Brooksville Part 9

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We seem to be finding more places for hiking and biking this season in Brooksville than when we stayed here last time. I’m not sure why that is other than we keep trying to explore areas we haven’t seen before. The other notable change from last year continues to be the spot we have near the lake at Belle Parc RV Resort. We have a very large number of birds that call this area home but the other day I spotted some birds that I haven’t seen in our lake. Four pelicans were swimming around looking for a meal. It wasn’t the nicest day so I actually needed to shoot my pictures from inside the motorhome. I was hoping they intended to stay around for some time but probably spent less than an hour here as they passed thru the area.

Pelicans Visit

Last season, I mentioned about a few trips we made to the Citrus Tract of the Withlacoochee State Forest. It’s only about 10 miles north of camp. We had done both hiking and mountain biking and really enjoyed the area. Given the the Citrus Tract is over 50,000 acres and roughly 11 miles tall by 9 miles wide, there is a lot of it we hadn’t gotten to yet. There are probably more than 100 miles of multi-use trails throughout the tract. Plus the forest is divided up into roughly one square mile blocks by a large number of forest service roads generally running either N/S or E/W. This seems to be a fairly common layout in the forest land around this area probably to allow the land managers the ability to perform prescribed burns that are on a reasonable scale.

One of the defined loop trails in the northern end of the tract is the Citrus A Loop. It’s roughly a 9 mile route which was a bit longer than we were wanting to tackle. AllTrails shows the trailhead near the Holder Mine Campground. We decide to pick up the trail where it crosses East Haven Street and then cut across the forest road named Trail 8. This should eliminate 3 miles or so from the defined hike and put it at a comfortable distance for our hike. There wasn’t any defined parking along the road, but the grassy shoulder is rather wide and worked well for our hike.

We start out going north which will have us complete the loop in a counterclockwise direction although it’s Florida so either way works. Just a bit up the trail is a small pond labeled Bull Sink on one of my maps. By the time the trail crosses back over the continuation of the road, it is now a dirt fire road called Trail 6. The hiking trail was in good shape and we only ran into one other couple that were illegally riding their e-bikes on this clearly labeled foot traffic only route.

Bull Sink

Crossing a Fire Road

As we continued along the trail we saw there was a pond on our Garmin map and we figured this would be a good spot to stop for lunch. Needless to say, we were rather disappointed when the Fivemile Pond turned out to be more of a mud pit than anything else. We continued a bit beyond the pond and found a spot along the trail for lunch. It wasn’t until we finished eating and continued on another couple hundred feet to find a real picnic table!

Well Marked Trail

Fivemile Pond or Mud Hole?

Trail Intersection

As Citrus A Loop crosses forest road “Trail 8” we hang a left and head east. Our shortcut along this road wasn’t quite as nice as the actual trail had been, but we didn’t run into any traffic and the sand wasn’t too bad for most of the 1 mile before we intersect the trail again. In hindsight we probably could have made it the 2.5 miles along the trail and had a more scenic hike. We did wonder if we should return to the area for a bike ride on the forest roads. The remaining 1.25 miles along the trail back to the car was pleasant. A portion of this section is along the Florida Trail which runs from near the Everglades in southern Florida all the way up and thru the Panhandle area of the state covering over 1400 miles. The 5.5 mile loop we put together was a nice and secluded hike in the woods.

Shortcut Along Trail #8

Back in late November, I was doing something in one of the storage bays and happened to notice one of the slide out motors had a broken casting. One of the four mounting tabs was snapped off and a second looked to be starting to crack. I initially thought I could just order the motor and replace it myself but after watching a few YouTube videos, I realized this was a bit more involved than simply unbolting the old motor. Plus when I searched for a replacement motor, it was difficult to find. Newmar happens to have a mobile tech that works out of Winter Garden Florida and covers a large portion of central Florida. We called and asked if this was the type of job he could handle and were told it was. He apparently is quite busy and we couldn’t get on his schedule for 2 months. Given we are sitting still for that time, it wouldn’t really impact things plus that would permit them to get a motor in hand. We received a quote and signed off on the work order.

In late January, Mark showed up with his mobile repair truck and our replacement motor in hand. He took a quick look and told us some bad news. There was a good likelihood that in removing the motor from the shaft, the coupling would damage the shaft and need to be replaced. This is especially true for a 10 year old coach. If that were to happen, he would not be able to repair it in the field and we would need to take it in for service. He called back to the service department for the dealer he works out of and we could get scheduled for the motor replacement and possible shaft swap at the end of March. We decided that since he had the motor in hand, we should just purchase it from him to guarantee we would have one when the time comes. The only real concern I have is whether the existing motor mounts will remain intact for one last time to pull in the slide. If not, I will need to find 10 strong backs to help push the slide in manually.

