Two Short Hikes

There are several hiking trails here in Little Manatee River State Park. Many are equestrian trails, and this seems to be a very popular place for horsey people to bring their horseys and then ride off into "the real Florida." We had a free day yesterday. It was nice to just stay put and not drive off anywhere. Hiking was on our agenda, but no day gets off to a good start without a little stitching time. This piece is moving right along.

Now I've hooped the last of it, and I expect I'll finish it up this morning.

The kitties spent their stitching time sunbathing. It got cold here the previous night. We've escaped the ice and snow that some of you are experiencing...even here, in Florida. Nevertheless, it was near freezing during the night, and the kitties took full advantage of the warm sun shining in the windows.

When we got Smitty out for his morning walk, Sadie took over his spot.

We were slow getting moving in the morning, but eventually we took off from our campsite to walk the Horse Trail to Dude Lake. (There's some poetry there, don't you think?)

As I said, there are several equestrian trails here, and they are color-coded on the map. We were walking the green trail.

This is pretty much what the terrain looked like..."the real Florida."

It was only about 1/3 of a mile out to Dude Lake, which was very pretty with the blue sky and puffy white clouds reflecting on the smooth surface of the water. Walking to the right of this image, we came upon a bench where we could sit down and enjoy it.

Along the way, we learned how we could die on this hike.

Our shadow selves were alarmed by this.

We calmed them down and then took a seat on the bench and gazed out across the lake. We didn't see any evidence of alligators.

Just the same, we checked the trees above our heads to be sure there were no tree-climbing alligators lying, er, hanging in wait.

We have nerves of steel, don't you know. After a while, we walked back the way we came and took another spur off the main trail. It led to an open area where there were several horsey people getting ready to ride.

Also, we came upon some informational signs. I'm hoping you can read them. The light and reflections were very bad, and so I've messed with them a little in photoshop, trying to make them as readable as possible.

This is an interesting graphic. The Florida on the left shows how the wetlands covered the state in pre-1900. the image on the right shows the state since 1989. Obviously, a lot of the wetlands have disappeared.

Here's a little more information about the pine flatwoods.

And some about Florida's Turpentine Industry. You might recall that the Chesser Family back in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge produced turpentine as a part of their family's livelihood.

There was a photograph posted here, but I couldn't make it show up because of the reflections. Nevertheless, I've included the clay pot that was included with the exhibit.

From there, we walked back to the campsite and had some lunch. Mike took a nap while I traced out the next block for the Sundress quilt. I figure I'll be working on it soon enough. The center block for this quilt was the largest. It will be surrounded by 12 dresses, and this is the first. These blocks are quite small, and so it should stitch up fairly quickly.

After lunch and a nap, we headed out for yet another trail. This one took us along the Little Manatee River.

To get to the trailhead, we had to pass by some of the more dangerous animals of the swamp.

It was just a short distance out to the actual trailhead. There were some informational signs posted along the way, mainly about birds we might see. Here's one of the signs:

Looking up, indeed, we saw a large hole about a foot below the top of that dead tree.

Also, while we were walking along, a Red-shouldered hawk flew in and landed close by. It only stayed a moment, so I couldn't get a picture of it. Nevertheless, I found this one on the internet so you can see what we saw.

(image credit)

The trail took us right along the Little Manatee River, which was very pretty. It was black water in parts.

We took the loop around, which led along the river, and then away again, back to "the real Florida."

And then we took another spur to the "river steps." Here you could walk right down to the water's edge, and this was also a place for launching canoes.

Walking to the water's edge, and looking to the left, it looked like this.

The sun was getting low in the sky by this time.

From there, it was a short walk back to the campground, and the end of our day.

Today we'll be heading north to Crystal River where we'll spend three days with my friend Karin and her husband. They are fellow RVers. Karin and I have corresponded via the blog and email for years, but this will be our first in-person meeting. We're looking forward to meeting Karin and "Driver," and swapping RV stories. Also, Karin has listed tons of things to do during our visit with them, including seeing the manatees and perhaps taking a swim with them.