More Biking and Hiking

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Our stay in Brooksville continues to be quite enjoyable. The weather is generally quite pleasant for mid-February. We take advantage of the nice days and usually head out for some sort of hiking, biking or other sightseeing but even if we simply stay home at Belle Parc, we find ourselves sitting out behind our rig watching all the activities of the birds. A very small gator has taken up residence just behind our rig and is out there nearly every day. Even though we are really looking forward to heading to Colorado for the upcoming spring, summer and fall, we will miss the beautiful spot we have here.

Snowy Egret Sticks Out Tongue

Osprey with a Catch

Cattle in Lake

Kingfisher

Snowy Egret Checks Out Feet

Small Gator

One of the bike rides we took was in Weekiwachee Preserve in Spring Hill. This is another of the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) properties we enjoy exploring in this area of Florida. We haven’t visited here since our stay in Hudson Florida back in 2019. It’s a large property (> 11,000 acres) and has a rather comprehensive trail system around the dozen or so small ponds in the preserve. The main entrance is on the southern end of the preserve and it tends to be a rather popular destination for the locals. The majority of the visitors will simply walk the 1.5 mile paved road thru the center of the preserve but a few other bicyclists show up as well. Many of the unpaved roads are hard packed limestone and are easily ridden with a bike having any off road capability. There are also a few dozen geocaches hidden throughout the preserve and even though we have come here several times in the past, we still had plenty to find.

Paved Road at Weekiwachee Preserve

For this visit, we plan to get a bit off the beaten path for some of the more remote geocaches. About a half mile up the paved road is a trail that splits off to the right. While most people won’t try biking on this trail, we did come across a guy out for a morning walk. There are stretches of the trail that are simply too sandy to actually ride the bike, but in general it was possible to bike most of our route. As we worked our way to the north end of the preserve, there is a forest road that continues on. We found this road was much easier to cycle on so we kept going. There were a couple caches just a ways of the road. It the surrounding area is rather swamp-like and it didn’t look like there was a way to get to them without getting wet so we skipped them and just enjoyed the ride. At trail marker #13, there was a split in the road but we decided it was time to turn around and head back to the car. We ended up with a 10 mile ride and enjoyed our visit even if we didn’t find all the remaining geocaches.

Heading along "Trail"

Overlooking Pond at Weekiwachee

Trail Split at Marker 13

We found another SWFWMD property that we haven’t visited before. Lake Panasoffkee Wildlife Management Area is just off of State Route 44 just west of Interstate 75. It is in the general area of Flying Eagle Preserve, Half Moon WMA and Potts WMA which we have visited a few times in our stay in Brooksville. We watched some YouTube videos of the area and decided it looked to be better explored by bicycle than hiking. While the name of the place includes Lake Panasoffkee, the actual lake isn’t part of the WMA nor is there any lake access points from within. The only trail listed in AllTrails is the 6.3 mile Jones Creek Trail but there appears to be many other trails so we plan to just wing it and see what we find. The dirt entrance road from SR 44 is about 2/3 mile before getting to the preserve. We were somewhat surprised to find there were quite a few people camping - most in an RV of some sort but a few in tents. The large herd of cattle were feeding not far from where we parked.

Entrance at Lake Panasoffkee WMA

Cattle Having Lunch

We started south down the main road - Jones Creek Trail. It’s actually a decent hard packed limestone road that is gated off past the camping area so vehicle traffic should be limited. About 2 miles in, we have a water crossing but a rather substantial bridge gets us safely across. We check for wildlife from the bridge but don’t see much going on in that regard.

Biking Down Jones Creek Trail

Crossing Jones Creek

A short distance beyond the creek crossing is a turn for Borrow Pit Loop Trail. This forest road looked less major than Jones Creek but still seemed to be acceptable for biking. We made it to the geocache hidden just off this trail and decided to continue on after making the find. Since the trail’s name has “loop” in it, we were optimistic it would make a loop. Along the way we found a turtle on the trail. It was rather shy but did stick its head out slightly before we continued on. The trail is heading generally to the east at this point and is approaching the border of the preserve and I-75. We start to run into very sandy road conditions and much of it is loose sand so we are forced to push our bikes along.

Shy Turtle

Deep Sand Portion of Borrow Pit Trail

My Garmin showed a small pond would be near the trail as we turn to the south and parallel I-75. It turned out the pond wasn’t very impressive but we pushed on (literally at times) figuring the trail would eventually connect up with Jones Creek Trail since it was a loop. We continued to run into lots of deep sand portions and this route wasn’t looking like a good decision. As the trail continued, we entered a more wooded section and the riding conditions improved dramatically. However at the 6.3 mile mark, we came upon an obstacle that wasn’t as easily overcome. A gate and a “No Trespassing” sign. From our maps, it looked like we would need to travel a quarter mile before coming back onto preserve property but we might need to do the same thing in another quarter mile.

