During the first six weeks of our winter Florida adventure, due to unseasonably cold weather, we only paddled one time. That was on the Weeki Wachee River and it was the warmest frigid day we had seen. Today, we paddled the Hillsborough River with our friends John and Susan. It has warmed considerably here in sunny Florida and this trip will mark our 11th paddle since we left the Keys in mid-February.
The Hillsborough River is very close to Lazydays. After an omelet breakfast at the Crown Club, We met John and Susan at the put-in at John B Sargeant park only 5 miles from our camp. It was a beautiful day to paddle. The water level was higher than we had every seen it due to recent storms. We put in at the landing, paddled out a short canal and turned right up Flint Creek. In spite of the high water there was little flow on Flint Creek. We paddled about a mile up Flint Creek before it narrowed and we turned around. When we returned to the Hillsborough River we turned right and paddled upstream about a mile. After about an hour of chasing alligators, turtles and herons we turned around and enjoyed a leisurely float. Between the high water and the warm sunshine, we saw dozens of snakes basking in the bushes. We also saw ospreys, hawks and roseate spoonbills. After a wonderful four hours and about eight miles, we arrived at the take-out at Trout Creek Park.
On the shuttle back to the put-in, we visited with our friends Joe and Jean Faulk, who operate a canoe livery service on the Hillsborough called Canoe Escape. We had hoped Joe and Jean would be able to break away and paddle with us one day before we left town, but business is booming now so maybe next year. After completing the shuttle we said goodbye to John and Susan who were excited about their upcoming trip. In two days they are flying to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands for a twenty day adventure. Dorcas and I beat it back to the Crown Club just in time for happy hour.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
Coming Home to Lazydays
Wednesday night it was threatening rain, so we packed up most of our outside gear before we went to bed. Thursday we departed Thousand Trails Peace River about 9AM, just as it started to rain for serious. We drove north toward Tampa in intermittent heavy rain, but by the time we set up at Lazydays RV Campground (formerly Rally Park) it had mostly quit.
We bought our Country Coach at Lazydays a little over 3 years ago and have spent many nights here since then. When we bought our coach, they gave us a membership in the Crown Club, an exclusive club for folks who buy high-end coaches here. At the Crown Club we are wined and dined three times a day for free. Our membership expires next month (unless we shell out BIG $$$ for a new coach, which ain't likely) so we like to spend as much time in this area as we can while the gettin' is good. Lazydays is the largest single-site RV dealer in the country. They have thousands of RV's on site that are unlocked so you can look through them without being bothered by a salesperson. It's a wonderful place to hang out.
Staying at Lazydays is kind of like coming home, we usually see people we know having service done, buying a new coach, hanging out or just passing through. This time we saw friends, Dave and Rita in Lazydays RV Campground attending a rally; Jim and Luci in the Crown Club for service; and Rob and Bonnie in the Crown Club trading coaches. Small world.
Today, unsettled weather set in; it was a crappy day outside but a good day to spend in the Crown Club. It rained hard all day with high winds and thunder storms. The news reported tornadoes close by to the north and east. The forecast for tomorrow is excellent and we have a date to paddle the Hillsboro River with friends John and Susan.
We bought our Country Coach at Lazydays a little over 3 years ago and have spent many nights here since then. When we bought our coach, they gave us a membership in the Crown Club, an exclusive club for folks who buy high-end coaches here. At the Crown Club we are wined and dined three times a day for free. Our membership expires next month (unless we shell out BIG $$$ for a new coach, which ain't likely) so we like to spend as much time in this area as we can while the gettin' is good. Lazydays is the largest single-site RV dealer in the country. They have thousands of RV's on site that are unlocked so you can look through them without being bothered by a salesperson. It's a wonderful place to hang out.
Staying at Lazydays is kind of like coming home, we usually see people we know having service done, buying a new coach, hanging out or just passing through. This time we saw friends, Dave and Rita in Lazydays RV Campground attending a rally; Jim and Luci in the Crown Club for service; and Rob and Bonnie in the Crown Club trading coaches. Small world.
