Brooksville Florida Part 1

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We arrive at Belle Parc RV Resort on November 1 with the plans to stay until April 1. Five months in one spot will be a new record for us. The resort is nice and the sites are spaced a bit better than many others in Florida. The majority of the people here are snowbirds escaping the cold of the northern US for an extended stay. When we had made our reservation in early August, we only had a few sites to choose from. The fact that there were any options might be in part from the Canadian border being closed to nonessential travel. The place was barely half full when we arrived and for quite some time we had open sites scattered around our loop in the campground. We did have a few short term transients stop for a couple nights but by Xmas, the park was nearly full and we didn’t have rigs coming and going.

Belle Parc is fairly new or at least newly renovated in 2017. In fact the aerial photo in Google Earth still has site construction going on. What was probably a 40 site campground 10 years ago, is now five times the size. There is a 6 acre pond with fountain and a couple dozen “lake front” sites. There are many of the standard amenities you come to expect in an RV resort - pickle ball courts, exercise room, pool, spa, shuffle board courts. Unfortunately they don’t have a woodworking shop like our spot in Show Low Arizona had. The site we had picked was in a new area but with many mature trees. We knew it was only a few hundred feet from State Route 41, but we didn’t expect how much traffic travels on this road. The mature trees tended to be a bit annoying as well. The large one nearest the rig is a sweet gum tree. In the fall, the one inch diameter spiked seed pods fall at all times of the day. They aren’t quite as loud when landing on the roof as hickory nuts are but still startle us.

Pond and Fountain at Belle Parc

More Lake Front Sites

We had picked this part of Florida to be near family that spends their winters nearby. We last stayed in the area two years ago at Word of Life Campground about 25 miles south of where we are now. This time we had wanted a different vibe than offered by a Christian campground. I’d say we successfully achieved that. Early on in our stay as we walked around the many hundreds of sites at Belle Parc, we were talking with a couple that asked which site we were in. Upon telling them, they said “oh you’re in the party loop!”  Initially it didn’t seem like that, but by the time the holidays rolled along, it seemed to be true. There were nearly constant large groups gathering at one of the  nearby rigs. By late January, we got an email from park management that someone had tested positive and a few days later another one stating the positive count was up to 10 with others awaiting results. Lots of park activities were cancelled and several of our neighbors were now wearing masks and appeared to be self isolating.

Our Site

Hawk Overlooking Our Site

The other thing we were looking to find by staying in Brooksville was a bit more outdoor recreation areas. There appeared to be many more preserves and parks in this area. Plus the Withlacoochee State Forest is nearby. While not as large as some state forests out west, there are many different tracts of land within the forest less than an hours drive from our campground. What became one of my favorites was the Croom Tract only about 5 miles to the east. There are specific trails for hiking, biking and equestrian as well as a fair number of forest roads. The Croom mountain biking trails encompass over 50 miles of trails maintained by the Swamp Mountain Bike Club.

Croom Mountain Bike Trails

Early in our stay, Chris and I tried out some of the yellow and red trails and found them to be quite nice. By early December, I had switched to the blue loop. At 24 miles, I wasn’t able to complete the full loop but just to the east of Croom is the paved Withlacoochee State trail. With multiple entrances to the blue trail, I find I can do a 10 to 12 mile mountain bike ride on single track and then cut over to the paved trail and head 3 miles back to the car. There are several very technical sections (one called Drunken Monkey) that I have avoided mainly because I’m out for exercise not an adrenaline rush and the possible broken bones that may come with jumps and ledges. It does appear to be a very popular area based on the number of riders I see in that area compared with the rest of the trail system.

Sample Croom Track

I ended up heading to Croom probably 2 to 3 times a week on average and had figured out where the shortcuts are to bypass loops or which fire road will allow me to cut of a mile or two of single track in order to tailor my ride to the distance or time I had energy for. Around Christmas, I had gone out for a solo ride and parked at one of the forest roads to enter the park. I only made it a few hundred feet when I started to hear a strange noise. As I came around the corner, the forest floor on one side of the road was burning. Most of the trees in the forest here are long leaf pine and live oak, so the grounds is covered with dry pine needles and leaves. Even though it was a calm day, the fires was progressing fairly quickly and the sound was very loud. I decided my planned route might no be advisable so I turned back and ran into a few forest workers in a fire truck and on a quad. They were doing a prescribed burn of several dozen acres. I came back a few days later to see the aftermath of the fire. While much of the vegetation on the forest floor was burned, there were many small pockets that were surrounded by fire but had not burned.

Prescribed Burn at Croom

Same Area a Few Days Later

A few days after Christmas, another section of Croom was burned. There were still pockets of smoldering trees and even a few small areas with flame. I quickly discovered that after the land was burned, what had been firm single track trails was often loose deep sand. The trails used to have just a little bit of things growing on them and often were covered in a thick layer of pine needles. With those two things burned away, all that was left was loose sand.

