We woke up Sunday morning and Sharon went online to see if there was any camp sites available at Huguenot Memorial Park. There was, so she made a reservation for that evening, so we would have a great place to watch the Lunar Eclipse that evening. It would also allow us to test how well we do on a cold evening with only our battery power.
The Mayport Ferry wants $20 to carry Ernie across the St. Johns River, so we made the drive over the Dames Point Bridge and up Heckscher Drive to Huguenot. The weather was sunny, cold and blustery, and the crosswinds on the bridge made us have second thoughts about the worth of the Ferry, but the Mercedes stabilization software kept the drive manageable, and Heckscher is a lovely drive. We got there early Sunday afternoon, bundled ourselves up and went for a walk in the park.
The tide was out, and the beaches were huge. The chill winds kept everyone sane far away, though watching a couple of kite surfers in the lagoon was fun. Huguenot took a hard hit from Hurricane Michael and had to close for many months, and even now it isn't back to its former self. None of the campsites have power or water, and the number of sites is far fewer than a couple of years earlier. The good news is construction is underway to build new roads in the park, and perhaps provide a challenge for this year's hurricanes. The park's dunes are protected for nesting birds, and they fared much better than the pavement. We walked for over five miles along the Atlantic Ocean beach, the lagoon side of the dunes, and the north shore of the St. Johns River where our campsite overlooked the Mayport Naval Station.
Returning to Ernie, we started to get ready for a long night waiting for first sunset and then the eclipse. We were ready for temps near freezing overnight, and were hoping the winds would ease up when the Sun went down. We had an additional run on the floor to provide a bit more protection from underneath, and we had Reflectix for the windows that didn't already have a barrier. We couldn't use our ceramic electric heater because it draws more current than our inverter wants to provide.
Dinner was our first big test for our latest gear. The batteries got an A+. I was concerned about our inverter being able to deliver power at its rated 1500 watts, and they came through. We bought an electric skillet for Ernie, and it put a strong load on our Relion batteries, but they delivered all the power it wanted, and we had a delicious piece of salmon cooked to perfection. Plugging in a skillet is easier than screwing in a propane cannister, and its easier to cook in than our fry pan over the Coleman burner.
Later in the evening, the electric blanket got an F. It worked for a few minutes, but when it came time to start warming our bed, it played dead. And stayed dead. It proved to be totally worthless, so we resorted to our back-up plan of blankets and sleeping bags. We have new, wonderful sheets that have a high threadcount that we were looking to enjoy, and we were able to.
We downloaded some stuff from Netflix to the Slate, and we were able to watch comfortably under the warm covers. The keyboard gave the screen sufficient stability so I didn't have to hold it between us, and the speakers provided good stereo. After an episode of Tidelands, we ventured outside to sit in our lawn chairs to watch the eclipse. The winds let up a bit, and Ernie provided an adequate barrier, but the cold kept it from being comfortable. And we're not used to staying up past midnight! But it was impressive to watch the full moon get progressively darker and redder. But the cold and late hour finally got the better of us, and we skipped the latter half of the eclipse.
In the morning, it was cold, just a couple of degrees above freezing, and we weren't interested in having breakfast in the cold. We survived the evening, got lots of nice pictures, and could find a warm house less than an hour's drive away!
Pictures from our one night stand are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/iTGHbtqAE6cWXMv26
Monday, January 21, 2019
Thursday, January 10, 2019
NewYearsTrip: Jonathan Dickinson SP
Monday, January 7, 2019
We arrived at Jonathan Dickinson State Park around after a leisurely drive up the Turnpike from the Everglades with no reservations. The woman who met us at the gate wasn’t pleased with us. We asked if they were full, and her response was there already were three other groups waiting for a site to open up, the implication being that Slim just left town. She also said that we checkin wasn’t until 3pm, but we could park in the adjacent lot until then. So we parked and I wandered over to the office to confirm her dour pronouncements. We could easily head to another park, or even just drive home, if need be.
