Hiking Pine Lily Preserve (and solving a mystery)

Today I had a solo-adventure exploring this area, and I found that it is one spot that I’ll have to bring Tina to see.  The trails are wide, well groomed and very easy to hike, and most importantly it is a really pretty spot to visit.
The trail starts out with a pretty good size parking area, and you can see that I had the whole area to myself this afternoon.  In the parking area there are bins for garbage and recycling that are the type that wild critters can’t get into.  There are also a couple of bat shelters here (and along the trail).  They must be doing a good job because there were no pesky mosquitos bothering me on this hike.  There is also an information kiosk at the trailhead describing some of the birds to keep an eye out for. 
The water levels today are low enough that even where the creek comes up to the trail the path remained dry.  As I passed the creek, I could see a flock of turkeys a little further ahead on the trail.  They must have seen me too, because as I got closer they ran off into the woods.  I was hoping to get a picture, but they weren’t going to cooperate. Just a bit further along there are two branches off the trail that make loops through the woods – one to the north and one to the south. 
I took the south loop on the way out, and as the trails meet back up there is a nice spot on the trail to take a rest below an old oak tree.  I suppose I could have planted myself for awhile and waited for the turkeys to wander back to the trail, but there were a couple of things that I still wanted to see up ahead.
A little further along, I noticed that the woods were a little less thick on the north side of the trail, and I could see a couple of cypress trees back there.  Usually if there are cypress trees, there is water nearby, so I decided to go have a look.  Sure enough.  That creek that I passed earlier meanders through the woods roughly parallel to the trail.
Past the creek is where the loop of the balloon trail begins.  I took the northern path which took me to a picnic table.  This is a great spot for lunch… the table sits underneath an old live oak, and sits right next to the creek.  As I ate my lunch, I saw another flock of turkeys out in the woods, this flock was bigger than the first; there must have been at least ten birds.  Of course, they were too far off to get a picture, but it was fun watching them wander by.  From here the trail took me to the first open gate where I saw a Great Horned Owl.  I tried to get a picture, but he was too far away so I couldn’t get a good photo through the trees. 
This gate leads to an area that used to be used for horses.  There is an old set of horse stalls that have probably been here for a long time before the property was acquired by the county in 2000.  I took a little time to walk around and look at this area.  Along side the stalls there is another picnic table that looks like it was put there by the county.  In the back of the stalls was an old barrel with all of the staves  knocked out and turned into a little fire area.  There was also an old sign on the ground with a logo that I didn’t recognize.
Once upon a a time the stalls had water and electricity; the pipes and faucets are still here, and the fuse boxes on the outside lights can also still be seen.  One of the stalls was marked “Swooners Diamond”.  I did a few Google searches and couldn’t find anything about a horse with that name, but I couldn’t find anything about a horse with that name.
About twenty or thirty yards from the horse stalls, I saw an old shed.  The shed is in pretty good shape, and inside there was a water pump, an old gas tank, and a small trap that looks like it was recently made.  The water pump is likely there to provide water pressure to the stalls; it has the same PVC piping that the stalls do.  I couldn’t tell for sure, but I suspect that the pump was hooked up to a well.  The only other water source that I have seen back here would be the creek and I doubt the county/city water lines serviced this spot.
After looking around the old stalls, it was time to head back.  There was one other thing that I wanted to see.  When I was scoping out this trail on Google Earth, I noticed a symmetrical pattern just west of this preserve.  If you look at the map below, you’ll see what I mean.  I played around with the time scale on Google Earth and found that between 1990 and today the number of the little boxes seemed to change and move around.  What could this be???  Since I was close enough, I decided to investigate.  I hiked down a the dirt road that was across the street from Pine Lily Preserve and found out that it is actually chicken coops!  The owner even had a sign on his barn that said these chickens are raised for show and competition “…not for fighting, so don’t even ask.”  Mystery solved!

