free Wi-Fi.

The usual check-in time at FL State Parks is 3 PM, but since they have been closed I figured I would try to check in at 10AM. No problem, the place was empty. I’m not sure what is going on but even though 12 months ago the campground was fully reserved, there are at least 10 empty sites here every night No one has stayed more than 2 nights on the site next to me.  

Sarasota Bayfront Park

There are a few good reasons to choose this campground. Most campers have bikes to ride the 30 mile long Legacy Trail a wide asphalt trail that goes between Sarasota to south of Venice.

Venetian Waterway to Shamrock Park

This week I biked 100 miles on four rides; south to Shamrock Park, North to Sarasota Bayfront Park, into the beautiful neighborhoods of Venice and their beaches and along Casey Key, a barrier island, which is near the campground. 

Nokomis Beach near Casey Key

There was a lot of storm damage along the Key. Some homes on the north end were totally flattened but Nokomis Beach on the south end was crowded with beach lovers.

I tried to get to Caspersen Beach south of Venice but the road south of the small airport was totally closed. I’ll try to see if I can get there from the south next week by going along Venetian Waterway.

I have never tried kayaking along South Creek which flows by the campsites. The jungle between the sites and the creek is almost impenetrable and the parks launch is across the creek which is too far unless you drive. The creek just flows out to the inland waterway and is too far from any access to the Gulf of Mexico. 

Here is where I rest after my bike rides

The weather has been great, starting out in the 60’s in the morning and reaching the mid-70’s by the time I finished my bike rides.

There is a chance for rain later today and again on Sunday, I’ll probably watch some football and rest up a little. I made reservation here for two weeks and need to leave on Saturday, 1/4/25 (Happy New Year).

My next stop for a week will be to visit my daughter Pam & Sam at the condo they bought this year in Cape Coral.

Starting my second week at Silver Lake

 

Someone asked me to show them where all the campgrounds in FL are that I'm staying at this year. The map on the left shows their location and below is the actual schedule and my planned locations.

Of course nothing ever goes as planned. I just got an e-mail from my next campground, Oscar Scherer, they said they are now open but my campsite might not be available on 12/21 and I should call them before heading down. I may have to stay at Silver Lake for another day or at another Lowes near Sarasota.

The weather is finally warming up. On Thursday the morning low was only 36o and but it got 10o  warmer every morning but the highs each day have been in the 70's. 

On Friday I did a 30 mile round trip to Brooksville on the Good Neighbor Trail and picked up some vegetables at Walmart.

I saw a Gopher Tortoise along the trail. These guys really get big and live for 100 years. Every few days they dig huge dens that eventually become homes for all kind of animals and snakes.

It was windy on Saturday morning but I still decided to go kayaking. 

The water level has been slowly dropping about 10 CFS/day. It is now down to 475 cfs and it is no problem paddling in either direction since I have no easy way to set-up a shuttle so I could just paddle downstream. I see other campers with kayaks but I haven't seen anybody else on the water.

The river is a little wider going downstream from camp and I usually see lots of birds, like these Ibis, and a few turtles but I didn't see any gators.

Withlacoochee River Ibis

About a mile before Hog Island I found that a big tree had blocked my way, I didn't try to portage around it and turned around. I did see 4 kayakers heading downstream with camping equipment. They planned to camp by Hog Island, I warned them but they figured they could find a way around the tree.

Luckily, when I got back to Silver Lake from my 5 mile paddle the headwind had died down.

Sunday I will have a rest day watching NFL football games.

The next 4 days are supposed to be between 60 to 80o and then another cool down comes in for next weekend.

First week of my two week stay in the Withlacoochee State Forest

I'm finally back on my original winter trip schedule. I like the campground, called Cypress Glen, for several reasons. The three campground complex on Silver Lake is both on the Withlacoochee River and the 46 mile long paved State Bike Trail, so it provides access to many outdoor activities.

See the map, I can bike the trail south for 10 miles to Trilby or north for 14 miles and beyond to Floral City or West for 10 miles to Brooksville on the Good Neighbor Trail.

I can also kayak south to Ridge Manor or north to Nobleton.

View from campsite to boat launch

Closer view from Campsite

When I got here I found out that the hurricane had knocked down a lot of trees at the small beach in front of my campsite where you can launch your boat. Here are some before & after pictures.

Big trees blocking the path

Crawl under fallen tree to launch

My first bike ride on Saturday was a 21 mile round trip ride to Trilby, a nice cool day on the trail, I didn't see much tree damage although this part of the trail was closed for a few weeks after the storm.

I watched NFL football games on Sunday but on Monday I headed north to Floral City for a 31 mi round trip bike ride. I was looking for a tool to tighten the Schrader valve core on my RV tire that had loosened and was leaking.

Schrader Tool

A motorcycle shop had an old valve cap with prongs that worked just fine, but when I take my bike ride over to Brooksville on Friday I'll look for this tool at Harbor Freight and buy some peppers at a Walmart.

Silver Lake

The weather warmed to the high 70's on Tuesday so I decided to kayak upstream from my campsite on Silver Lake to see how far I could make it up the Little Withlacoochee River which is a tiny creek that flows into the main river. There was a lot of tree damage so I could only make it about ¾ mi upstream where it was blocked by a large tree. So I headed back and up the main river instead to Crooked River Campground, the 3rd camp in the Silver Lake complex. The short 5 mile paddle was enough for me.

I decided to stay in on Wednesday and make some home-made chicken soup with my leftover Sam's Club rotisserie chicken. I added carrots, celery, onions, noodles and spices. 

The forecast was for rain and turning colder to the 30's for a day. Then starting Friday it is supposed to get back in the high 70's for a week. It turned out to be a heavy rain but it only lasted for about 30 minutes.

Heading back North on Friday to Withlacoochee State Forest

The weather started out warm here near Tampa but then a cold dry spell came in. It was about 40o every morning but warmed to close to 60o by late in the afternoon.

Typical Trail near small lakes and wooded areas

I had nice sunny weather for biking on all the FishHawk Ranch trails. I biked over 75 miles over the last 12 days. 

I only got in one short kayak paddle on the Lower Alafia River.

Finally tomorrow I will get back on my original trip schedule, I will drive about 60 miles north to Cypress Glen campground on Silver Lake.

Pileated Woodpecker near my campsite

It sounded like that area was possibly more devastated than here, and the river is still on the high side. I haven't heard whether any parts are not passable. In the past 30 days the river flow has dropped from 2000 cfs to 550 cfs. The normal flow at this time of year is only 250 cfs.