The ranger in the office had a different take on the world, and gave us a site immediately, down by the river. We took it for a day, but he said we just had to come back the next morning to extend our stay if we wanted. (Which we did, as it turned out.) He gave me some maps of the paved and unpaved trails, and mentioned in passing that he used to live on Lassie Black just outside of White Springs when he worked at Oleno SP!
The campsites in the river campground are fairly close together, but each has power and water, and the bathrooms have hot showers and are quite clean. We set up our screen tent, but it proved to be inadequate keeping the noseeums at bay as the Sun set.
Camp Murphy is the name of the mountain bike trail system in the park. It is a few mile ride back to the trails, and some of the trails are delightful: e limed gravel with well bermed sweeping turns, a narrow trail through the scrub dunes with nice use of the scant elevation differences. The first trail, Tortoise, is perfect for starting a ride, a warm up with nothing too difficult, flowy enough to get your speed and comfort level up without any scares. It flows into Ranger, which is also well maintained and offers a slightly more challenging trail of hard packed surface. As the trails continue, though, they lapse into soft sand that is challenging to power through. The obstacles start off as whoop-de-dos and wooden breaks across the trail for erosion protection, and pavers and wood paths to scoot past sand, but later trails have more limestone rock gardens, palmetto roots that seem groomed to provide challenge, and deep sand that makes you long for 5” tires to get through. They have their own version of Ocala’s Vortex, Bunker Hill, which discretion kept us far from. It looked from a distance to be well over my head for riding.
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
We woke up chilly! The inside of Ernie was cooler than outside, but still, it was nice to need the blankets for cuddly comfort. Once roused, we rode to the front gate to extend our stay, and then rode more of Camp Murphy. We tried to avoid the sand traps, and somewhat succeeded. We started on trails that were new to us, and they had some pretty sandy slogs, along with nicely bermed and prepared trail, including a 6 hill whoop-de-do. We re-rode our favorites before hopping on a service road to avoid the less fun parts.
We rode to the Lookout, a glorious 86’ view, tallest point in that part of Florida!, with views of the Atlantic, the ICW, and the sand pine scrub prairie and forest that is Jonathan Dickinson. I was impressed by how much land is undeveloped, the park really is quite large. After lunch we wandered over to the Visitor’s Center and its displays of the history of this part of Florida. I was also tempted by the Free WiFi, but it turned out to be worth every penny, it didn’t offer internet. C’est la vie.
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Our plan was to leave Jonathan Dickinson early and try for one more night on the road at Blue Springs SP. I was surprised that at 8am on a Wednesday morning there were a lot of cars on US-1, like there are people who still drive to work or something. Bummer for them! Bummer for us when we arrived at Blue Spring, and the ranger at the gate laughed at our idea of getting a site without a reservation. He said they have one walk-up site, and it was already taken. So we went into the park anyway and walked the boardwalk to look at the manatees that hang out at the spring during the winter.
Ever the optimist, Sharon had us drive next to Tomoka SP, on the Tomoka River. No luck there, either, and we only drove through the campground there, checking it out for future plans. Sharon suggested we stop at Faver Dykes SP next, but it was getting later in the afternoon, and time to wend our way the rest of the way north and back home.
Pictures of Jonathan Dickinson, and a few of Blue Spring, are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/vZqVthe1SKLEThJ5A
Pictures of Jonathan Dickinson, and a few of Blue Spring, are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/vZqVthe1SKLEThJ5A
NewYearsTrip: Everglades NP
Flamingo Campground, Everglades NP, January 4 - 7, 2019
Friday, January 7, 2019
After being directed to the very limited space for vehicles with trailers (maybe one more of my length could fit in front of me), we broke out the bikes and went for the 15 mile ride. Shark Valley is an Everglades National Park Visitor Center that has a 15 mile tram tour to view the natural beauty of the River of Grass. The tram winds South through the grasses and hammocks and marshes to the Overlook, a structure that elegantly rises above the fray. From the Overlook, the paved path returns in a fairly straight line back to the Visitor Center along a canal, home to a plethora of birds and . It comes at the second half of the trip, and makes for a great finale. I'm confident that the tour guides do an excellent job providing information and excitement about this beautiful natural resource. There is also a bike rental, but bikes and walkers are suggested to walk counterclockwise towards the clockwise-running trams. This allows walkers to see the best without venturing too far.
