Hiking the Cruickshank Trail - Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

This weekend we started off by looking for an area that should be relatively dry during the rainy season that we’re in right now, and we found this trail that is just north of Kennedy Space center.  We started our journey by going north from the trail head, which would bring us around this loop in a counter clockwise direction. 

We arrived at the first overlook, a view of the Salt Marsh.  There are binoculars mounted on the platform, and it looks like a great spot for bird watching.  Just after this spot though, the mosquitoes were out in force and there just wasn’t enough of a breeze to keep them at bay, so we headed back to the truck to put on some bug spray.  No worries after that – we were good to go.

Tina suggested that we take the western path to begin with on our second attempt.  The lookout tower was in sight, so that was our first target.  You can tell from the photo that this path is wide and dry.  It’s covered with grass, and we noticed that there were several places where fiddler crabs were living right on the trail.

The view from the lookout tower was kinda neat.  If you open the picture (down below) and zoom in around the center, you’ll see the Vehicle Assembly Building on the Kennedy Space Center. 

Just beyond the the lookout tower was a crane whose job must have been to watch everyone who takes the trail.  He watched us closely as we passed by, and was still there watching when we came back.  What was funny to watch though were these fiddler crabs.  They were on a little patch of sand with a bush between them and the path.  If we peaked from the left side of the bush, they would all scamper to the right; if we peaked from the right, they would shuffle off to the left.

Just as lunchtime was approaching, we came up on the first covered rest area.  This was a nice cool spot (well, relatively cool anyway) to enjoy a picnic lunch and look at the scenery.  We saw several cranes and herons out in the water hunting for their own lunch, and there was also a school of mullet patrolling the water right next to the shelter looking for something to eat.  I was surprised that they weren’t interested in the piece of bread that I threw to them (I used to fish for mullet with bread balls).

While this spot was a nice place to have lunch, it was getting too hot to continue our hike along the rest of the trail.  It probably would have been fine if there was a breeze blowing, but not today.  We headed back from here and decided to look around the area from a nice air conditioned car.

Take a look at the satellite view on the map and notice the bright white line weaving itself through the area.  This is a sand/shell/coquina road that meanders through the whole wildlife refuge.  The road doesn’t have a problem with wash-boarding, but there are a couple of small potholes along the way.  Overall it is a nice comfortable drive. 

We took the road to the end and then headed north to take a look at the manatee viewing area.  There were probably 6 or 8 full grown manatees hanging out here, and at least two juveniles that were about half the size of the adults.  This was the perfect spot to end our adventure for the week, so we called it a day from here. 

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Hiking Orlando Wetlands Park and Fort Christmas

One thing to realize about hiking in Florida is that one must be flexible.  We’ve had so much rain lately that a lot of the trails are a bit waterlogged.  For today’s hike, we planned on going through a section of Seminole Ranch with Orlando Wetlands Park (OWP) as a fallback plan.  Good thing too – the deeper we went into the woods at the ranch, the wetter the ground seemed to get.  It didn’t take long to realize that our fallback plan would be the trip for the day.  No worries though – we have explored OWP before and it is a great place to visit.
Today my uncle Ernie joined us.  We met up at OWP at about 9am with a plan to have lunch at one of the picnic pavilions later on.  After a quick jaunt into Seminole Ranch (just enough to get our shoes wet), we started along the south side of the park and headed east.  Right at the beginning of the trail is a sign that provides some information about the alligators, along with the two most important rules – don’t feed them, and keep your distance.  Alligators will generally avoid people, but they are wild animals so it is probably wise to follow the basic rules.
As we walked around the path, we saw a lot of wildlife, but we noticed that there weren’t as many birds as there were last time we were here.  I suppose that most of them have flown north for the summer, but there were still a lot of swamp hens and snake heads as well as various types of herons.  Most of the alligators that we saw were juveniles; there were a couple that were larger, but none of the big ones that we have seen in the past.  One of the alligators that we saw was having a bit of lunch.  We couldn’t see what he was eating, but based on the size, I suspect that it was a frog or something similar.
As we rounded the next bend, we were on our way back to the picnic area for a bit of lunch and relaxing in the shade.  We didn’t stop there though.  Since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to drive down to Fort Christmas and look around.  This is another great spot to come visit.  There is a replica of the original fort, seven restored homes from the period, and a couple of other restored structures.  Inside the fort and the homes, there are furnishings, tools, weapons and a bunch of other items from the era to see.  It’s probably not surprising but when it is hot out, it’s more comfortable to be outside the houses than in.  It really makes me appreciate the air conditioning that most of us take for granted now days. 
Outside we saw a “cane press” that farmers would use to crush sugar cane to extract the juices.  They would then strain it through a cheese cloth and collect it in a barrel so they could bring it to a kettle to boil off the excess liquid and impurities to make syrup.  The highlight though would have been the outhouse.  It was fully stocked with a bowl full of corn cobs, and what looked like a container of lime.  I later read that lime was sometimes used to help keep the odors down (especially when it is hot outside).
As usual, we had a great time exploring today.  I’m looking forward to going back to Orlando Wetlands Park in the fall to see how it changes during the fall season.  Of course, Fort Christmas is always a great stop if you want an opportunity to soak up a little Florida history too.
If you want to see more details about this trip, download the map, or see where each of the pictures were taken, just click on the “Trip Detail” link below the map.