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Hiking Flagler Trail south

After so many hikes during the heat of summer, I can’t get over how nice the weather has been lately.  It was a great day for a picnic, so we brought subs with us to enjoy by the bridge that crosses the econ river.  After seeing the water levels along the river a couple of weeks ago, we weren’t sure if we would be able to make it all the way, but they have come down quite a bit from where they were.
We started our hike at the Snow Hill Rd. trail head; from there you have to cross Jacobs Trail Rd. to get to the actual trail.  It starts out heading north in a very narrow area that runs parallel to that road.  Even though the trail is only about ten feet from the road, the plants are so lush that we only actually saw it a couple of times. 

The trail runs pretty straight, for the two mile journey up to the river, but there are a couple of really nice spots to watch for.  The first landmark that we came upon was a bench on the side of the path.  It was a little too soon for a break, but it was a good photo opportunity, so I couldn’t pass that up.

A little further along we came up on an area where wetlands surrounded us on both sides.  The light coming in through the canopy brightened it up enough to make the watercress floating on the water look almost thick enough to walk on.

As we walked past the swamp, it wasn’t too much further down the trail that we came upon another bench.  This one was right next to a junction with another trail that came in from the east.  This trail looks like it is part of the network of trails that are accessed from the Jones East Trailhead of the Little Big Econ State Forest.
 

We were both ready for lunch by this point, but the bridge wasn’t too much further ahead.  As we continued north we came upon a big blue post that marked another trail junction.  Part of the fun when hiking is finding new spots to explore later, so we took a quick side trip here and found that this trail looks like it continues on for quite a bit.  The trail is blazed with blue arrows, instead of the normal blazes that we usually see, so I’m not sure if it is part of the Florida Trail system or not.

North from here just a little further and we were at the bridge.  I wanted to try my hand at making another photosphere from the middle of the bridge.  I thought it would come out pretty good, and I guess it was okay.  I’m finding that there is a real knack to making these things.  The geometry of the bridge was pretty tough to get aligned… I guess I learned something else to avoid with these types of pictures.

A trip to the river here is never complete without at least one alligator sighting.  While we were having our picnic we saw a handful of guys in kayaks come by pointing at the alligator sunning himself.  One of the guys paddled up pretty close to the shore (we couldn’t see the gator from where we were), got a picture and they continued down river.  We never did hear the telltale splash of the gator jumping in the water to get away, so I wasn’t sure they really saw him.  A little later though, we went to the south side of the river and he was still sunning himself.  It’s a little difficult to see it in this photo, but his coloring was so dark he almost looked blue.

After we had lunch, we decided to head west for a little bit to see what the trail looked like – it was just two weeks ago that the trail was flooded out, and we were curious if it was still wet.  The water levels have really pulled back quite a bit.  What was once a completely flooded (about four feet deep) spot wasn’t even damp.

We went a little further on to see the tree that I was sitting on during our hike two weeks ago, and the Central Florida Highlanders had it all cleaned up.  Along the way Tina noticed an Oakworm Moth fluttering on the path; it just didn’t seem interested in flying.  If I don’t know what the “real” name is for a plant or animal, I’ll usually just make one up (it’s kind of an ongoing joke).  Tina came up with the name “Golden Flapping Ground Moth” for this guy, but since she looked it up we have to stick with the real name now.  An interesting thing that she found out about these bugs – as adults, they cannot eat.  They basically fatten up while they are caterpillars, and then after reaching the adult stage all they do is mate and die.

As we headed back to the trailhead, I did get one more picture that I wanted to share.  This is called “Stump Fungus” – and no, I’m not going to look up the real name!
 
As usual, there are more pictures below, and if you would like to see where each of the photos were taken, you can click on the “Trip Details” link below them map.