Today, unsettled weather set in; it was a crappy day outside but a good day to spend in the Crown Club. It rained hard all day with high winds and thunder storms. The news reported tornadoes close by to the north and east. The forecast for tomorrow is excellent and we have a date to paddle the Hillsboro River with friends John and Susan.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Paddle Arbuckle Creek 2X
Arbuckle Creek is fairly close to Thousand 
Trails Peace River, but we have never paddled it. We have never been here when we were with other paddlers who could help us run a shuttle. Arbuckle Creek is frequently paddled by members of the Florida Sport Paddling Club, usually as an overnight trip. John and Susan had paddled the creek previously, but were very agreeable to paddle it again. On Sunday we decided to paddle the section from East Arbuckle Road to the bridge at Arbuckle Creek Road, a distance of about 12 miles. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. We drove about 30 miles east through Avon Park and unloaded the boats at the put-in. 
Susan and I ran the shuttle, and then we anxiously put onto the creek.
The creek was gorgeous, but the highlight of the trip was the wildlife. We saw numerous examples of the usual water birds. We saw many raptors including red-shouldered hawks, ospreys and a barred owl. We saw a herd of turkeys. We got a good look at an American bittern, which I'm not sure is rare, but I don't recall seeing one before. We also saw several raccoons on the banks of the river and in the live oak trees. However, the highlight of the trip was a great sighting of a Florida panther! John saw it first; its head was sticking up from behind some brush. At first we thought it was a huge house cat, but it was quickly obvious that it certainly wasn't a house cat. Then we thought it might be a
bobcat, but it just didn't have the tufts or the ears or the shape to be a bobcat. Then it ran, and we could see it clearly, and we were sure. It was a panther. It had a full tail and was bigger than I expect a bobcat would be. After some research and after viewing some photos on the internet, we confirmed it was a panther. We believe the cat was not yet mature. He showed a few stripes on his face and some spots on his body, indicative of an immature cat. Dorcas got a pretty nice photo of his head, but she was unable to get another clear shot as he bolted from behind the brush and loped up and over the creek bank. This was a very fortunate and rare sighting. Most visitors and even native Floridians will never see a panther in the wild. After the paddle we returned via Sebring and enjoyed a muy grande dinner at Don Jose Mexican restaurant.
Dorcas and I decided to paddle on Arbuckle Creek again today. Unfortunately John and Susan had left Thousand Trails
Peace River and moved up to Thousand Trails Orlando, so we were on our own. We decided to put in at the same place we had put in on Sunday, but paddle upstream instead. We would paddle up as far as we could go or until we reached Lake Arbuckle, whichever came first, then turn around and return to our put-in. We found the current was not very swift and we made good time. After about 1.5 hours we arrived at the head of the creek at Lake Arbuckle. We paddled out into the lake and around to the right where we found a very nice paved canoe landing with a dock and a restroom. While Dorcas was in the restroom I walked over to what looked like a ranger station. There I found an armed uniformed
guard who informed me that I was on military property and had to leave. He was actually very polite, but we quickly finished walking Matilda and left. We paddled back the way we came enjoying the fact that we did not have to fight the current. We saw a number of alligators on the paddle. Several gators were apparently recent mothers and had many baby gators on their backs. I wanted to pick up one of the babies, but Dorcas thought it was a bad idea and wouldn't let me.
We arrived at the put-in/take-out after a 6.2 mile round trip paddle. The only house on the creek was at the take-out where we saw a man in the yard just as a red-shouldered hawk swooped down towards him. It turns out that a pair of hawks were nesting in a tree in the yard. The man had been feeding them turkey necks, so they kept a close watch whenever he came out into the yard. He went back into the house, got a fresh neck and threw it into the air. The hawk dived for it and caught it in mid air and returned to his nest. Cool!