Trailside Humor - "Minimum 6 foot"

Entering Another Burn Zone

Still Smoldering

In terms of paved bike paths, there are three main one in the Brooksville area. The Suncoast Trail parallels the Suncoast Parkway for 41 miles. While the trail itself is nice and we had ridden sections of it during our previous stay, being right next to the busy parkway makes for a noisy ride with little shade. We also found the dedicated parking lots to access the trail had a parking fee. Another paved trail - the Good Neighbor Trail - runs east/west from downtown Brooksville to Croom and dead ends into the Withlacoochee State Trail. It’s a 10 mile fairly rural trail. We did the 20 miles out and back just once and enjoyed it. The easternmost section of the trail also works as a shortcut from some of the Croom single track area back to the parking lot.

The Withlacoochee State Trail was one of our favorites when we wanted a pleasant paved trail. At nearly 46 miles, it begins near Dunnellon Florida to the north and proceeds to the southern terminus at Owensboro Junction. We haven’t ridden every single mile of this trail but have done most of it in piecemeal fashion starting at various trailheads in Floral City, Inverness, Citrus Springs and Croom. This trail is much more rural and peaceful with plans of shade in spots. Another plus for us is there are dozens of geocaches hidden along the length of the trail. There are several farms along the way with horses, cattle, sheep and goats. Chris brought me up one day to check out the young lambs she had discovered on a solo bike ride.

Sheep Along Withlacoochee State Trail

Horses Come to Visit Us

We did find some nice hikes in many of the nearby preserves and forest lands within 50 miles of Brooksville. I’ll give a short description of of some of them and follow up in the next blog post with the remaining ones worth mentioning.

Just five miles north on US-41 is McKethan Lake. This is a peaceful little park that has a 2 mile nature trail that goes around a small lake. After the walk and watching the lily pads blowing in the wind, we stopped at a nearby landmark. The 75% complete brontosaurus stands at the entrance to a private residence. Apparently the artist that was constructing it died before completing the neck and head. Now a virtual geocache marks its existence.

McKethan Lake

Lily Pads

Blowing in the Wind

Unfinished Brontosaurus (Chris at far left for scale)

Even closer to camp is the Chinsegut Wildlife Area only about 2 miles to the north. This park is divided into two distinct parcels that do have a connecting trail but is probably better done in two separate hikes. The northern section has a few trails that can be accessed from either the visitors center on the northern end or a very popular entrance on the south side that almost always has a few cars parked in the lot as we drive by. We did a 4 mile loop up to the closed visitor center then back the other side of a small pond.

Trail at Chinsegut

Tall Pines

Looking Thru Photographer's Blind

The southern section of Chinsegut is best accessed near the Big Pine Environmental Area. While much smaller than the northern part, it was still a pleasant short walk around the trails here. Not far from either of these nature areas is the Chinsegut Hill Manor House. Originally built in the mid 1800’s, there is a old house with some walking trails around the property. The place is now used for retreats and conferences although with COVID I suspect not much happens on the property. The house is huge and pretty although the bay window built around the brick fireplace seems like and odd architectural feature.

Dragonfly on Sand Pile

Huge Manor House

1933 Wash House Needs TLC

Elaborate Tree Stand

Panoramic View from Chinsegut Hill

A Bay Window Around Chimney?

The Withlacoochee River flows to the east of Brooksville as it snakes its way north and then west before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. In this area there are miles of trails that follows on the western shore of the river. There are multiple trailhead locations and we seemed to hit them all over the course of our stay. For the first hike there, we started at a rather large parking area near where the Withlacoochee State Trail crosses US-98. It’s a very popular starting point for bicyclists but works well to do the hike along the river while heading north. Much of the trail overlooks the river and every now and then we would hear a boat go by. We ended up doing a 6 mile hike.

On another day we drove to the Silver Lake campground and day use area to pick up the same trail but head south with the hopes of being able to make it to the same point in the trail we had turned around at. This was a nice section with the exception of an area near the lake where the wild pigs had torn the ground apart so badly it was a challenge to walk through.

Butterfly Feeding

Kayakers on Withlacoochee River

On yet another day we go back to Silver Lake with the plans to continue on the river trail but head north. The trail starts out by going underneath I-75 25 feet overhead. The biggest problem with the trail the water level was extremely high so the normal trail was under water. The chain link fence was cut open and folded out of the way to permit a slightly higher and drier route underneath the bridges. Fortunately a similar opening existed on the far side of the crossing. We had planned to do a bit of a loop trail but at the split was a sign telling us the route closest to the river was closed because of flooding. We decided to take our chances and followed the "Low Water" trail nearest the river. It was a pretty trail with occasional opening to permit a good view of the river. After a mile or so we came to the flooded section. The trail had been well marked and we could see the blazes on the tree on the opposite side of the water but even exploring well off the trail, we could not find any dry route to continue on. We turned around getting in a 5 mile hike.