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N.E.O.S. Overshoe Product Review

I’ve been meaning to share this for awhile now, and after using them again I decided to finally just sit down and write this. 
If you’ve ever been hiking and come up on an unexpected wet spot that you need to cross, you only have a few choices.  Either wade through and get your shoes and socks wet, take off your shoes and socks and roll up your pants for a quick wade, or turn back the way you came.  Well, actually there is one other choice – put a pair of overshoes in your backpack/daypack.
After doing some searching, I found these on Amazon, and I’m really glad that I picked ‘em up.   As the name suggests these are worn over your shoes.  They have a “regular” rubber sole like a pair of hiking boots, and a nylon upper that reaches to just below my knee.  The upper portion is basically a bag that has no seams to leak.  It also has an adjustable strap at the top of the foot and Velcro with a drawstring at the top.
Putting the shoes on is very easy – just open it up and slide your foot in.  After that, pull the wraparound into place, clip the adjustable strap and pull the drawstring and you’re all set.
One thing that is really nice about these (aside from the fact that they work really well) is that they pack up very small; they easily fit into my camelbak.  I also carry a small garbage bag to put them in after I use them so I don’t get my pack wet.
When I bought them, I was concerned about getting the right size.  The Overshoes website has a great sizing chart – all I needed was a ruler and my hiking shoes, and that was it!  If you’re looking for something to keep your feet dry when you need to cross water, these are a great rugged and lightweight choice.

Trail Maintenance Along the Econ River

After our hike last week, I was really curious about how the maintenance along the trails is done so I contacted Sandra from the Florida Hikes website.  Sandra sent me an email with a link to the Florida Trail YouTube channel that has several videos, that further piqued my interest and curiosity – as well as a link to Central Florida Highlanders Meetup page.  When I looked at the Meetup page I saw that they were planning on doing some trail maintenance starting at the same trail head that I was at last week.  I thought “what better way to learn about how they do what they do than to volunteer to help ‘em out?”  I’m glad that is exactly what I did.

We started the day at 9am with Rachael (she’s the one with the papers in the middle of the photo) making sure that everyone had their safety equipment and explained all of the job assignments.  She broke us up into two teams – one team went to the Lockwood trail head, and the other team started at this trail head.  The plan was to meet in the middle and then head back to where we started.
Most of the folks there were regular members that do this all the time, but there were also a few newbies like me.  There were two guys there who were in charge of mowing the trail.  If you can zoom in on the mower, you’ll see that it is similar to those used by residential lawn mowing services, but there are some differences.  There were also a couple of guys armed with chain saws.  The rest of us were given “loppers” or branch trimmers and told how we were to trim the plants along the trail.  (Basically the goal is to keep the walking trail about 18” wide, and then clean up the branches and vines for a 4’ wide area).
As we headed down the trail, I was thinking that this was going to be pretty easy. I won’t kid you, this was hard work, but was also fun to get outside and work with new friends.  We made it about a mile down the trail before it was time to head back for lunch, and I think we did a pretty darn good job! 
I did ask how they do maintenance on the foot bridges, and it was pretty much what you would expect.  They carry all of the materials and tools by hand to the spot where they’re needed unless a trail is big enough to allow a motorized vehicle.

When we got back to the trail head, it was time for a cold drink and a rest.  Everyone brought their own lunch, but Rachael also had a cooler of cold sodas, fruit and cookies to relax with.  We talked about some of the upcoming jobs that they have planned – on Wednesday they’re going to be cleaning up the trail along the northern path.  I told them about the tree that had fallen across the path and showed them a picture… I think they might need a bigger chain saw for that one, but I’m sure they’ll figure out how to attack it.
If you’ve ever thought about joining these folks to help out with maintaining the trails that we all enjoy, I would really recommend it.  They are a great group of people and a lot of fun to work with.  You’ll definitely walk away at the end of the job with a sense of accomplishment, as well as a new appreciation for the work that they put in to keeping the Florida Trail enjoyable for everyone!

