Finished my 1st week at EG Simmons County Park on Tampa Bay

The forecast is finally calling for warm weather and my reservation at WPF ended on Saturday 1/25/25. The plan is to drive 100 miles north to Tampa Bay and see if I can get a campsite at EG Simmons County Park. They do not take reservations and I heard that since the hurricanes all of their sites may not be available because of power problems or trees that need to have branches removed. 

I needed to get propane and grocery shop before I got to the campground, which delayed my arrival until noon, but that is the checkout time anyway.

There were a few sites available and I got site #70 which is just down the line from the picture I posted in my last blog.

You can paddle here on their canoe trail within the park or you can paddle out into Tampa Bay going north to Apollo Beach or south to Bahia Beach as long as there are no storms or windy days. I’ll probably try all options on sunny days to get some exercise.

You can take a 6 mile bike around the large park on the paved roads.

There are lots of residential streets nearby to ride your bike but there are no designated bike trails. I like to ride over to Bahia Beach or Apollo Beach and bike through the upscale neighborhoods or shop at the nearby grocery stores.

One place I like to ride is to the Manatee viewing area about 8 miles away in Apollo Beach. There is a large power plant that discharges warm water back into the bay. The Manatees love the warm water. If the bay temperature goes below 70^o they head here by the hundreds. The bay, after the cold spell, is only in the 50’s.

When I was getting ready to leave a big truck from the Manatee Hospital rolled up to return a small Manatee back into the water. I swear I saw Peggy trying to help walk the Manatee down to the bay, since the 14 volunteers were having a hard time carrying it.

Peggy at Julies Fish House

Peggy used to love going out for a Grouper dinner at this popular outdoor restaurant only an easy 3 mile bike ride from our campground.

I found out that it has been closed since the hurricanes. I happened to be riding by yesterday and they were having a grand reopening and the place was packed.

I got a menu and since I had been there 2 years ago the menu hasn’t changed and the dinners all went up by only $1.

I thought I would add the map below to see where all the places are that I wrote about, at the south end of Tampa Bay east of St. Petersburg.

The weather turns to shit

 

I am nearing the end of my two week stay at the beautiful campground at Franklin Lock on the Caloosahatchee River east of Fort Myers, FL. I got to paddle two more times on sunny days; Once, down the big river a couple of miles but I headed back when it started getting windy. 

And once upriver to Hickey's Creek another small river that goes through a small park with a hiking trail that crosses over the river twice. It eventually narrows and is blocked by deadfall. This year I paddled up the creek about 2-1/2 miles making it about a 8 mile round trip from the campground.

As I mentioned the only easy accessible biking is down the streets of the nearby housing developments, I got in a 8 mile bike ride before the weather started to cool off. 

Snow in the FL Panhandle

This week the big polar vortex storm that brought below zero temperatures back home and record heavy snow to the Florida panhandle, pushed all the way down to SW Florida bringing rainy days and temperatures that never got to 60o. Cold and rainy is not conducive to outdoor activities. 

        

I felt cooped up looking out my windows watching it rain and listening to the howling wind. Tomorrow they are predicting frost warnings north of here.

My plans are to leave here Saturday and drive to Tampa Bay and hope to get a nice campsite at EG Simmons County Park, they don’t take reservations so maybe the bad weather will cause some campers to go home early. 

EG Simmons East Campground Site #79

The forecast is finally calling for an end to the cold spell and promising temperatures back into the high 70's later next week.

For the next two weeks I will be at WP Franklin Park

I checked into WP Franklin Corp of Engineers Campground on an island at a lock on the Caloosahatchee River by noon on Saturday.

Here is an aerial view, this is the 4th time I got campsite #8.

The campground is northeast of Fort Myers in a quiet neighborhood.

For paddlers or fisherman there is a lot to do. You can fish from the dam area, launch a boat from the boat ramp upstream into fresh water or go downstream through the lock and fish in salt water.

For paddlers, about a mile down stream, you can paddle up the narrow Telegraph Creek about 3 miles , beyond that it is very narrow and often blocked by fallen trees. 

I expected to see hurricane damage this year but everything looked normal, except I saw no large alligators but many more smaller ones.

There were plenty of birds and a few turtles. 

Paddlers can also paddle about 1-1/2 mi upstream from our campground and head south up Hickey Creek, a wider and deeper creek, to a park with a landing and a picnic area and  pavilion. You can continue upstream another mile or so but it narrows and you will again be blocked by fallen trees.

For bicyclists you can bike around the nearby neigborhood streets which will require short rides down River Rd which has no bike lanes but light traffic. I try to wait for no traffic and sprint to the next street. It is not hard to get in a 8 to 10 mile trip. There is a regional park 2 miles down River Rd that has mountain bike trails. If you have a car you can drive 10 miles over to Babcock Ranch which has miles of paved bike trails through this newer growing planned community.

You can also get some pretty sunrise or sunset pictures from your campsite.

A week with Pam & Sam

I got a lot of biking in while staying for 2 weeks at Oscar Scherer State Park. The Legacy Trail runs north from south of Venice  to Sarasota. It crosses a lot of roads where they use traffic signals but in many places there are overpasses like the picture on the left. I used to call them Peggy's mountains when she would bike with me on our tandem. Since starting my trip I have biked over 450 miles.

On Saturday I drove about an hour south to visit my Daughter Pam and her husband Sam who recently purchased a condo in Cape Coral and plan to stay for the winter. 

Speaking of winter I can see we are having a cold winter in Cleveland and at my cabin in WV. I glad I'm in Florida. However it is cool down here also with highs barely in the high 60's with lows around 50.

Six Suite Condo

Their small condo had enough room for me to park in their parking lot but I am staying in the condo.

I love their small two bedroom condo which is only a mile from where Peggy's parents lived back in the 70's.

Condo Pool

We went out with some of their friends to see their favorite Bar & Restaurant, Bonita Bills, which was closing that weekend after over 30 years on Fort Myers Beach.

The large yacht behind Pam had washed up on their deck in one of the recent hurricanes and they just left it there.

I finally got a haircut riding my bike over to a nearby Great Clips.

I took a bike ride to the Yacht Club beach which was 4-1/2 mi from their condo, I then decided to see what became of Peggy's parents house that we sold in 1982.

Original House                                             Now an office building

New House - 1973 - Christmas Visit

2025 - Remodeled into an office building

We will go over to their friend's home on Friday to watch the Ohio State game and I will be leaving on Saturday 1/11 to go to WP Franklin COA campground for two weeks on the Caloosahatchee River only 25 miles away.