Highland Hammock and Alphia River SPs

These were a new parks for us. We planned to stay only one week at the last 3 parks of our trip since they are new to us. The first was Highland Hammock which is one of the old parks of the state, begun in 1931 and improved by the CCC workers. There is a museum to the workers in the CCC camps which was very interesting.

There was also a tram ride that took us through the restricted areas of the park. We were fortunate to see red shoulder hawks, turtles, deer and many alligators including a number of groups of babies. And on a late afternoon bike ride we saw eagles nesting, deer, wild pigs and a bobcat crossed our path.

This park has a lot of wetlands and nice boardwalks to give you access to them. In the slideshow you will see some scenes from these paths.

The park also had the most brash armadillos that we have experienced yet. As we sat outside enjoying the sun one afternoon, an armadillo came running up behind Les to stop directly beside him and raised up on his hind legs. With the offer, Les reached down to touch his back and we were surprised by the reaction. The animal immediately jumped straight up in the air and scurried off to another campsite were the hoped for a handout not to be handled! This critter was searching for crumbs another evening.

We moved to Alphia River State Park March 21st. This is the opposite of Highland Hammock as it is one of the newest parks, an abandoned phosphate mine of 6,000+ acres that was donated to the state in 1996. The vegetation in the campground is very young and that creates an environment that attracts mocking birds and boat tail grackles. We are serenaded from day break to sunset. The campsites are large and open. From the picture you can see that the topography of this area is a drastic change due to the pits formed by the mining that have forested creating trails very similar to what we see in PA. This park is the site for the FL mountain biking state championships for a good reason. They also offer 20 miles of horse trails.

We enjoyed a paddle on the Alphia River with our friends Bob and Kathy. It was great that they could camp a few days with us here. They stopped on their way home to NY.

After the paddle we stopped at a local BBQ spot for a delicious meal. Wifi is hard to get here but we move Sunday to our last FL park. The weather has finally turned the corner and we are warm. But I understand the temps home have been close, or last week better, to ours. Good for you in PA!

Myakka Paddle and Oscar Shearer State Park

We had one last paddle before leaving Myakka River SP. As you can see we tried a very small tributary to the river; it was not a wise choice. We were finally stopped by downed trees and the narrow waterway was not comfortable for us with the residents so close, see the slide show. We really enjoyed our 2 weeks at Myakka River State Park. The wildlife is always such a treat there.

We moved here to Oscar Shearer Feb. 28th and will leave March 14th. We were so pleased to see the Sarasota Folk Festival was scheduled for March 6 & 7. We spent the weekend immersing ourselves in folk, bluegrass, and gospel. Many of the performers were songwriters doing their original works. What a treat. There were 3 stages running simultaneously so there was a lot of music. The weather was still cool but the sun helped during the day. We darn near froze ourselves though at the Saturday evening performance! We had our layers with winter coats, wool socks, scarves and gloves but forgot to take a blanket to wrap around our legs!! Welcome to Florida 2010!

Our Aliner friends, Forrest and Lynn, camped with us for a few days at the start of our stay. It was a treat to share some of our experiences with them. Lynn treated us to a great macaroni and cheese dinner with all the fixings. We hiked the “Green Trail” to see scrub jays and a bald eagle on a nest. We found out later that there is a juvenile in the nest also. The picture above shows one of our evening Yahzee sessions. It was too cold to sit out at a fire!

This park is nice. The Legacy rail to trails path is nice for biking. There are 3 trail systems in the park with other nature trails. The volunteers here organize quite a nice program for campers including Thursday morning pancake breakfast, Wednesday evening ice cream social, and Thursday jam sessions to name a few. There are many beaches close to the park. Turtle Beach is good for shelling, and Caspersen Beach is good for hunting shark’s teeth. Les had to get me a tool for the teeth hunting and we made our pretty well for beginners. There is a creek here that is good for paddling which we did and were treated to a pelican fishing for dinner by diving over and over in the water. In the slideshow you will see a Little Blue heron eating breakfast. We are really enjoying the wildlife of this state.

We leave here Sunday, March 14th, heading inland to a new park, Highland Hammock for just a week. We will try 3 new parks on our way north and see if they are interesting for another trip.