And it was divine. A beautiful day, a head wind for the first 7 miles, and a tail wind for the 8 mile return - Perfect! The birds were out preening in the morning sun, and the alligators were just awaking, with most not yet settled into their afternoon rest spots. So we got to watch many gators slowly swimming along the canal to their chosen sunning spots. One particularly large gator had caught something, but exactly what it was in life was unclear. It looked like he had bitten into big bag of laundry, with most of it beside his jaw. But the parts that looked like feathers suggested a big heron or the like. In any case he shook it and slammed it on the water a couple of times while I was watching, which was a pretty intimidating display of force, though completely lost on the target of his energy.
The viewpoint 7+ miles in is pretty impressive. You walk up a 50 yard circular walkway for a 30’ high view, and everywhere is Everglades, in all its resplendent glory and starkness. The ride back from there was a delight as the (now) tailwind strengthened, and we flew back, only stopping for roseate spoonbill sightings (and bigger gators, and wood storks, and …).
Pictures from Shark Valley are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/fdLqWMiZwooRpVDo7.
Leaving the park, the parking lot was full, and the lane in was completely backed up with cars wanting to park. Likely four cars got in with our leaving. We then headed East, stopping at a gas station with diesel, a Publix, and Roberts Is Here fruitstand, finally stopping at Flamingo Campground. We were surprised that someone was working the campground booth; no one was at the Park entrance, because of the president’s government shutdown. 95 volunteers are doing their best to keep this Park and a few others in South Florida open. They have access to the reservation system, and they are keeping the bathrooms open. Kudos to them!
Flamingo is a huge campground. There is Loop A and the Loop T. (Actually there is also Loop B, but it is un-mowed, and doesn’t look like anyone has used it for a few years.) Loop A is where we’ve stayed in years past; the sites have no electricity or water, but nice bathrooms with flush toilets and cold showers. The Loop T (trailer) sites have electricity (20, 30, and 50 amp) but no water at the sites, and the same nice bathrooms with flush toilets with cold showers. Both campgrounds are pretty much open fields with a few mahogany trees. But they are the southernmost point of mainland Florida, right on Florida Bay, just a paddle from the Keys to the South (and countless islands of the 10,000 Islands).
Flamingo also is at least 10 miles from the nearest chance of any cell service. And no Wi-Fi anywhere. You are off the net: no cell phone, no email, no text, no data. Rumor has it AT&T phones have a signal here, but we didn't see anyone staring at their phone screen.
Flamingo may not have electronic communication but it does have flying tactile communicators in the form of noseeums and mosquitoes. They aren’t as bad as they could be. A volunteer suggested that the reason there were so few mosquitoes was that last Fall's Hurricane Irma covered their eggs with marl (seagrass blown in by the storm, which then turns to a muddy surface). Uh, maybe.
Saturday, January 5, 2019
We slept til dawn, then I assembled by Canon 5D3 with its 100-400 lens, and lit off on our bikes to Eco Pond, less than a mile ride. The plan was to photograph wood storks and roseate spoonbills and all manner of herons and egrets. Eco Pond has been my favorite photographic destination for roseates for over a decade. Alas, most everyone was a noshow except for the mosquitoes, so my photoshoot became a slow pedal around the pond. The times I stopped the flying teeth descended so quickly I found being picky about my photo ops to be the savvy way to go. It just wasn't worth it.
After a relaxed breakfast, we decided to ride our bikes to the Marina Store to see if they sold Everglades stickers for Ernie’s wall. They had several, and Sharon limited herself. We checked out the canal’s boat ramp for a possible excursion tomorrow; Then we headed up the road for a bit of exercise.
