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.

Finishing my second week at Oscar Scherer State Park

On Sunday 1/28 my plans were to watch the NFL playoffs. My friend Doug Smith had planned to stay with me before he headed up to near St Petersburg on 2/1. He called from just past Atlanta and was slowly heading south, I suggested he could hurry down to my campground and watch the games with me. Well he made it in time to watch Buffalo and Detroit both lose their games. 

He spent the next 4 days with me enjoying the cool dry weather, hiking, cooking, shopping and both of us telling lots of stories. He hadn’t brought a bike but I was able to borrow an e-bike for him from a camper I met.

So on Tuesday we took our bike ride south on the Legacy Trail and stopped at the small train station museum and watched the small planes landing at Venice, FL. He was glad I got him an e-bike so that he could keep up and bike the 18 mile round trip. 

We cooked dinner every night but on his last day Doug took me out for a great lunch at the nearby, on the water, Casey Key Fish House. We both had an excellent Grouper dinner.

After Doug left, on Friday I took another 29 mi bike ride south to Caspersen Beach and then north through the million dollar neighborhoods up to Venice Beach. 

These were nice beaches with lots of people looking for shells.

My daughter Pam and her husband Sam had been condo shopping for the past two weeks in Cape Coral and staying with friends, but were now driving back to Vermilion, OH. Since I was only 5 mi off I-75 they stopped by on Saturday morning to say a quick hello and check out my campsite.

The weather forecast for Sunday was lots of rain and I wanted to get in at least one more bike ride so on Saturday afternoon so I took another 14 mi ride along Casey Key and back to the Legacy Trail.

I love the Legacy Trail and all the connecting trails that you can ride near Sarasota and Venice. It the past two weeks I rode my bike 160 miles, it was good cardiac rehab.

The next place I have camping reservations is at WP Franklin COE Campground on the Caloosahatchee River east of Fort Myers, however that is not until Sunday 2/11. So I have 6 days to stay somewhere else until then.

In the past I've stayed at Pioneer County Park in Zolfo Springs northeast of here and had no trouble getting a campsite. They do not take reservations but that's where I'm heading to on Monday morning.

Doing a lot of bicycling at Oscar Scherer State Park.

 

My CampSite #71

This is a very popular campground for bicyclists because it is about in the middle of the popular 25 mi long paved Legacy Trail. and the trail along the Venitian Waterway Park. 

Click on these links to see detailed maps of the trails and my rides.

Small Site but even room for my Hammock.

These trails also connect with trails along the beaches in Venice, FL See My Map of a ride through Venice past all the beautiful homes.

There is also a nice trail West of the our campground along Casey Key.

I parked sideways to get privacy in top picture

Along the Venitian Waterfront Park

My longest ride was going north to Sarasota where the Legacy Trail ends but connects to a new bike lane along Ringling Blvd that takes you to Bayfront Park & Marina/Island Park, pictures below.

In the past 4 days I biked all of these trails from my campsite for a total of 100 miles.

Ending my time at EG Simmons Park

The weather has been very unusual this year; it would change every three days from cold mornings in the 40’s, to some rain during the day and then a warmer couple of days in the low 70’s. There were no bugs or sand fleas at all, but it limited some of my activities. But at least it was warmer than back home with snow and temperatures near zero degrees.

I only got to paddle my kayak twice, once around the canoe trail and on a calm day along Tamps Bay over to Bahia Beach.

I had trouble getting a prescription shipped to local Ruskin post office. I rode my bike over there twice and once over to the Apollo Beach PO where it was eventually shipped but lost. I finally got them to reorder it from a Walgreen’s which was in Sun City Center about 10 miles away. I had to take a busy local road with narrow bike lanes until I got to the golf cart lanes in the 50+ community. I was able to shop at an Aldi’s and Walmart near the Walgreens so that was good. I made the ride twice and it drizzled on me both times.

So during my 2 week visit I rode my bike almost 100 mi and paddled about 10 miles. The weather forecast is finally predicting temperatures in the 80’s at my next campground south of Sarasota.

Some of the things Peggy and I always did didn’t happen. We liked to ride our tandem over to the Manatee Viewing Center in Apollo Beach. 

and Peggy liked to get some Grouper at Julies Fish House an outdoor restaurant about 3 mi from camp.

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