Scrub Brush Birding Trail at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

After a stop at Canaveral National Seashore over the summer to hit the sand and surf, my buddy and I decided to check out the area and found a birding trail in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Upon parking we checked the sign to find that the path was a one-mile loop trail. Next to the sign was a large banana spider hanging in its web, which we stopped to admire. We moved out onto the trail, me wearing my sandals on my blistered feet, not prepared for a long hike, but able to complete a mile.

Not far into the trail we came upon a turtle crossing our path, which quickly scampered into the brush on the side of the trail – as least as quickly as a turtle can. We continued on our path until we came upon a beetle crawling along the path, which my friend decided to pick up and take a photo-op with. The beetle must have sent a call out to all his bug friends because not more than a few minutes later we were swarmed with horseflies, mostly attacking my friend. We ran along the path to escape them, but every time we stopped we’d find more. Eventually we hit the midway point of the trail and stopped.

It was a sharp almost-180-degree turn back towards the parking lot. The path we had travelled was relatively clear of brush, but had swarms of the horseflies. The path not travelled had knee-high grass shortly after the turn. We decided to travel back on the same path we had come in on, so we set off down the path, continuing to run most of the way. I had two sets of car keys weighing my pants down and my sandals were not exactly made for running in, especially with sand constantly washing over them.

We finally made it out of the brush and back to the parking lot where we got in the car and got the hell out of there. Over the summer we had very few bad run-ins with bugs, but this was one of the worst – the other being mosquitos at Ponce De Leon Springs State Park. Now whenever we see a birding trail sign, we make jokes about it.

Ichetucknee Springs State Park

When returning from Georgia on a previous road trip, my buddy and I decided to stop at Ichetucknee Springs State Park for a swim. Upon entering the park, there was a boardwalk that led to one swimming hole while a sidewalk led to another swimming area. Still in street-clothes, we decided to scope out the park first before changing. We walked down the boardwalk for probably a half-mile before reaching the end where there were people swimming in the water and teenagers jumping off the railing of the boardwalk into the water. It was pretty crowded in this area, but the water was pretty.

As we left the area to go scope out the rest of the park, one of the park rangers came down the boardwalk screaming that anyone who had been jumping off the railing needed to leave the park immediately. Of course no one fessed up and he had no idea who it was that was doing it. We walked back down the boardwalk and made it back to the main area of the park, then walked around to the other swimming area. The water was deeper here, so people were huddled around the stairs and the edge of the water. We went to the car to change and returned to the second location we had scoped out. I jumped in the water and was instantly overcome with cold. Just like Ponce De Leon Springs State Park, which we had hit a couple days prior, the water seemed a lot colder than the 72 degrees advertised by all the state springs.

I swam for a few minutes and then had to get out to warm up – even swimming wasn’t keeping me warm enough and it was hard to get enough oxygen in the cold water. After warming up a bit, I hopped back in for another swim, but after maybe ten minutes I had to get out again – now the cold was giving me a headache. I warmed back up out of the water and then we decided to leave and continue our trip back home. The park was nice, though pretty crowded – not something I’ve a fan of. I much prefer solitude over crowds, though I’m sure it’s more based off time of year and weather than anything else. Now that it’s creeping closer to colder days, most springs that I’ve visited have been mostly devoid of human activity, which also improved the visibility in the water since there are less feet kicking up the bottom composition.

Ponce De Leon Springs State Park

A few months back during my first road trip that led to North Florida and parts of Georgia, one stop that we had made was to Ponce De Leon Springs State Park. We had driven all morning up from Tampa to stop at Britton Hill, the highest point in Florida. The next stop on our list was the Florida Caverns State Park, but being hot and sweaty, we decided to stop at a springs and the highway provided a sign for Ponce De Leon Springs – perfect!

We stopped to check it out and there were a good number of people at the park, mostly swimming around in the water. The springs were divided into a circular area on one side of a bridge and a run on the other side. Across the bridge was a hiking trail, so I decided to check that out first. Just after crossing over the bridge the forest begins along with the trail. Upon stepping a few meters into the forest we were instantly assaulted by dozens of mosquitos. We tried to move down the hiking path to pass the swarm, but the entire forest seemed to be infested. We turned around and left the woods and as soon as we broke free of the trees, the mosquitos stopped as if there was an invisible wall preventing them from coming out to the feeding frenzy of bodies swimming around.

We decided to take a dip in the spring, so we hopped in where the run started next to the bridge, since that side was less crowded. The water was probably the coldest spring water I’ve ever felt. All the Florida springs are supposed to be 72 degrees year-round, but this one felt much colder than the rest for some reason. After a few minutes we left the water and the park. I wasn’t overly impressed with it, though it did have some redeeming features. I think the hiking trail would be nice in the winter once all the blood-sucking pests have died off.

Florida Caverns State Park

I’ve had two experiences with Florida Caverns State Park. The first one was during a road trip earlier in the year that covered North Florida and Georgia. My buddy had said that we had to hit Florida Caverns so I mapped it and it was right off the highway. We had traveled from Tampa that morning and were heading all the way to Britton Hill, so we could stop at the caverns on the way out or on the way back. We decided to hit it on the way back – mistake number one. After Britton Hill, we hopped back on I-10 heading back east, but decided to stop at Ponce De Leon Springs State Park – mistake number two. After a quick dip there, we left and headed straight for Florida Caverns. Using T-Mobile to guide the way – mistake number three – we ended up lost down a dirt road on the wrong side of the state park. Eventually we found our way to the park, but we had missed the last tour of the day by five or ten minutes.