Unimpressive Pond

Even Deeper Sand

Our Turn Around Point

There was a less traveled forest road that headed back to the north and we decided to give it a shot instead of retracing our route and all the sand we had just trudged through. It looked like a road that hadn’t been traveled in years. There were a few fallen trees we needed to lift the bikes over but in about 1.4 miles we came back out onto a portion of the Borrow Pit Loop we had been on an hour or so earlier. So maybe we did complete the loop, it just didn’t take us where we were hoping to go. From here, we did retrace our route back to the car and got in an adventurous 12 mile bike ride.

Bike Ride #1 at Lake Panasoffkee (in blue)

We didn’t let the problems from our first visit to Lake Panasoffkee WMA turn us off to the area. A few days later, we headed back with the bikes to try a different route. We knew there was a Loop Trail that would head west before turning south and intersecting with the Jones Creek Trail. We found the marked trail from the parking area but did need to cross a couple of cattle gates in the first mile. These were not simply closed with a latches but a chain and lock so we were forced to lift the bikes up and over then climb the gates ourselves.

Starting Along Loop Trail

Second Gate to Climb

The Loop Trail did eventually hit Jones Creek and we continued on it to the south of where Borrow Pit intersects. This ride was a bit easier than our first visit. There were still some sandy sections but for the most part we could bike thru them if we just picked the proper line. Sometimes it wasn’t until I was partway thru a section that I realized I had chosen poorly. If Chris was paying attention she could adjust her path accordingly.

More Sandy Trail Conditions

The road continues to the south thru the preserve. One section was thru a wetland area but fortunately the road is elevated enough to be dry. There was a lot of standing swamp land on either side of the road but at least the sandy sections don’t exist there. After 7 miles of riding, we hit the gate at the southern end of the WMA. We were hoping to find a picnic table here but had to just use a fallen tree for our lunch spot after we finished eating we turned around to head back. There are several smaller side trails along the way but we didn’t have the energy to explore and still be able to make it back to the car. At about the 10.5 mile mark we hit the Triple B Loop Trail. We knew this one would more or less parallel our route and add less than a half mile to our trip. This ride was 14 miles long and much easier than our first one.

Triple B Loop Trail

Bike Ride #2 at Lake Panasoffkee (in green)

I mentioned in the last blog post about a hike we did in the Citrus Tract of the Withlacoochee State Forest and how there is much more to explore there. After the recent bike rides, we needed to get back out for a hike so we headed to the southern end of the Citrus Tract to do a couple of shorter hikes and find a few geocaches along the way. First stop was at the small parking area next to Stage Pond Cemetery to complete the hike around the pond. As we pulled in, we saw a couple of guys with guns coming out of the woods and heading towards their pickup truck. We pulled out some of our blaze orange gear before we took the the trail just in case there were other hunters out and about. The trail around the pond is just over a mile so it isn’t very strenuous. The first geocache we got to had just been placed in the past few days. Somebody had already gotten the “first to find” honors but we figured we could be second. We looked for a few minutes with no luck and then read the cache description and ratings and realized we needed to be looking up. Sure enough we spotted the containers about 15 feet overhead in a rather small tree next to a much larger tree. I handed Chris my camera and other possessions in case I fall and started to evaluate the approach I should take to climb the tree. It was a large live oak tree with big drooping branches. One option was to get onto one of those branches and climb up. The second option was to climb the tree at the trunk. I made some halfhearted attempts at both and realized I didn’t want to spend the rest of my winter with a broken arm or worse. We moved on realizing we don’t need to get them all. Stage Pond was more lake a large marsh with all sorts of grasses growing in the shallow water. We did find the easier geocache on the other side of the pond and didn’t run into any hunters along the way.

Stage Pond

A Bit More Water from this Angle

Next we drove north into Citrus Tract along Trail 13. This is a wide and reasonably well maintained unpaved road. After 1.6 miles, there is a paved road up to Tillis Hill Campground. We initially drove up to check it out but decided to continue up Trail 13 to better access the loop we hoped to complete. We continued north another mile and stopped at a small cleared area near the corner of Trails 13 and 18. Being a Saturday, there were lots of others out enjoying the forest as well. Most of them were in tricked-out Jeeps that were likely only using the main trail to get to more obscure and challenging trails.

Trail 13 Near Parking

We headed out and found a trail that heads east/west less than 1/4 mile north of Tillis Hill. We knew the cache we wanted as not along any trail but we wanted to get as close as possible before heading in. At about 400 feet from GZ, we realized we needed to start the bushwhacking portion of our hike. Some of our route was thru open woods with minimal brush, but then we would hit a thick section of palmettos. These aren’t fun to walk thru but I suppose it is better than brambles. We eventually made it close to ground zero which was right next to a large very old mining pit. It took a bit of skill to safely make it down the steep rocky sides of the mine but I made the find.

