Hillsborough River Park Hike

Happiness is………….hiking with friends.

♦♦♦

We set out on a sunny Sunday morning to hike a six mile trail at Hillsborough River State Park, about 30 minutes northeast of Tampa. It's a popular, easy hiking trail that we could finish in under three hours. At 10 a.m., with the sun brightly shining into our excited faces, we stepped onto the trail.

I had planned this trip, and according to my map we should have come across a restroom about 0.6 miles into our hike – something we were looking forward to after we’d all had a cup of coffee (or two) in the morning.  Unfortunately we didn’t know that the facility was behind a left turn and not visible from the trail as I had presumed, so we had little choice but to hold it.

We were off to a great start!

First photo op: the suspension bridge. Sturdy as it looks, it wobbled and wiggled under our feet as our group of six traversed over the river.

The path turned off into the forest and along the river, most of it flooded with sun yet shaded just enough. All of us ditched our long sleeve tops almost immediately. The temperatures had climbed into the low 70’s in no time.

We had been joking about wildlife. About how you play dead when you encounter a bear (there aren’t any bears in this park), how we hoped to not run into any big spiders, or see any snakes.

We didn’t see any bears. But soon enough, and by sheer accident, this little nugget caught my eye just off the trail over my left shoulder:

Yup – it was very much alive, but sitting there very calmly, sunning herself. In my excitement I yelled out “Oooooh, look at that” as I pointed at the snake. Nikki, right behind me shouted “Ooooh, I’m out!!!”, as she attempted to jump back where she was met by the last two ladies bringing the group up from the rear. We broke out in hysterics as we realized that Nikki was preparing to push them out of the way to get back to…………well, where exactly did she think she was going to go? We were nearly three miles into our hike – going “back” was not an option. Since the snake wasn’t moving we quickly convinced Nikki that walking past the snake was safe, and we moved ahead. Snake encounter – check!

Along the path, Mother Nature showed off her treasures. Kinda amazing what grows around here, and how easy it is to overlook these beauties….

Some kind of tree fungus? Mushroom?

A fallen tree, a hollowed trunk

We especially admired this tree – looking as though it was a giant, holding court with his minions

Due to its size we decided to “tuck in” and take a picture.

Nailed it! Well, sorta…

We continued on, still in search of – and now really hoping for – that elusive bathroom facility. I had tissues with me, but really wanted to avoid squatting in the brush.. Forest Gump came to mind…..”something jumped up and bit me”…..although my concern was bugs, not bullets.

We eventually did find the restroom by the way. At mile five.

Hey, better late than never!

And then, at mile six, after only 2 hours and 20 minutes we had arrived back at the start.

Still smiling!!!

Where to next??