Lithia Springs County Park for 1 week

As I told in my last blog I was able to get a great campsite right on the Alafia River, #40 with easy river access. The river sites are limited to 14 days, while the rest of their campsites are available for 28 days. They do not take reservations but if you get here early in the morning, it seems someone is always checking out.

On Monday, Chris the really great campground host shuttled me and my kayak to Alderman Ford where I could put-in on the Alafia River and paddle 9 miles back to my campsite. The level was low 180 cfs but fine. It took 3 hours with a 30 minute stop for lunch.

This is a map of Upper Alafia River. Click Here to see Florida Paddling Trails Association's River Info and bigger maps.

On Wednesday I decided I needed a haircut really bad so I biked over to Great Clips and got a crewcut.

Since I was in the western area of Fishhawk Ranch, I kept going to Bell Creek Nature Preserve and returned by Shadow Run Park, it was a nice 17 mi ride.

I'll bet there are over 30 miles of wide concrete sidewalks that go through all their natural areas, and the trails end at Lithia Springs Campground. You seldom see any other bikers or hikers on these great trails. It does say for residents but that is not enforced.

Fish Hawk Ranch Trails - Click to view High Resolution Map

On Thursady I did another 18 mile bike ride mostly in the eastern area of Fish Hawk Trails. The weather has been perfect all week with lows around 60 and quickly warming to the mid-70's by late afternoon.

River Launch at my campsite #40

On Friday morning I noticed that the river had dropped down to 130 CFS, which is the lowest I had ever paddled it. I like the first 3 miles of the Lower Alafia River so I decided to paddle downstream 3 miles and then back to my campsite eliminating the need to run a shuttle. There are a lot of shallow shoals and I wasn't sure if I could paddle back upstream through all of them but I made it. It took me almost 30 min longer going back upstream to my camp. It took a little over 2 hours with no breaks.

This is a map of the 7 mile Lower Alafia River. Click Here to see Florida Paddling Trails Association's River Info and bigger maps. 

I saw 3 nice sized gators enjoying the sunny skies. Most jumped in the water when I approached.

Peggy's last time at Lithia Springs

On Sunday I will head north about 60 miles back to Cypress Glen Campground in the Withlachoochee State Forest. It's been 2-1/2 months since I was here on my way south. My travels must not have been far since this is the first time I had to get gas since then.

Now ready to start moving north

 This has been the second cloudiest winter in FL history, and one of the wettest in the dry season. We had some warm weather but only for a few days at a time.

I decided while I had the time this week I would post a map showing my entire trip including all my campspots.

The Red Numbers are my overnight stops starting in VA to FL, and are numbered from 1 to 18. The Red Lines are my actual routes. Click Here to see a larger map that can be zoomed-in.

This is my actual Trip Schedule.

I am finishing my second week at WP Franklin campground. I took some more short bike rides around the neighborhood streets. 

I decided to do another kayak trip from my campsite up Telegraph Creek on Wednesday. My plan was to paddle about as far as you can go and then have lunch sitting on a bench high above the river bank in the Bob Janes Nature Preserve. But hornets in the mud banks changed my mind, so I had lunch on a river sandbar instead, and took this picture.

There were several very large alligators on this section of the creek. They quickly lept into the water as I wound my way up and down the tiny river. It was a 7 mile round trip.

Here is Peggy 5 years ago at the riverside campsite.

 I left at 7am on Sunday morning to try to get a campsite at Lithia Springs County Park which is about a two hour drive north of here. 

My hope is that some weekend campers will be leaving when I arrive. I got here at 9:30AM after some food shopping, I was 4th on the waiting list. I waited and rode my bike through campground to see how many were leaving, 11am is the checkout time. I lucked out a camper was leaving a day early from one of the riverside sites and by the time he left at 11 AM the other campers ahead of me got sites so I got Site 40, a site we have stayed in twice before.

Finishing my First Week at the WP Franklin COE Campground

 

Campsite #5 at WP Franklin

Aerial View of WP Franklin

On the way to WP Franklin on Sunday morning I stopped at the growing Babcock Ranch Development where I enjoy all the bike paths and have biked here for the past 3 years.

Click for larger map of Babcock Ranch Bike Rides 2023 (Red) & 2024 (Blue)

The eastern area is all new this year. Lots of homes but very few businesses and restaurants considering how many people now live here.

On Tuesday I paddled from my campsite up Telegraph Creek and back (7 mi) and on Wednesday I did a 13 mil bike ride through the neighborhoods near our campground.

The weather has been sunny with temps in the high 70's all week. However they are forecasting lots of rain coming in late on Saturday and all day Sunday. So I decided Friday would be a good day to get in some more kayaking.

Hickey Creek Mitigation Area

I paddled about 1 mile up the Caloosahatchee River to Hickey Creek, and then 2-1/2 mi as far as I could make it up the creek. I had to turn around where a big fallen tree blocked my way. I checked, it was the same place I had to turn around last year. I came back to the kayak landing and had lunch, then I paddled back to my campground, a 7 mi round trip.

Here is a picture of Peggy and Bob Nicholson who paddled up here with me 7 years ago.

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.