Silver Lake

Flooded I-75 Underpass

We Headed Right

Flooded Trail on 12/8/20

Almost two months after this failed attempt out of Silver Lake to the north, we realized there was a hiking trail out of the parking area where we would park to bike at Croom. We didn’t have this trail in AllTrails but it seemed like it might be a continuation of the River Trail. We headed down the path and eventually found it did work it’s way to the Withlacoochee River. We came across another hiker heading the opposite way and we asked if the trail was dry. He was coming from Silver Lake and said it was fine. We eventually made it to the point we had been turned back in December and I tried to take the same shot as then for comparison. In all of our outings on this trail, we probably saw fewer than half a dozen hikers so it was a nice and peaceful walk in the woods.

Same Location on 2/25/21 - Now Dry

We found another nice park during a bike ride along the Withlacoochee State trail up in Inverness. My Garmin GPSr showed a trail coming off the paved path and appeared to go into a park. There were several geocaches up there so we decided to check it out. We needed to get our bikes up the steep concrete and stone incline underneath the bridge, but once up there we found a nice wooded trail that headed into Whispering Pines Park. There are many miles of hiking and biking trails in the park so we only did a short distance and came back with the bikes on another day. A 5 mile mountain bike trail goes around the full perimeter of the park and was in great shape. Surprisingly even though we went on a Saturday there were very few people out enjoying the trails

Whispering Pines Entrance

One of the larger sections of the Withlacoochee State Forest is the Citrus Tract just to the southwest of Inverness. Roughly a 12 mile by 6 mile rectangle, there are dozens of miles of forest service roads as well as 50 miles of hiking trails and a few campgrounds. We did a 6 mile hike along a very nice trail starting near FR16 and the Mutual Mine Campground. This was a pleasant hike with some hills and valleys that were obviously not created by nature. Probably remnants of the mining that took place decades ago that is now nicely wooded. Bicycles are not allowed on the hiking trails but the little bit we saw of the forest roads made me think they could be biked. Chris was less convinced, so I headed back on another day to give it a try and find some more geocaches. I ended up doing just over 11 miles of forest roads and horse trails. Much of the route had rather deep sand making the ride a challenge in some spots and impossible in others. I got the caches but didn’t come back up for more riding since I had a more enjoyable trail at Croom.

Heading Along Trail in Citrus Tract

Citrus Tract Bike Route

We did come back to the for another hike in the far southwestern section of Citrus Tract to check out the Dames Caves and Heart Sink. We had read this was a popular hike and even though it was midweek, there were a few other people out enjoying the half mile walk to the cave. The cave was neat but nothing real special. It was roped off and we didn’t have flashlights along so we skipped trying to peak in any of the entrances. We continued a nice loop and then headed further east on Trail 22 for one last geocache before heading back. In all, a 6.5 mile hike.

Dames Cave in Citrus Tract

In Covid Times, TP in an Ammo Can Makes Sense

Cypress Lakes Preserve is about 15 miles to the east of Brooksville. We had a multi stage geocache to entertain us during our 3 mile hike here. It was a nice combination of open field, mature forest and a boardwalk section in swampy areas.

Cypress Lakes Entrance

Cypress Trees and Knees

Boardwalk

Bright Mushroom

One day trip a few days before Christmas took us up towards the Villages. This a rather famous retirement community and is quite large with a population approaching 80K! We had visited some friends that used to live here back in 2015 before we went full time. So we only stopped briefly for a geocache as we drove past the Brownwood Paddock section of town. This is a cowboy themed area and we wanted to check out the sculptures. As we worked our way back to get a geocache in another county in Florida, we stopped at PEAR Park (Palatlakaha Environmental and Agricultural Reserve, if you must know and I suspect few people use its proper name!). There is a 3 mile perimeter hiking loop that was rated east and had a couple geocaches for us to find. It was a pleasant day but at roughly the halfway point in the walk, we were heading across a wide mowed grassy section of the park and I didn’t hear Chris behind me anymore. I looked back to find her on her back 75 feet behind me. She apparently got her foot caught in a gopher hole and twisted her ankle. She got up and seemed to hobble along reasonably well, so I figured she was just gonna “walk it off”.  When we got back to the car we just headed back to camp. I took off her shoe and sock in order to ice her ankle and realized it was a bit more severe of a sprain than she initially led on. It took 3 weeks before she was able to ride her bike on pavement and an additional month before she was up for a hike. So much for and “easy” trail.

Statues at The Villages

Colorful Leaves

Reflections

 I got out during in late December to check out the Great Conjunction when Saturn and Jupiter appear to align. I've done a fair amount of night sky photography but never with a long telephoto pointed at our planets. I was pleasantly surprised how I could see the moons of Jupiter although the rings of Saturn need a bit more squinting to convince myself I can see them. 

Jupiter, Its Moons and Saturn Near Conjunction