Friday, January 26, 2018

Biking Charles Bronson SF–Windmill Trip

This is a short ride through Charles Bronson State Forest where I stopped to make a little video of the windmill out there.

Windmill Full.jpg
Aeromotor WIndmill – Model 702

The windmill was made sometime before 1964, when the Aeromotor company moved from Chicago to Broken Arrow, OK.  Since then there have been several hurricanes and tropical storms that have either passed through the area, or passed close enough where this old guy saw some pretty strong winds.  Yet here it is, still running and pumping water like it did more than half a century ago.

I started the trip at the parking area for Chuluota Wilderness Area, which is only about a quarter of a mile from the entrance to the state forest.  The entrance was easy with my bike, there is a simple swinging gate so I didn’t need to lift my bike over the fence.

Entrance
Entrance
Road-1
Forest Road
Windmill Top
Windmill Top

The ride out here is pretty easy; the roads are mostly hard packed or grassy, but I don’t think a hybrid bike would do very well because there are some spots with sugar sand.  My mountain bike handled these spots with no problems, but thinner tires would definitely not ride as well.

Gate
One of many gates
 CBSF Sign

I was surprised that I didn’t see any cattle on this trip, and also that much of the farming equipment that I saw on my last trip was also gone.  I don’t know if the forest service has stopped allowing cattle to graze here, or if the ranchers have simply brought the herds somewhere else.  I’ll probably know more in another week or two; I’m planning to come out again soon to visit some of the shell middens.

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