Fifteen miles later we now know that there’s a bike friendly trail that looked great initially but devolved into mud and marl soon enough and long enough to dissuade these geezers; that our put-in point from years ago in a canoe is still there, with a resident green heron or two; that there’s a rookery just off the road in the mangroves that has an impressive number of roseates and black tipped egrets; and that Bear Lake is a fun 2.5 mile trail from the road that is bike friendly, but the final 1.6 aren’t.
After lunch we set out again, this time on the kayaks, and paddled westward against a strong wind. We were near high tide so we weren’t worried about how shallow Florida Bay is. The shore mangroves offered a welcome windbreak, because across Flamingo’s open beachfront and farther away from the coast the paddle was much more onerous. We planned to circle a particular island, but the northwest side’s waves and wind proved a bit more than would be fun, so we headed back on the lee side of it and the next four islands before heading back to port at record speed.
Sunday, January 6, 2019
Epiphany! Twelve days after Christmas, and celebrated as the day the Magi arrived and gave presents to the baby Jesus of gold, frankensense, and myrhh. And the final verse of the song, 12 Days of Christmas.
Sharon’s plan was to get up before dawn for sunrise pictures. An advantage of Flamingo’s location at the tip of the Florida peninsula is that the Sun rises and sets over water, the Atlantic and the Gulf. But the weather was chilly, and our bed proved to be too comfortable. Sanity prevailed for once.
When we did get up, we agreed on a hike that we chose not to do on our bikes the previous day. It is a 2.5 mile hike to the coast, and while they claimed it was mountain bike accessible, there was a lot more reasons not to ride it than the initial mud and marl that turned us off yesterday. Today we left the bikes at the beginning of the single track, and started hiking with our hiking boots and long sleeved pants and shirts.
And we needed them all. We had to climb through several trees that blocked the path, and navigate through the vines and downed trees hidden by the underbrush. We hiked less than a mile before realizing we didn’t want to do this for 5 miles. A slog without a worthy payoff. So we cut the hike short, and rode back to the campground. It was still a 10 mile bike ride and a couple mile hike, so lunch tasted good. Afterwards, when the tide was in, we took another paddle in Florida Bay, with less wind and a different direction. (Florida Bay, the water between the southern tip of Florida's mainland and the Keys, is really shallow, and during low tides even kayaks need to keep to the narrow channels to avoid bottoming out. Even at high tide a paddle blade can stir up the bottom.)
Monday, January 7, 2019
This morning Sharon did wake up early enough to catch Sunrise. After coffee and cereal, we left the campground, but stopped at Royal Palm for a quick tour with my Canon. The birds are so beautiful there, as are the gators, and often the juxtapositions are lovely. Beside the boardwallk there is another walk through the forest, and while it is a lovely stroll, we didn’t think there would be any photo ops that would be worthwhile.
Pictures of Flamingo fun are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/QACUmLuGe5bxKLAN8.
NewYearsTrip: Collier Seminole SP
Collier Seminole State Park, December 31, 2018 - January 4, 2019
Collier Seminole is about a hundred miles South of Oscar Shearer. There are two main roads in that direction: I-75 and the Tamiami Trail. (The Tamiami Trail is the old road connecting TAMpa with MIAMI. Its construction across the Everglades was an impressive effort, and the route from Naples north is the traffic clogged main drag for every town.) Both parks are on Tamiami, but in between are countless traffic lights trying to rein in the madness of the psychotic drivers inhabiting SW Florida. I-75 is mostly snowbirds and semis and speeders, so we chose the faster route. Between strong winds and trailer of kayaks and 70 mph speeds, Ernie spent the drive never getting more than 16 miles per gallon.
Collier Seminole is outside Marco Island and Naples at the Western end of the single lane portion of the Tamiami Trail across the Everglades. As a State Park, it's unaffected by the current shutdown of National Parks. (Our reservations starting Friday are in Everglades National Park, and that may prove to be a problem.)