The next day we decided to try another hike. This time near Ridge Manor in another part of the Withlacoochee State Forest. Our goal was called the Richloam North Loop Trail. The drive to the trailhead was only one mile from State Route 50 on McKinney Sink Road. A couple of Jeep Wranglers were just coming out as we were heading in. They were plastered with mud but we continued on hoping they hadn’t gotten muddy in the short stretch of road we had to drive. The road was in rough shape and there were some large (car sized) pot holes along the way. Some were partially full of muddy water and we could have adorned our Jeep with the same badge of honor the others had but we drove around the mud instead of thru it! The trail we wanted crosses the road and while it is marked, it isn’t the most obvious trail. Another Jeep trail parallels the hiking trail but it didn’t look passable.

We passed by a small pond that likely dries up at times. The trail ends up rejoining the Jeep trail after a quarter mile. Since it doesn’t appear to be utilized by vehicles, it was in okay shape for hiking. We found one geocache along the way and we’re about a mile out along the trail heading for a second cache, when we’re heard a gunshot. Not one from a distance but more like one from 50 feet away. We yelled out so whoever was shooting knew there were hikers back here. Hopefully we weren’t their intended target. After we found the cache, we decided to cut our hike short and head back to the car. Between the trail being in need of some maintenance and the hunters, we had seen enough of this one.

Pond Along Richloam North Loop Trail 

A couple weeks ago we had visited the Half Moon Wildlife Management Area with our bikes. That visit was on a Saturday apparently during hunting season so it was less enjoyable. We determined that we were now in a window where there was nothing in season for hunters and we headed back on a Tuesday morning to improve our odds of having the place to ourselves. The gate was closed when we arrived which was another good sign in our favor. We hopped on the bikes and set off to explore. I had inadvertently left my camera back at the rig but did have my new phone so I guess I get to put its camera to the test.

We got to the restrooms and office area about a mile in and met a woman getting tools loaded onto her John Deere utility vehicle. We stopped to chat with her to confirm we shouldn’t run into hunters today. She told us we were okay on that front but that the crew was going to be doing a prescribed burn on the west side of the property so we may see some smoke. It turns out this 81 year old woman used to volunteer here but they liked her work enough to actually hire her to help to some chores around the preserve. She told us to bring back any issues we have with downed trees or other trail concerns so she could take care of them. I hope I have her health and energy at that age.

Without the fear of running into hunters, we were amble to hang a right on Welch Road to go for a nearby geocache we had skipped on our first visit. There were a few cattle grazing in the area but did not interfere with our mission. We had downloaded a map for Half Moon into our Avenza Map app and it looked like the trail might continue on to the east even though the road ended at a gate of sorts. We got a little turned around on the multitude of trails here but eventually found the one we wanted. At one point we came to a “Wet Area Ahead” sign and figured we might need to turn around. As it turned out, things have been dry enough for us to get thru but we did need to walk the bikes for a couple hundred foot stretch that was rather muddy and rutted.

Our detour off the main road added 2.5 miles but got us back to the main road about 2/3 miles from where we turned in. By now it was close to lunchtime so we continued north to the picnic table we knew was right across from the boardwalk overlooking Bat House Pond. It was at this point we started to see some smoke about a mile or so west of us. Since we had made it this late in the morning without seeing smoke, we assumed the burn had been postponed. After lunch we headed over to the boardwalk to get a better feel for the location of the burn. There was a smoke on the horizon to the west but we weren’t seeing any flames. As we continued to watch, occasionally there would be a huge plume of thick black smoke as the flames must have encountered a large amount of dry vegetation. This would dissipate after a minute or so and go back to just a small amount of smoke. While we were on the boardwalk, there were several ATVs and trucks that were heading back and forth along the road we were traveling.

Smoke Viewed from Boardwalk

Short, Intense Black Smoke

We got back on the bikes and continued north and ran into our first flames right along the side of the road. We stopped to watch a firefighter on an ATV driving thru the brush a hundred feet off the road lighting fires along his path. We came upon a few more of these firefighters as we moved on. They didn’t motion for us to leave or warn us to stay back. Apparently we looked like responsible people and weren’t inclined to bike off road into the flames!