Trails Peace River, but we have never paddled it. We have never been here when we were with other paddlers who could help us run a shuttle. Arbuckle Creek is frequently paddled by members of the Florida Sport Paddling Club, usually as an overnight trip. John and Susan had paddled the creek previously, but were very agreeable to paddle it again. On Sunday we decided to paddle the section from East Arbuckle Road to the bridge at Arbuckle Creek Road, a distance of about 12 miles. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. We drove about 30 miles east through Avon Park and unloaded the boats at the put-in. 
Susan and I ran the shuttle, and then we anxiously put onto the creek.The creek was gorgeous, but the highlight of the trip was the wildlife. We saw numerous examples of the usual water birds. We saw many raptors including red-shouldered hawks, ospreys and a barred owl. We saw a herd of turkeys. We got a good look at an American bittern, which I'm not sure is rare, but I don't recall seeing one before. We also saw several raccoons on the banks of the river and in the live oak trees. However, the highlight of the trip was a great sighting of a Florida panther! John saw it first; its head was sticking up from behind some brush. At first we thought it was a huge house cat, but it was quickly obvious that it certainly wasn't a house cat. Then we thought it might be a
bobcat, but it just didn't have the tufts or the ears or the shape to be a bobcat. Then it ran, and we could see it clearly, and we were sure. It was a panther. It had a full tail and was bigger than I expect a bobcat would be. After some research and after viewing some photos on the internet, we confirmed it was a panther. We believe the cat was not yet mature. He showed a few stripes on his face and some spots on his body, indicative of an immature cat. Dorcas got a pretty nice photo of his head, but she was unable to get another clear shot as he bolted from behind the brush and loped up and over the creek bank. This was a very fortunate and rare sighting. Most visitors and even native Floridians will never see a panther in the wild. After the paddle we returned via Sebring and enjoyed a muy grande dinner at Don Jose Mexican restaurant.Dorcas and I decided to paddle on Arbuckle Creek again today. Unfortunately John and Susan had left Thousand Trails
Peace River and moved up to Thousand Trails Orlando, so we were on our own. We decided to put in at the same place we had put in on Sunday, but paddle upstream instead. We would paddle up as far as we could go or until we reached Lake Arbuckle, whichever came first, then turn around and return to our put-in. We found the current was not very swift and we made good time. After about 1.5 hours we arrived at the head of the creek at Lake Arbuckle. We paddled out into the lake and around to the right where we found a very nice paved canoe landing with a dock and a restroom. While Dorcas was in the restroom I walked over to what looked like a ranger station. There I found an armed uniformed
guard who informed me that I was on military property and had to leave. He was actually very polite, but we quickly finished walking Matilda and left. We paddled back the way we came enjoying the fact that we did not have to fight the current. We saw a number of alligators on the paddle. Several gators were apparently recent mothers and had many baby gators on their backs. I wanted to pick up one of the babies, but Dorcas thought it was a bad idea and wouldn't let me.We arrived at the put-in/take-out after a 6.2 mile round trip paddle. The only house on the creek was at the take-out where we saw a man in the yard just as a red-shouldered hawk swooped down towards him. It turns out that a pair of hawks were nesting in a tree in the yard. The man had been feeding them turkey necks, so they kept a close watch whenever he came out into the yard. He went back into the house, got a fresh neck and threw it into the air. The hawk dived for it and caught it in mid air and returned to his nest. Cool!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Paddle Peace River 2X
A few days ago, I struck up a conversation with Dick, our back door neighbor at 
Thousand Trails. Dick had noticed our boats and wondered if we wanted to paddle on the Peace River. He had met another couple in the park, and they had made a tentative plan to paddle a short section of the river the next day. We had not paddled in a while and were raring to go, although the forecast for the next day was not very good.
It rained in the morning, but the forecast for the afternoon
was better. It was still a windy, cool and dreary day. We put in at the public landing in Wauchula and shuttled the cars back to Thousand Trails where we would take out. With us, in addition to Dick, were Bob and Paula, kayakers from Long Island. Dorcas and I had paddled this section of the river several times before, but had always put in at Bowling Green, about 8 miles further upstream. Given the weather it was probably just as well that the paddle was relatively short. It sprinkled a little and we had to work a bit to keep the wind from blowing us off course. When we arrived at the take out at camp we had covered just a little under 4 miles.