We decided to come up with a better exit route. We realized we were only a couple hundred feet from a horse trail that would lead up to the campground area. This was a much easier route. We circled on the trail just outside of the campground. It actually looked quite nice and had rigs just as big as ours setup for what was looking like a pleasant weekend. We will need to keep this in mind if we ever just pass thru the area. After exiting the campground area, our trail led us back to Trail 13. Instead of going the half mile back to the car along what was a fairly busy forest road, we followed an actual hiking trail that looped around and would intersect Trail 18 which we could follow back to the car. The hike in the woods was quite nice but when we got to Trail 18 we realized this was a very sandy trail and didn’t look like a fun walk. If we continue along the hiking trail it would come back to Trail 13 north of our parking spot. In hindsight while the walk in got woods was nice, we ended up hiking 1 extra mile and still needed to hike along the Trail 13 road. We don’t always have the best luck when we just wing it during our hikes.

Trail 18 - A Sandy Mess

We enjoyed the hiking trail portion of the hike we did in Citrus but but too much of that outing was on forest roads or bushwhacking. We sat down and looked at the various trail maps we have of that area and came up with a plan that would make a reasonable 7.5 mile loop which would either be on hiking trail or a horse trail and avoid the forest roads altogether. The map below was created in CalTopo and output to both our Garmin and phones to Avenza map app which should keep us from getting lost. Having driven up Trail 13 the other day, we knew it was a reasonable road and would just need to drive a bit more of it - not quite 7 miles north from County Road 480.

We arrived at our intended trailhead and the shoulder of the road was plenty wide enough for cars to park and one truck was already there. We hadn’t gotten as early of a start as we had hoped so we sat in the car to have our lunch before heading out. Since the terrain here is fairly flat, there wasn’t an obvious choice as to which direction to start the hike. We picked counterclockwise simply because there was a cave about half mile from our parking spot and figured it would be better to explore this early in our hike.

Starting Out Trail Towards Cave

There is an EarthCache at the cave which is how we even knew about it being there. As we approached it’s location, we heard lots of voices. It turned out there was a large group of backpackers (on the order of 15 to 20) that had declared this their lunch spot. It was hard for us to investigate the cave since they were all around the opening and along the trail. We got enough information and our required picture in order to log the EarthCache and moved on.

Cave Entrance

At just over a mile into the hike, the trail crosses over the road we had driven in on and then parallels it for a bit. Since this trail continues to the southeast, we had to be careful not to miss the turn onto our horse trail at the 2.6 mile mark. At the intersection is a large concrete water tank that was nearly full but I doubt even a thirsty horse would be will to drink what was in it. This horse trail was in pretty decent condition and didn’t look to have been used very recently. It’s path was a diagonal to the north east and should intersect with another hiking trail in 2.5 miles. Things were going good until the 3.8 mile point when we intersected Trail #12. The horse trail that was quite obvious for the last mile or so all but vanished. We were forced to cut east across Trail #12 and then north along Trail #9. So much for our plan to stay off of the forest roads. There were some sandy spots but it wasn’t a terrible detour and probably only added a half mile to the hike. As we approached where the horse trail should have intersected, we saw no indication of it from this direction either. Apparently our trail maps need to be updated to eliminate this missing trail.

Nasty Water Along Horse Trail

As we cross over Trail #10, we were able to pick up the desired hiking trail again which should lead us back to our car. It was immediately obvious this section of the forest had been burned fairly recently. The small of smoke wasn’t overpowering but the lack of pine needles and leaves on the ground were a good indication when it was burned. After the fact, I checked the photos I had take on February 3 on a bike ride on the WST near Inverness. At the time we assumed the large cloud of smoke in the distance was likely coming from somewhere in the Citrus Tract. Based on some landmarks in the photo and the location of the smoke, it is clear the section of the woods we were walking in was burned exactly 18 days earlier.

Entering Burn Zone

Trail Thru Woods

Burned Palmetto

I’ve had quite a bit of experience with prescribed burns during our two stays in Brooksville over the past years. And while the landscape here looks rather bleak right now, it won’t be long before it comes back to life with a vengeance. Even in just the short two and a half weeks, there are signs of those plants that survived are sending up new life. As we crossed Trail 11, we saw this was not one of the forest roads that would be fun to traverse by foot, bike or even car. We made it back to the car with our distance at 8 miles which matched the expected 7.5 plus 0.5 mile detour required.

Palmetto Coming Back

Trail 11 Sandy Too

Cave Hike in Green

The next day was 2/22/22 and we headed to Whispering Pines Park in Inverness. There was a special geocaching event that was taking place at 2:22:22 PM. Yes, geocachers tend to be geeks. We got there a bit early and only a few others had already arrived. We started talking about hiking or caching or traveling in general.

As more and more people showed up, a friend of ours back from Rochester NY came over to say “hi”. I knew he often came to Florida for the winters but didn’t know he was near enough to come to this event. We had a good time catching up and he introduced us to a few of his caching buddies. Surprisingly, one of the couples was a caching name we had heard of before but it took me awhile to determine where I recognized them from. During the summer/fall of 2018 as we were heading up to Maine, we kept finding geocaches where one of the most recent finders was this couple. This seemed to happen from New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and into Maine. It turns out they too are traveling the country in their RV and we nearly identical routes that year with them being a couple weeks ahead of us. It was nice to put a face with a name and trade contact info so we can keep in touch.