Sharon got our reservations here because several of our friends chose to come here for New Years. Dale and Mary, George and Michelle, Mari and Jerry, Sterling and Susan, and Gary and Kathy all arrived just after Christmas.
Being the last to the party, we were heartened that we were welcomed to their New Year's Eve party. A great potluck and games and gift swap, it was a fun time to complete 2018.
We started the new year with a hearty breakfast. George brings his grill and used his grillmaster abilities to cook up potatoes, bacon, sausage and eggs as everyone wants. Yum.
Most of us then gathered and caravanned to Turner River with our kayaks. Turner River is one of my favorite paddles, wending through mangrove tunnels narrow enough that a kayak paddle is too wide to use. And when you break out of the tunnels into a more open area, you usually find alligators sunning. Pictures from the paddle are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/XRFUmto3zBpspxs68
Wednesday morning saw an exodus of many of our friends, with only Dale and Mary staying an extra day. We rode with Dale on the mountain bike trail in the park. No climbing, and we were lucky it hadn't rained recently, so the trail was completely rideable. But short. So we rode it twice. The roots were slippery, so we had to stay alert.
Sharon and I decided to go for a short paddle in the afternoon, but we ended up doing the full loop instead of the out and back I thought we agreed to. It ended up being a 14 mile, four hour paddle, with only one place we could have gotten out for a stretch. The water was high enough in Mud Bay that I only hit bottom once. Sharon scraped a few times on lurking oysters. The tide was going out, so our return paddle was against the current. We tended aching muscles (my hips and legs and back, Sharon's arms and shoulders), but felt better by the next morning.
Pictures from Collier Seminole are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/6q279xbaXcoz7AWa9
Collier Seminole is about a hundred miles South of Oscar Shearer. There are two main roads in that direction: I-75 and the Tamiami Trail. (The Tamiami Trail is the old road connecting TAMpa with MIAMI. Its construction across the Everglades was an impressive effort, and the route from Naples north is the traffic clogged main drag for every town.) Both parks are on Tamiami, but in between are countless traffic lights trying to rein in the madness of the psychotic drivers inhabiting SW Florida. I-75 is mostly snowbirds and semis and speeders, so we chose the faster route. Between strong winds and trailer of kayaks and 70 mph speeds, Ernie spent the drive never getting more than 16 miles per gallon.
Collier Seminole is outside Marco Island and Naples at the Western end of the single lane portion of the Tamiami Trail across the Everglades. As a State Park, it's unaffected by the current shutdown of National Parks. (Our reservations starting Friday are in Everglades National Park, and that may prove to be a problem.)
Sharon got our reservations here because several of our friends chose to come here for New Years. Dale and Mary, George and Michelle, Mari and Jerry, Sterling and Susan, and Gary and Kathy all arrived just after Christmas.
Being the last to the party, we were heartened that we were welcomed to their New Year's Eve party. A great potluck and games and gift swap, it was a fun time to complete 2018.
We started the new year with a hearty breakfast. George brings his grill and used his grillmaster abilities to cook up potatoes, bacon, sausage and eggs as everyone wants. Yum.
Most of us then gathered and caravanned to Turner River with our kayaks. Turner River is one of my favorite paddles, wending through mangrove tunnels narrow enough that a kayak paddle is too wide to use. And when you break out of the tunnels into a more open area, you usually find alligators sunning. Pictures from the paddle are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/XRFUmto3zBpspxs68
Wednesday morning saw an exodus of many of our friends, with only Dale and Mary staying an extra day. We rode with Dale on the mountain bike trail in the park. No climbing, and we were lucky it hadn't rained recently, so the trail was completely rideable. But short. So we rode it twice. The roots were slippery, so we had to stay alert.
Sharon and I decided to go for a short paddle in the afternoon, but we ended up doing the full loop instead of the out and back I thought we agreed to. It ended up being a 14 mile, four hour paddle, with only one place we could have gotten out for a stretch. The water was high enough in Mud Bay that I only hit bottom once. Sharon scraped a few times on lurking oysters. The tide was going out, so our return paddle was against the current. We tended aching muscles (my hips and legs and back, Sharon's arms and shoulders), but felt better by the next morning.