Here is where we were working:

Hiking along a flooded Econlockhatchee

Fall weather is finally here.  Today the high temperature was supposed to be around 80 degrees, and humidity is low… the only downside for any hiking plans has been the amount of rain that we’ve had over the past few weeks.  I seemed to remember the the trails along the Econ river were higher than the river and surrounding flood plains, so we decided to go take a look from the Barr St. trail head.

As expected, the river levels are up very high.  After we got home Tina looked up the historical data and confirmed our guess that the water levels are about six to eight feet higher than they have been over the past year.  It’s not the highest it has ever been, but definitely in the range of a typical high-water level.

This made the trip interesting, but as expected, the trail itself was mostly dry as we started out.  It was pretty amazing to see just how high the water levels were from all of the recent rains.  As the trail went along the edge of the river there were several spots where we remembered climbing down to get to the waters edge, but now even some of the trees are under water.

One of the nice things about this trail is that there are a couple of spots to sit and take a break to enjoy the view.  There has been a new addition since the last time we were there – a pretty good size tree has fallen across the path.  I suspect that it won’t be long before the Florida Trail Association (FTA) folks cut this up to clear the path, but for now, it makes a perfect stop to sit a spell.

No time to dally here though – we were planning on having lunch at the bridge that crosses the river about 2 miles down the trail, so after a quick photo we were on our way.  We usually see a lot of wildlife along the river, but today was an exception.  I suspect the current was a little too fast for the usual turtles and alligators, but we did see an interesting spider.  A Golden Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia) with a zig-zag pattern in her web caught our attention, so we looked it up to see if we could find out what it was doing.  It seems though that no one really knows what the zig zag pattern is for.  Some say that it is for camouflage, others say it is to attract insects, and others say it is to warn birds away.  I guess it will just have to remain a mystery for now.  If you’re curious, I’m pretty sure this was a female because the female is about four times larger than the male.  This spider was about 2.5” from leg tip to leg tip.  I really hope there wasn’t one nearby that was 4x larger!

Well, that wraps up our lesson on arachnids – let’s get back to the trail (we’re really ready for lunch by now).  About half way towards our destination, we cam to another one of the many bridges along this trail.  This one had a warning sign mounted on each side.  The bridge feels a little spongy, but stable enough that I wasn’t worried about it falling as I crossed.  I suspect that this is on the list of planned maintenance for the trail.  I find it amazing how this work could be accomplished; it seems like everything would have to be carried in by hand (maybe by mule?) and the work itself must have it’s own challenges.

Just a little bit further along the trail from this bridge we found an ideal spot for another bridge to be built!  Even with all of the bridges that span this trail, mother nature did find a spot to wash out the trail.  We were so close to the old railway bridge that we really wanted to find a way past this spot, but we didn’t have any luck.  The closes we found was a palm tree that had fallen across, but it was too small and long to use comfortably.  The water looked like it was around three or four feet deep, so falling in wasn’t an acceptable alternative.  As we looked around, we could see watercress that was about five or six feet from the water, so it looks like the water has already receded from the highest levels, but it still has a little way to go.

Instead of fording the water, we decided to turn back and find another spot along the river for our lunch.  There were several nice places in the sun, so we picked a spot not too far from the beginning of the trail.  After lunch, we finished our hike and took a drive over to the Snow Hill Road bridge to see what it looked like there, and that trail entrance was completely underwater.  The trails along the Econ River are some of my favorites, but they may need a little more time to dry out.

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Hiking Hal Scott Preserve–White Trail

