

I started today’s trip by heading north from the trailhead. When I was getting ready to head out, I noticed three or four horse trailers in the parking area, so I expected to see some riders. I wasn’t disappointed – I wasn’t more than a half mile down the trail before I saw them coming towards me. Usually when I’m out hiking and come across equestrians, they take one side of the trail and I take the other. Other than some hellos, it’s usually a non-eventful passing. This time though, as soon as the lead horse saw me, it spooked. The rider kept the horse under control, but I thought it better just to move to the edge of the trail and be still until the horse passed. I think the horse was used to having the whole trail to itself and was jus a little surprised to see another creature out today.


I soon came up on a spot where the trail branched off to the west. It wasn’t going in the direction that I was planning, but I was curious what I might find down that way. As it turned out, the trail went into the woods towards Buscombe Creek. I didn’t quite make it all the way out there, but I got pretty close before the trail became too muddy to hike comfortably.

After lunch it was back to the trail. This area is also a forest road and there are a lot of palmettos on both sides of the trail. I took this panoramic photo as a 180 degree shot. The left side of the panorama is looking back where I came from, and the right side is where I am going. It looks a lot better in full-size so it can be panned back and forth.
In this area, there are several game (or cattle) trails that cross the main path. They look like they would be reasonably easy to travel, but I really wanted to head to the east from here.



As I was hiking down this blazed trail, I came up on the remnants of an old tree. I was debating on whether or not to get a picture when all of the sudden I heard a LOUD noise right next to me on the trail. It startled me enough that I backed up an tripped over something. As I was getting up, I finally figured out what the noise was – a rattle snake! This is the first time that I have heard a rattle snake rattling, and I was amazed at how loud it was. I looked around and finally spotted him tucked behind a tree and under some plants; there was no way to get a good picture and he was way too angry for me to mess with trying to get a better view.


Eventually this trail joins up with Phillips Road, and it was around this spot where I saw the famous Wild Florida Cows. I stood back and watched one of them in the middle of the trail who didn’t realize that I was there right away. As I watched it, another couple of cows came out of the woods to my left, saw me, and turned and ran. This made the one that I was watching look up and see me, and it ran off too. These ladies don’t seem to like getting too close to people, so I was pretty careful about not sneaking up on any of them.
After the cows ran off, I was able to make it to what looks like a hunting cabin or a forestry cabin. I’m not sure what the purpose is, but on the back patio there were about eight bedframes. I thought that was strange, but what was a lot stranger was the “abandoned” cabin that I saw in the same area.
I put “abandoned” in quotes because it is in complete disrepair and covered with so many spider webs that I can’t imagine anyone has spent any time there, but there is a canoe in the back, and inside there appear to be clean dishes, water bottles, and some other stuff.
If I had to guess, I’d say that there is probably a squatter that has taken up residence in here for the evenings, because the stuff on the shelves doesn’t look like it is that old and the dishes in the sink don’t look like they belong to the rest of the cabin. (I should mention that the front door was wide open, and that’s where these pictures were taken from. I didn’t want to go in just in case someone was staying there.)

There was also a farm on the south side of the road almost at the end of my hike. I took a picture of something I had seen on TV before, but never up close. It’s basically a pen that will funnel the cows in so they are brought single-file to something that will hold them still. I guess this can be used for a lot of things like treating illness or branding. There was a pretty good size herd of cattle on the farm keeping an eye on me as I passed by. I thought they looked delicious.
So what started out as a simple day of exploring turned into quite the adventure today. There are still a bunch of trails to explore back here, so I’ll be back again. In the meantime, I hope everyone enjoys the story and the pictures. As always, just click on the “Trip details” link below the map if you would like to see more info about where the pictures were taken or to see more information about this trip.
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