Shortly after arriving at camp we were surprised to find our friends John and Susan had arrived at Thousand Trails. We had met John and Susan at another Thousand Trails park several years ago and had run into them several times since then. We found that we have much in common: we all paddle, bike, tent-camp, and we have similar views and philosophies. We also both belong to the Florida Sport Paddling Club and have some common friends. We had paddled with John and Susan last year, and made plans to paddle with them again while here together.
So it was that today we paddled another section of the Peace River with John and Susan. We decided on the section from Fort Meade to Bowling Green, which Dorcas and I had never paddled. It is always fun to paddle a new section of river! We drove to Fort Meade and located the put-in at the Fort Meade Recreational Park off US 98 after a little aimless wandering and after talking to some locals.
The day was much nicer than our previous paddle on the Peace. It was perfect paddling weather, warm and sunny. We saw a few gators and most of the usual wading birds as well as ospreys and red-shouldered hawks.
Our most unusual wildlife sighting was a cow stuck in the mud at the edge of the river. The cow
was stuck up to her neck in the soft mud and could not get out. It was obvious she had been there for some time and was quite tired from the struggling. We had heard some shooting and some ATVs a short distance downstream, so we knew some people were close by. John got out and went to find someone that could help. After a few minutes he returned with a man and two young girls. One of the girls said "Oh no! it's Sandy!". It was clear that the man did not know how he was going to get the cow out of the mud, but he thanked us for letting him know about it and left, presumably to get more help. I hope Sandy made it. Before leaving he warned us that folks were shooting skeets across the river around the bend, and he would go let them know we were coming through. Thanks!
It was a wonderful day on the river. We took out at the bridge near Payne's Creek State Historic Site after the 14 mile paddle.
Thousand Trails. Dick had noticed our boats and wondered if we wanted to paddle on the Peace River. He had met another couple in the park, and they had made a tentative plan to paddle a short section of the river the next day. We had not paddled in a while and were raring to go, although the forecast for the next day was not very good.It rained in the morning, but the forecast for the afternoon
was better. It was still a windy, cool and dreary day. We put in at the public landing in Wauchula and shuttled the cars back to Thousand Trails where we would take out. With us, in addition to Dick, were Bob and Paula, kayakers from Long Island. Dorcas and I had paddled this section of the river several times before, but had always put in at Bowling Green, about 8 miles further upstream. Given the weather it was probably just as well that the paddle was relatively short. It sprinkled a little and we had to work a bit to keep the wind from blowing us off course. When we arrived at the take out at camp we had covered just a little under 4 miles.Shortly after arriving at camp we were surprised to find our friends John and Susan had arrived at Thousand Trails. We had met John and Susan at another Thousand Trails park several years ago and had run into them several times since then. We found that we have much in common: we all paddle, bike, tent-camp, and we have similar views and philosophies. We also both belong to the Florida Sport Paddling Club and have some common friends. We had paddled with John and Susan last year, and made plans to paddle with them again while here together.
So it was that today we paddled another section of the Peace River with John and Susan. We decided on the section from Fort Meade to Bowling Green, which Dorcas and I had never paddled. It is always fun to paddle a new section of river! We drove to Fort Meade and located the put-in at the Fort Meade Recreational Park off US 98 after a little aimless wandering and after talking to some locals.
The day was much nicer than our previous paddle on the Peace. It was perfect paddling weather, warm and sunny. We saw a few gators and most of the usual wading birds as well as ospreys and red-shouldered hawks.
