Myakka River State Park

-


“Mental Health Day”
The last time I hiked in this park we were up to our thighs in water. Read more about that here. This time around the trails were pleasantly dry and aside from a few feral pigs I saw only one fellow hiker. Along with 100% sunshine that’s what I call a perfect hiking experience!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Citrus tract, Loop A

-
Image
I almost ended up on a solo hike and I was kinda ready for one – but looking back I’m very happy that Rachael showed up…….. I’m often spooked by wildlife and I simply can't stand the amount of spiderwebs I encounter on the trails lately. On the trails they’re most often perfectly camouflaged and you do not realize they’re there until you’re in them, face first. A web-collision on the trail is much easier to handle if you have a hiking buddy because she/he can look you over and make sure you don’t end up with a hitchhiker on your body….. This weekend’s hike took place on Loop A on the Citrus Tract in the Withlacoochee State Forest. After signing the trail log we started at the Holder Mine campground on our 8.5 mile excursion. And so off we went onto loop A, the shortest loop of the four that make up the state’s longest backpacking loop trail in a single contiguous forest. I went ahead of Rachael, armed with a long skinny branch to defend against the hard to s...
Read more

Croom hike (A/B-B/C loop)

-
Image
Today I made 11 new friends, hiked farther than ever before, tackled new obstacles, and learned a TON. These fine people are part of the Suncoast chapter of the Florida Trail Association. I had been searching for local hiking groups and found them on Meetup. And what great people they are! They made us (2) newbies feel welcome and showered us with a wealth of information, most of which I don’t even remember (all the more reason to join them for the next group hike.) And although I had hiked (and run) at Croom before, this particular loop combo was new to me: We started right before 9 a.m. from Tucker Hill, turning from Loop B onto the B/C connector, counter clockwise. We stopped a few times to refresh with water and snacks, but also took a proper half hour break for lunch about 6.5 miles into our 10 mile trek: Color blazes have been painted onto the trees (blue indicated the connector trails), indicating that you’re indeed still on the trail…. ...
Read more

Serenova Tract exploration......

-
Image
This was a tough one.  No because it was physically hard or difficult, but because we encountered water early on and instead of moving ahead like I had wanted, I let myself get talked into turning around to find an alternate route. But there wasn't one. We "lost" the trail several times despite using the Alltrails app, and after a few hours of zig-zagging and turning around we called it quits. It's time to go solo. At least I'll be able to go where I want. Right after this sign the trail turned off to the left where we were met with some standing water. I should have forged ahead..... Looks like a trail.  But wasn't one. Dead ended in the bushes........ It wasn't all bad though.  After all - if you're not enjoying yourself you'll have to adjust your attitude. There is ALWAYS something beautiful, even if the day doesn't turn out quite as planned.
Read more