Hole in the Fence hike

Sometimes I yearn for serious alone time on the trail and I found it today. Nothing clears my head better than several hours stomping around in the woods. In fact, I think I solve many of my internal struggles better and faster when I have the opportunity to sort them out in silence. 

All I had to do is drive about 45 minutes to the Wilderness trails northeast of Tampa which traverse the Trout Creek, Morris Bridge and Flatwoods areas. When I arrived there was only one other car in the parking lot at 8:20 a.m., and it seemed like I found the solitude I had been looking for. These trails are maintained and used by mountain bikers as well as hikers but I didn’t see more than 2-3 bikes all morning. (Note that I did not park inside Trout Creek Park but across the street at "Hole In The Fence".) Habitats along the trail vary from cypress swamp, hardwood floodplain forest, upland hardwood hammocks, pine flatwoods, oak scrub, dry prairie, wet prairie and lakes.

I used the handy Alltrails app to trace my route and a paper map from the SWAMP mountain bike club to find my way. Since the trails are well marked you really can’t get “lost” (but you will end up with extra mileage if you don’t follow the map closely). 

Someone out there is into painting rocks! 

You'll find some gently rolling hills early on from the old phosphate mining days, but eventually the trails flatten out. 

And perhaps we need to come out with a mountain bike one day…..this one has peaked my curiosity. Grandpa??

Feral hogs are constantly damaging these trails. They are a big problem in the park and two night hunts were conducted the week before I arrived. I didn’t see any hogs that day, perhaps they were still in hiding…..? I did however come face to face with a nice tall deer. We both stared at each other for a split second before it took off in a hurry. He did not wait for a photo op. Later on my way back I saw two more gallop across the trail and I was surprised by the vibrations I could feel from their hooves hitting the ground. Not exactly dainty little Bambis......

About half way through my hike I stopped at the River lookout where I sat in silence eating a snack, relaxing. The water from the overflowing Hillsborough river was sloshing along and I would have stayed longer had it not been for the mosquitos. I saw only two other hikers all morning, otherwise I had the trails to myself. It was heaven.

I basked in solitude and found much needed relaxation. So much so that I left the river outlook without my trekking poles. I had to backtrack about half a mile to retrieve them……

And only one week later I returned to the same place for our 15 mile training hike in anticipation of the 43 mile weekend backpacking trip. You can find my recap of that day’s hike next!