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Hiking John Chesnut Sr. Park

I was in Palm Harbor this weekend, so I used the opportunity to go explore this park.  I had seen a lot of pictures online, and I wasn’t disappointed at all.  This is a really nice area to visit.
There are two trail loops at this park; I started with the southern loop which is about 2.5 miles long.  The trails starts right next to the parking area with an information kiosk at the beginning.  A crushed shell path leads to a boardwalk that goes through the marshy areas and right up to Lake Tarpon.  Even though part of the trails in this park go through swampy marshes and up against a lake, there were almost no mosquitoes to deal with.
A little ways down the boardwalk, I came on a spot where the park rangers had put up some extra fence on one side.  At first glance all that I saw behind it was a pile of mulch and some water from the lake; it was very puzzling until I sat there looking for something more.  Sure enough – the fence was there for a reason.  You’ll have to click on the picture to see more detail, and even then you will have to look pretty hard to see it.  There is a mother alligator with her head barely sticking out of the water as she keeps a close eye on her nest!
The next point of interest was a lookout / watch tower.  This is a pretty tall one with a beautiful view that is just above the tree line.  From here you can see all up and down the coast line, and on a nice day like today the blue sky and clouds reflected nicely off the water. 
All along the way up to this point there were little “docks” that extended from the boardwalk out to covered picnic tables overlooking the lake.  From here though, more picnic tables extended into the forest / swamp for folks who might prefer the shade.  The next point of interest though was a boat launch.  The sheriff's office had a spot here for people to borrow kid sized life vests.  Such a simple thing to do, and an inexpensive way to keep kids safe on the water.
Beyond the boat launch, the trail meanders its way to a river that feeds into Lake Tarpon.  There are several benches along the way here if anyone wants to just sit and enjoy the view.  I liked the look of this old cypress tree.
There is a lot of wildlife back here.  This was the first time I’ve captured a picture of a deer in the wild.  Of course it was too far away for a good shot, but if you zoom in on the picture called “deer’s butt”, you’ll see just how well they are camouflaged.  Without the camera, it was a lot easier to see.  Just after I took the picture he ran off and I also heard another jumping away at the same time.  Oh well, maybe I’ll have better luck with the camera next time.
The second loop of the trail was much shorter at only about a mile.  This loop started out with a bridged over another creek that feeds the lake.  Like the first, this loop also has several board walks.  These boardwalks have been around for a long time – long enough that several cypress tree are growing around the wood of the handrail.
On this loop, I decided to do some geocaching.  This one wasn’t too difficult to find, but it was fun.  It was put there by a group of scouts, just off the edge of the path.  This one was called “Scout it out” – if you’re in the area, see if you can find it too!
After a couple more board walks, this loop of the trail also comes back to Lake Tarpon.  From here the last loop of the trail goes around a pond in the park.  There are a few really nice picnic spots and some swinging benches overlooking the pond.   Next time I’m in town, this is going to be on my list of spots to visit again – this will be a great spot to bring the family for an afternoon picnic, some exploring, and searching for more wildlife.

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Afternoon stroll at Sanford River Walk

With all of the rain that we’ve had for the past couple of days, we decided to go on a trip that wouldn’t be as muddy as I expect most of the forests would offer today.  Tina and I decided to go for a stroll along the Sanford River Walk. 

It was a nice day and it wasn’t crowded at all.  There were several people fishing from the retaining wall, but I don’t think anything was biting… with one exception.  We came up on a mama duck quacking like she was extremely agitated.  Looking over the retaining wall at the water six feet below, we saw two ducklings who were just as agitated trying to figure out how to get up.
A man who was fishing nearby said that there were four of them, but an alligator just took the other two.  It seems that their wings weren’t developed enough to fly yet.

After getting to the end and coming back, Mama duck, Daddy Duck and the two ducklings were gone.  I’m guessing that the danger passed and mama led the babies out of the area.  At least that’s the story I’m going with.
We visited the Veteran’s Memorial Park, and read the historical placards along the way; this is a really nice spot to spend an afternoon.  Did you know they even have parking for an electric car?  About the time we were coming back to the truck the rain was just starting, so we timed this trip perfectly.

Bucket List: Mississippi

There are several stops to make in Mississippi… here are a few.

Natchez Trace Parkway (Other info)