Jonathon Dickenson SP–Pine Grove Campground

Campsite at Jonathon Dickenson State Park

With the new Travel Trailer, and a long break from updating my blog, I’m starting to get back into the swing of things.  This trip was a three night stay, but unfortunately the weather wasn’t really on my side.  It got (what I call) Florida cold – temperatures in the low 60’s.  Luckily though I packed my hiking pants in addition to the shorts I usually wear.

On the first day, I had time after setting up camp to go for a bike ride up to the Hobe Mountain Lookout.  It was a nice ride on the roads, and only about four miles round trip with a slight uphill grade on the whole way out.  At one point the wind blew my hat off so I had to stop part way up the hill.

The way back was pretty fast though – downhill is a lot more fun!

The view from the top of the tower is pretty nice.  If the weather was a little more clear, I’m pretty sure that I would have been able to see the ocean.

On the second day, I went looking for some hiking opportunities in between the bouts of rain.  I started looking at the Kitching Creek trail, but it a little underwater.  It was only about ankle deep, but I didn’t want to spend the day in wet shoes.  Instead I stopped by the visitor’s center and they recommended the River Trail which starts right behind the building.

The River Trail is a short hike along the river and winds through the mangroves. I met a woman from Germany along the way and we ended up making the hike together.  The tide wasn’t completely low, so the path we took looks a little strange in the linked map, but our feet stayed mostly dry.

There is a sign at the beginning of the trail that says the trail markers are under construction, so the pink ribbons should be followed.  That didn’t help in the latter part of the hike though.  At a fork in the trail we took a turn to the right instead of the left and ended up in the campground.  We weren’t far off the planned trail; just had a slight detour.

On the third day (yes, it was still raining) I took the bike out on the Camp Murphy Paved Bike Trail.  This trail runs alongside some railroad tracks where a train was parked.  Nothing much to say about this one – it’s long and straight and kind of boring.  There is an off road trail just off to the side and I saw a couple of folks whipping through the turns and hitting the ramps.  That trail looked like a lot of fun.

I will say that I liked this campground.  My only disappointment was that the river tour wasn’t running until the weekend because they were down to only one captain on staff so the days of the tour were limited.  Next time I’ll have to make sure my visit spans a weekend so I can take the tour down to Trapper Nelson’s Interpretive Site.

QuickStats

Web Site
Fee	$33
Reservations	Yes
Electricity	Yes
Water	Yes
Sewer	Yes
Shower/Bathhouse	Yes
Internet Access	Yes – Excellent 5GUC
Location	16450 SE Federal Hwy, Hobe Sound, FL 33455

More Photos

Hiking the River Trail–Silver Springs State Park

Kermit’s Cousin Lives Here

The trailhead for this balloon trail is in the northeast section of the park, right next to the Silver River Museum.  It is easy to spot, with a large sign hanging over the entrance.  The trail itself is a very easy two mile hike – the entire path is about the width of a small forest road that is dry and very well maintained.

Starting from the trailhead, the first (roughly) third of a mile goes through a forest of oaks and pine trees, and the slope is slightly down hill.  After that point, the trail passes through a small swamp.

After passing through the swamp, there are two different rest areas that would make a great spot for a picnic.  The real jewel of this trail for me is just after the second rest area.  This is the canoe launce on to the Silver River.

There are a couple of canoes locked up next to the launch, but the rangers told me that they are only for staff use – they no longer rent canoes on this end of the part; only at the main park area.  The views here are really nice though.

When I cycled down this trail, this is where I turned back, but when we hiked it, we followed the full loop.  From here the trail is covered in short grass instead of dirt like the trail has been up to this point. 

About another third of a mile down the trail is another access point to the river.  This one is more rustic, but there is an old wooden bench hidden back under the trees.

The loop portion of the trail continues around for about a half mile before linking back to the main trail that we followed from the trailhead.  The inside of the loop is mostly palms while the outside is the same sort type of flora that surrounded the main portion of the trail on the way to the river.

Along this trail, we didn’t see a lot of wildlife, but we did come across a small black snake, and a tortoise. Kermit’s cousin was an unusual looking frog… I believe it is a Leopard Frog, but I’ve never seen one with skin that was blueish green/turquoise before.

Overall, this is a nice short hike that is well suited for just about all skill levels.  It also makes for a nice bike ride.

River Trail Cycling

Powered by Wikiloc

Black Snake	Cypress Knees	Forest Glenn
Golden Orb Weaver	Golden Web and River View	Swamp and Twisty Vine

Biking through Little Big Econ SF (and flying along the river)

I started this trip at the equestrian trailhead on Snow Hill Rd. and road my bike through a neighborhood just south of there  to the hunter’s entrance to the state forest.  There are “no parking” signs all over the neighborhood, so they’ve essentially made this their own private trailhead.

Ponies grazing in the shade

Along the way through the state forest property, this path goes through five gates that are used to control livestock.  There are a few domesticated horses and ponies back here, so the general rule of leaving the gates as they are (open or closed) after passing through them does apply.

There are a few other remnants of the ranch that used to occupy this state land.  A couple of the more interesting structures are a corral and an old wood and metal bridge.  The bridge is still maintained since the forest roads are still used.

The overall distance from the trailhead to the camping shelter is about 4.5 miles; it’s an easy hike or bike ride.  There were only a couple of very small patches of sugar sand that I had to walk my bike through.

River View

Camping Shelter

River View

There are a couple of picnic tables by the camping shelter, as well as a fire ring.  This is the spot where I stopped to do some filming of the river.  Take a look – I think it came out pretty good.

I also had my GoPro filming the trip on the way out.  If you would like to get a feel for what the area looks like, this shows the forest roads leading all the way out.

The map below shows the locations of the major landmarks along the way.  Clicking on the “Wikiloc” icon on the map will take you to the page with more map details.

Powered by Wikiloc

Equestrian Trailhead

Historic Marker (Side 1)

Historic Marker (Side 2)

Biking CBSF–Heifer Mound

I took a short ride through Charles Bronson State Forest to capture some aerial video around Heifer Mound and Saddle Mound.  These are two of the largest native American shell middens in the immediate area of the state forest (that I’ve seen), and this spot offers some great views of the St. Johns River

Saddle Mound

Parking for this trailhead is at the Chuluota Wilderness area about two tenths of a mile west of the entrance to the state forest.  From here it is a short ride to the windmill – overall it is almost exactly four miles out to the river.

Park Entrance

Information Kiosk

There are a a lot of these prehistoric sites throughout Florida, and many along the St. Johns River.  For the most part, they are easy to miss, but some of them really stand out.  Heifer Mound is a well known spot by boaters (especially air boats) as a spot to park and enjoy the views.  There is a flag pole on the center of the mound that sometimes has a flag, but I learned  that the flag is frequently taken by vandals.

Airboats on Heifer Mound

I learned that Heifer Mound is known locally as bullshit mound.  I don’t know if it is because people meet here to sit and talk, or (more likely) because cows from a local ranch have been known to hang out here since it offers dry  ground when the flood plane is underwater.

Charles Bronson SF

St. Johns River

Alligator Sunning

There used to be a lot of cattle in this portion of the forest, but I there is no sign of them now.  I found out that the rancher no longer has a lease with the state to let his cattle graze here.  The video that I captured while I was here came out pretty good.  I managed to capture some boats out on the river and also the airboats coming out of the river up onto the mound.

Powered by Wikiloc

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.

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

Forest Road

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.

One of many gates

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.

Powered by Wikiloc