Flames Along the Main Road

Firefighter on ATV

The next side road on the west was Old Oxford Road, we suspected that this would form the northern border of the burn zone for the day. As we continued north, the smoke all but disappeared from our view. Knowing where the fire was also informed us as to where the fire wasn’t. The woman we met on the way in told us about an old cemetery off of Davies Road which was about a mile north of the northern edge of the fire - well out of harms way. There wasn’t a sign for the cemetery but is near enough to the road to be visible if you know to be looking for it. It is about 100 feet on the north side of the road. There is a wooden fence around the perimeter likely built to keep the cattle from grazing over the graves and toppling tombstones. With a little investigation, I discovered this is called the Alto Cemetery and dates from the late 1800’s when there was a small community here.

Old Tombstones at Alto Cemetery

Our trail map for Half Moon showed this road continuing west as an improved road before changing to a trail. It looked like it should come back around and intersect Potter Bend Road so we decided to give it a try. We had to go thru a cattle gate at the end of the road to continue on the trail. This section probably isn’t traveled very frequently but was in reasonable shape. There were a couple downed trees we needed to lift the bike over and there was some wet areas along the trail but we didn’t encounter any gators. It didn’t take long before we emerged from the woods and went thru the next gate to get onto Potter Bend Road right near the bend. Heading south looked like it could work but that was the direction of the fire so we headed back east to the main park road and then back south towards the car. As we approached the intersection with Old Oxford Road - which we had passed less than an hour prior - the fire was now all the way to its northern edge.

The Prescribed Burn has Spread

We continued south and all along the west side of the road was either on fire or smoldering. Fortunately the wind was blowing the smoke away from the road so it wasn’t too terrible to ride thru. There were plenty of fire crew and vehicles around as they worked to set fire to sections that hadn’t burned yet. It was a little bit surreal to see the flames only a few feet away. Back at the boardwalk, the fire had advanced much closer to the pond than it looked like it should have been able to given the standing water. We didn’t have much further to go before we crossed Alto Landing Road which was the southern edge of the burn zone. For the remaining ride, there was no smoke smell or other indication of the fire. It turned out to be a very interesting 15 mile bike ride for us.

View from Boardwalk as Fire Advances

Chris Checks on the Situation

Burn

There is still a lot of bird activity by our campsite. On days we don’t go out for some adventure, I’ll often sit outside and just watch what is going on in the neighborhood. One day, I heard the osprey making quite a racket with their incessant called. I went out to investigate what was going on. I could see one osprey in the nest and a second one on the limb of a nearby tree. They were both looking overhead and calling out. I finally spotted what they were concerned about. There was another osprey circling around overhead. From all the commotion, I assume it wasn’t a friend coming for a visit. After a few minutes of circling, one of the perched osprey took off and the chase was on. The two of them played tag for a bit before they both flew out of sight. It was 15 minutes later before the one returned home and was not accompanied by the intruder.

Anhinga Calls Out

Drying Out Wings

Great Blue Heron Patiently Waits for Lunch

Osprey Soars Overhead

Osprey in Nest Watches Intruder

I’ve continued to go over to the Croom area of the Withlacoochee State Forest for mountain biking when the weather and my energy levels are good. We have also gone out for a few more rides on the paved Withlacoochee State Trail. On one ride, we drove up to Floral City and then biked north from there. As we approached Fort Cooper State Park we could see a massive column of smoke arising from the the west side of Inverness. We surmised a large portion of the Citrus Tract of the Withlacoochee Forest was undergoing a prescribed burn. We also stopped at Wallace Brooks Park which borders Henderson Lake. There was a small amount of haze on the horizon to the east and suspect that maybe another portion of Half Moon or Potts Preserve was also being burned. This ride was just over 16 miles.

Huge Fire to the West of Inverness

Maybe Smaller Fire to the East?

A couple days later we headed a bit further north to the town of Beverly Hills - Florida not California. The Central Ridge District park has plenty of parking for the several ball fields that weren’t being used early on the Monday morning we visited them. There are restrooms and a connector trail to the WST. I previously thought we had biked all parts of this trail, but realized there was a stretch from here south to Inverness that we’ve never explored before. A lot of it goes parallel to SR 41 so it isn’t the most scenic or quietest trail. On the way back we did a detour into a neighborhood to check out a geocache with a fair number of favorite points. It was on private property but it’s the cache owner’s place, so we didn’t feel apprehensive going for it. The cache is a very large container that sits above the final resting spot for the owner’s beloved dog that had passed 2 years earlier. As we were signing the log book, the owner walked out to greet us and we had a long talk. Besides having geocaching in common, he is an avid cyclist and RVer so we had much to talk about. By the time we made it back to the car, we had gotten in another 16 mile bike ride.

Prometheus' Final Resting Spot