After seeing pictures of the area and descriptions of seepage bogs, how could I not look forward to hiking through this area?  Hal Scott Preserve even has a bit of history to it that goes back to the Timucua Indians and has campsites that are several thousand years old.  To be hones, I didn’t see the campgrounds (I probably wouldn’t recognize a thousand year old campsite if I was sleeping in it), and the Timucua  Mounds are in the northern part of this preserve.  Still, it was a great day to get outside – blue skies and cool breezes followed me around for the whole trip, and there wasn’t a mosquito to be found.
Heading west from the parking area where there were already a couple of cars parked, but I think most of them were there for the fishing since they seemed to be mostly by the pond access area.  After passing the trailhead the path takes a turn to the south along the edge of the fishing pond.  As I walked up to the edge, I saw several fish in there – this is probably a nice spot to drop a line.
My first plan for today’s hike was to make my way to the camping area by the canals.  I saw some photos on Google Earth that showed picnic tables down there, and I had it timed so I’d arrive there right about lunchtime.  As I headed on past the pond, I had to get a panoramic shot of the palmetto fields and blue sky.  Notice the trail – it is mostly a forest road for the whole hike, which is a lot less primitive than most of the hikes around central Florida.

Turning south at the trail intersection that leads to the campsite, I noticed that there didn’t seem to be a lot of traffic on these trails, judging by how few prints there were.  In this area, I saw no hoof prints, only one set of foot prints, one bicycle, and (surprisingly) some car tire tracks.
It turns out the car tracks were from some visitors who were already occupying the campsite.  (This group campsite must be reserved, and the water management district does allow campers to bring a small number of vehicles to the campsite.  This sure put a damper on my plans for where to have lunch; instead of sitting down for lunch I ended up eating while I hiked.
Before heading back the way I came though, I did a little bit of exploring at the end of the canal down here.  After getting a quick photo of a pump well, I went down to the creek that runs out of the canal towards the river.  This area must be what was referred to when I read about the seepage bogs – this swampy area seems to border both sides of the Econlockhatchee River.  While I was here I tried creating a photo sphere from the middle of the swamp.  It came out pretty good, but I don’t know if it will work here in the blog or not, so if the one in the table below is just a weird looking flat image when you click on it, try the link.
After heading back up to the main trail (and finishing my lunch along the way) I came upon an area that looks like they might be adding a new section to the trails.  If you zoom in a bit, you’ll notice that two of the trees on either side of this cut area have big white bands painted on them.  While I suppose this could be a planned fire-break, I don’t really think so since this trail curves around and later rejoins the trail that I was walking on.  I might have to come back next year sometime to see what this turns into.
From this point, the trail continues on to the Econ River.  There is a bridge further west, but this part of the trail was flooded over.  Here I had a choice.  Do I put on my water-boots and go to the bridge, or continue on to the north with the white blaze trail that I had been following?  I decided to stick to the original trail, but not before I took another photo sphere picture of this spot.  Like the other one, I tried putting the picture directly in the blog down below – let’s see if Google's blogs work with Google's photo spheres.
So after playing around with my camera, I jumped back to the white blazed trail and headed north.  Most of this part of the trail was pretty uneventful.  I did see some bobcat tracks in a muddy spot before a couple on horseback approached.  Since they came from the direction that I was headed, I asked ‘em what the trail was like back there.  They said it wasn’t bad, but there were a couple of wet spots.  Now, if someone on a horse says there are a couple of wet spots on the trail, I think I’ll pay more attention. 
From here the trail was pretty close to entering the woods again where, right as the shade starts, there is a small stream that flows to the west and I expect that it feeds into the Econ river.  The road / trail crosses the stream and heads further north, but it was time to start heading back, so I headed back south a bit to take the trail that the equestrians said had a couple of wet spots.
For some reason, I was expecting to come up on more wet spots than I did, but what was lacking in quantity was made up in quality.  There were two spots that couldn’t be crossed without getting a little bit wet.  Ever since hiking in Seminole Ranch, I’ve been carrying some overshoes that were perfect for these spots.  The water was only about a foot deep, so being prepared let me keep my shoes dry for the rest of the trip.
It was nice to get outside today; and sometimes a solo trip is perfect for clearing one’s mind and just enjoying nature.  There are a lot more trails in this area, so I’m sure I’ll be back.  During the spring the water levels will be lower, and I might just be able to cross some of the spots that I held back from today!
As always, for details of the trip or to see where the photos were taken, look at the map at the end of this post.

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