Dejected, we left the park and met with my buddy’s friend in Tallahassee for dinner at Steak n Shake before driving through the night to get to Georgia. The unfortunate instance of missing the tour of the caverns had sparked us to make sure to get more out of that trip, so it may have been a blessing in disguise, but it also prompted a second road trip. After having a weekend ruined by having to go into work both Saturday and Sunday, the next weekend I decided to stretch into a three day weekend by taking Monday off, so my buddy did the same and we headed to North Florida once more. This time, we made sure to hit Florida Caverns State Park early. We got there around ten and the next tour wasn’t until noon, so we spent some time browsing the park.

While we had only expected to take a quick cave tour and be on our way, we now had a lot of time to spare, so we hit the northern part of the park that had a blue hole for swimming. While we didn’t swim in it, it was certainly impressive. In fact, the whole park was nice from the swimming area, to the canoeing area, right down to the caverns. After stopping by all the other places for photos and videos, we eventually worked our way to the meeting area for the tour. The guide took our group down to the caverns and we began our trek through a wondrous cavern, something one wouldn’t expect out of the lowest, flattest state in the union.

We saw both stalactites and stalagmites, mineral deposits forming a rock spike from the ceiling and floors respectively, much like an icicle made of rock. There were several chambers each with interesting formations of rock and mineral. There were even some pools of water that were so still and colorful they looked like glass. We were careful not to touch any of the formations because the oils from human skin cause the minerals to be unable to stick and the stalactites and stalagmites will no longer be able to grow. There was one formation that the guide pointed out had been touched before and we were all allowed to touch it to see how it feels. It was a combination of wet, kind of like the feeling of touching something slimy, and rough, like a rock that had been worn down, but still had some rigidity left.

We eventually ended the tour and made our way back to the sunlit world filled with hiking paths, forests, and waterways. While the park had a lot more to offer, we had wanted to hit three more places that day, so we decided to leave after the tour and hit the road. The park blew away my expectations and I would love to go back sometime and possibly camp out for the night there. It’s relatively close to a small town, but it’s still pretty far from any major civilization. There’s a lot of land in the park and there’s a lot to do. I’d recommend it to anybody who is interested in the outdoors, especially someone from Florida who may not see things like caverns on a regular basis.

Vogel State Park

Back during the final weekend of August, during a four-day weekend, my buddy and I took a little road trip. First we headed down to Tampa, stopping at Little Manatee River State Park for the day, where we picked up a Florida State Park Annual Pass, and then that night I went to see Blake Shelton in concert. The following day we drove North, through Tallahassee and West until we reached the highest point in Florida, Britton Hill. On the return East, we stopped by Ponce De Leon Springs State Park and showed up minutes late at the Florida Caverns State Park for the final tour of the caverns. After stopping for dinner at Steak n Shake, a frequent dining experience, and a shower at a friend’s, we drove through the night into Georgia.

After a brief stop to sleep in a rest area, something my family and friends deemed ‘dangerous’, we continued driving early that morning through Atlanta before having the fuel pump in our car go out. After having three calls to AAA drop due to T-Mobile being the shittiest phone carrier ever, we finally got a tow to a nearby town and stopped by IHOP for breakfast. Once the car was fixed, we were back on the road and off to the highest point in Georgia, Brasstown Bald. It was an interesting drive up steep, winding mountain roads, looking out the side of the car down cliffs that drop down deeper than any drop-off in Florida.

On the trip back down the mountain, the smell of burning brakes filled the air as the car careened around steep turns. On the way up the mountain we had spotted various spots that we wanted to stop at on the way down. One location that I had noticed was Vogel State Park, which from what I had seen from the road was a huge lake with a hiking path around it. We entered the park and parked before taking photos of the lake. The park map showed the hiking path around the lake and up into the surrounding mountains along with a spot on the other side of the lake with a waterfall. After strolling around the lake and taking a detour down to see the waterfall, it was back to the other side of the lake and into the mountains.

According to the map, the hiking path led up the mountain, connected to the Blood Mountain Trail and over to the Appalachian Trail. The goal was to reach the Appalachian Trail and get back in four hours, around sundown. We were grossly unprepared for hiking – taking only Gatorade with us – so I was looking at two hours up and two hours down to be safe. The path we took up ended up being the longer end of a loop, but led past the summit and overlook point. After a quick stop there, we continued to the point where the Blood Mountain trail veered off. We were already an hour and forty-five minutes in, so we settled on fifteen minutes up and then turn around.

The sounds of thunder filled the air, but I wasn’t concerned about that as we weren’t anywhere close to tree-line. We turned around a minute short of our time and headed back down. With an assist from gravity and having hiked up this portion of the trail already, we made quick work on the way down, even jogging for a bit. Once we reached the loop we had hiked earlier, we took the other part of it, the shorter part unbeknownst to me at the time. We continued jogging down the flatter portions of the trail until we reached the park again, only about an hour after turning around.

I had been looking forward to stepping foot on the Appalachian Trail and experiencing my first white blaze. Instead, I was restricted to lime-green blazes on that day, but it was a cool experience for a Florida flat-lander. I’ve had an urge to hike part of the Appalachian Trail for a while and being so tantalizingly close without so much as a taste of its nectar has left a deeper longing for me to experience it.

After leaving Vogel State Park, we stopped with another group of friends for dinner before making our way South through part of the night. Another stop at a rest-stop for a longer night’s sleep than the last and we were off to Florida. Having most of Monday to play with, we stopped at Ichetucknee Springs State Park for a quick swim and then to De Leon Springs State Park (not to be confused with Ponce De Leon Springs from earlier) to check it out. And finally the weekend was over.