Pictures from Collier Seminole are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/6q279xbaXcoz7AWa9
Tuesday, January 1, 2019
NewYearsTrip: Oscar Shearer SP
Interstate 75 is too busy for my taste. I like serenity, and I-75 is more frenetic. It's not as crazy as I-95 around Miami, but US-41 and US-98 let you appreciate the towns and properties that you're driving through. They seem more real and less corporate efficiency.
Our meandering from White Springs went South through Lake City and Chiefland and Crystal River and many other towns before we found ourselves in Tampa, driving past a USF campus where Sharon took some classses, and Busch Gardens, where traffic was clearly more concerned about parking lot access. We finally got on I-75 to avoid city traffic, which just isn't fun in a van 24' long with a 20+' trailer.
We arrived at Oscar Shearer just as we finished a book on tape, perfect timing! Their records still had our Volvo from years ago, a nice little memory jog. We were last here in 2011. We drove to our site, but the numbering was confusing, it was later determined Sharon guessed wrong, to the consternation of a later arriving family from Ontario, but not enough consternating for them to want to move to their assigned site from our assigned site. C'est la vie.
We weren't around when they arrived, since we took off on our bikes for a nice ride. We started off on the park's mountain bike trails, but they proved to be an overwhelming slog through endless sugar sand, so when we found the adjacent bike trail, we chose to put in our miles on it. It was a Rails to Trails, as straight and level as the train tracks it replaced. It was a pleasant ride, free of traffic except for a few road crossings,and mostly undeveloped scrublands.
It was too dark to eat outside for dinner, so we ate in Ernie for the first time since the Summer. A after dinner walk around the campground reminded me how crowded this campground really is. Boondocking is much more serene, but perhaps not this trip, as South Florida seems to be the most popular place to be, and there aren't national forests to take advantage of.
Before leaving the next morning, we put our kayaks in at the boat launch area and got in a nice 6 mile paddle. The waterways in the park have a tree canopy and quiet water. When we ventured out to the ICW, the Sunday morning boat traffic was non-existent, and the water mostly calm.
Pictures are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/aGGJ9cXxTkNzNDkZA
Our meandering from White Springs went South through Lake City and Chiefland and Crystal River and many other towns before we found ourselves in Tampa, driving past a USF campus where Sharon took some classses, and Busch Gardens, where traffic was clearly more concerned about parking lot access. We finally got on I-75 to avoid city traffic, which just isn't fun in a van 24' long with a 20+' trailer.
We arrived at Oscar Shearer just as we finished a book on tape, perfect timing! Their records still had our Volvo from years ago, a nice little memory jog. We were last here in 2011. We drove to our site, but the numbering was confusing, it was later determined Sharon guessed wrong, to the consternation of a later arriving family from Ontario, but not enough consternating for them to want to move to their assigned site from our assigned site. C'est la vie.
We weren't around when they arrived, since we took off on our bikes for a nice ride. We started off on the park's mountain bike trails, but they proved to be an overwhelming slog through endless sugar sand, so when we found the adjacent bike trail, we chose to put in our miles on it. It was a Rails to Trails, as straight and level as the train tracks it replaced. It was a pleasant ride, free of traffic except for a few road crossings,and mostly undeveloped scrublands.
It was too dark to eat outside for dinner, so we ate in Ernie for the first time since the Summer. A after dinner walk around the campground reminded me how crowded this campground really is. Boondocking is much more serene, but perhaps not this trip, as South Florida seems to be the most popular place to be, and there aren't national forests to take advantage of.
Before leaving the next morning, we put our kayaks in at the boat launch area and got in a nice 6 mile paddle. The waterways in the park have a tree canopy and quiet water. When we ventured out to the ICW, the Sunday morning boat traffic was non-existent, and the water mostly calm.
Pictures are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/aGGJ9cXxTkNzNDkZA
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)