Our most unusual wildlife sighting was a cow stuck in the mud at the edge of the river. The cow
was stuck up to her neck in the soft mud and could not get out. It was obvious she had been there for some time and was quite tired from the struggling. We had heard some shooting and some ATVs a short distance downstream, so we knew some people were close by. John got out and went to find someone that could help. After a few minutes he returned with a man and two young girls. One of the girls said "Oh no! it's Sandy!". It was clear that the man did not know how he was going to get the cow out of the mud, but he thanked us for letting him know about it and left, presumably to get more help. I hope Sandy made it. Before leaving he warned us that folks were shooting skeets across the river around the bend, and he would go let them know we were coming through. Thanks!It was a wonderful day on the river. We took out at the bridge near Payne's Creek State Historic Site after the 14 mile paddle.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Highlands Hammock State Park
We finally had a nice warm sunny day and decided to visit Highlands Hammock State Park about 20 miles away near Sebring. It was an excellent day to cycle so we packed up the trikes and Matilda and headed towards Sebring.
Highlands Hammock State Park has a very nice paved one-way loop road through a hardwood hammock and an off-road bike trail around the perimeter of the park. We first took Matilda for a brisk trot/ride. We started off on the unpaved bike trail. She was good for a while, but seemed to poop out after less than 1/2 mile. So we turned back to the car to park Matilda in the shade for the remainder of our ride. We then toured the campground, which looked like a very nice place to stay. There we connected again with the perimeter bike loop and biked the eastern portion of that trail. The surface alternated from hard-packed sand and grass, to short stretches of soft sand. We passed the primitive camping and managed to make it back to the parking lot without getting stuck.
We then biked the paved loop road which was an excellent ride. The loop road passes through a dense hardwood hammock for about 3 miles. Numerous short hiking trails lead from the road. Traffic was light, and we cycled the loop twice. After our ride we returned again
to the parking lot near the cafe, lusting for a cup of wild orange ice cream, but no, not today. The cafe was closed this day. Dang. We did tour the adjacent Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) museum. The CCC museum celebrates the CCC in Florida and the US. The CCC was instrumental in developing many public works projects during the 30s and 40s. Finally we retrieved Matilda and hiked some of the short trails. There we saw several armadillos and got a short glimpse of what might have been a wild hog.
A few days later we returned to Highlands Hammock State Park and biked the park with our friends John and Susan. We biked all the routes we had biked previously, except we explored more of the northern section of the perimeter bike trail. The rangers had warned us that this section contained a bit of deep soft sand, but we did it anyway. This was not a particularly wise decision; the rangers were right. We made it though, with just a little bit of dragging our cycles through the soft sand. We ended up at the cafe where we had a long belated cup of wild orange ice cream. Yum yum!.
Highlands Hammock State Park has a very nice paved one-way loop road through a hardwood hammock and an off-road bike trail around the perimeter of the park. We first took Matilda for a brisk trot/ride. We started off on the unpaved bike trail. She was good for a while, but seemed to poop out after less than 1/2 mile. So we turned back to the car to park Matilda in the shade for the remainder of our ride. We then toured the campground, which looked like a very nice place to stay. There we connected again with the perimeter bike loop and biked the eastern portion of that trail. The surface alternated from hard-packed sand and grass, to short stretches of soft sand. We passed the primitive camping and managed to make it back to the parking lot without getting stuck.
We then biked the paved loop road which was an excellent ride. The loop road passes through a dense hardwood hammock for about 3 miles. Numerous short hiking trails lead from the road. Traffic was light, and we cycled the loop twice. After our ride we returned again
to the parking lot near the cafe, lusting for a cup of wild orange ice cream, but no, not today. The cafe was closed this day. Dang. We did tour the adjacent Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) museum. The CCC museum celebrates the CCC in Florida and the US. The CCC was instrumental in developing many public works projects during the 30s and 40s. Finally we retrieved Matilda and hiked some of the short trails. There we saw several armadillos and got a short glimpse of what might have been a wild hog.A few days later we returned to Highlands Hammock State Park and biked the park with our friends John and Susan. We biked all the routes we had biked previously, except we explored more of the northern section of the perimeter bike trail. The rangers had warned us that this section contained a bit of deep soft sand, but we did it anyway. This was not a particularly wise decision; the rangers were right. We made it though, with just a little bit of dragging our cycles through the soft sand. We ended up at the cafe where we had a long belated cup of wild orange ice cream. Yum yum!.
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