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Since we had made reservations for our Florida travels months ago, we had places to go even though we have a purchase offer on a lot at The Great Outdoors and will be closing in less than 2 weeks. We knew we would be able to do all the required steps to close on the property remotely, at which time it could be entered into the rental pool system so that we receive some income when we are not there. Our next reservation was at an Escapee’s park near Bushnell Florida called Sumter Oaks. While this campground does have sites with reduced rates for extended stays, we didn’t call until August so we were stuck with the normal rates for our intended 6 week stay. It was just over $34 per day so it isn’t terrible.
It is only about a 100 mile drive straight across Florida Route 50 which we expected to be an easy drive. It turns out that this route goes through the heart of Orlando and many of its suburbs and has many dozens of traffic lights which are seemingly timed to make driving a 34,000 pound rig a nightmare. It took us awhile, but we safely made it to our destination in the outskirts of rural Bushnell. We will definitely be doing the Florida Turnpike on our return trip to Titusville in 6 weeks. Sumter Oaks is nothing real special - especially after spending a month at TGO but it will work for what we are looking for. The campground is just over a mile from an interchange with Interstate 75. That’s far enough to be away from most of the traffic noise but close enough to make traveling convenient.
Just a couple of miles west of camp is Florida National Cemetery. While it is only about one third the size of Arlington National Cemetery, it is still quite large with nearly 140,000 veterans buried there. We head over one day to see the place again since it has been a few years since we last visited. The graves still had the holiday wreaths and bows at most of the headstones. We did a several mile walk and came back another day to see a different section of the cemetery. One of the work crews came up and informed us that walking the roads in the cemetery is considered “recreating” and a small sign near the entrance explains that this is forbidden. It seemed that our walking the grounds wasn’t really disrespectful but rules are rules.
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| Xmas Wreaths at Florida National Cemetery |
Right on the boundary of the cemetery is a portion of the Withlacoochee State Forest. This is a very large forest in this part of Florida with quite a few different units or areas. We really hadn’t explored this section before and there appeared to be many miles of dirt roads. We head over with our mountain bikes figuring this would be the best way to explore. We more or less wandered aimlessly down the dirt roads and found a trail starting at Iron Bridge Park. We followed this to the north as it followed the Withlacoochee River. It was a great trail and in excellent shape. It wasn’t until we got 3.5 miles along the trail and hit another dirt road/trailhead that we saw a sign indicating that this was a hiking only trail.
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| Withlacoochee River at Iron Bridge Park |
We decided to be good forest users and take the dirt road back. There were several large mud puddles to get around but there was very limited vehicle traffic so the ride was fairly nice. We followed the road to the east and it goes underneath I-75 before running into River Junction Campground. We biked around and decided there were actually a few sites here that could accommodate a rig our size. We turned back and made our way to the car getting in a fun 13 mile ride.
We had seen signs for something called the Florida Bass Conservation Center but we didn’t find much information about the place online other than there is a visitor center and its hours. We head over there one day to see what it was about. A couple of years ago, we had visited quite a few trout hatcheries in Colorado so it would be interesting to see how this facility compared.
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| Florida Bass Conservation Center |
When we arrived, there were no other visitors and very few signs of workers but we follow the signs to the visitor center on the second floor and check it out. There were lots of nice displays that helped explain the operation of a bass hatchery. There were some windows that overlooked a rather large indoor facility with dozens of large tanks and a maze of pipes. If only the windows got cleaned occasionally!
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| Trophy Bass |
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| Bass Hatchery Operations |
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| Overlooking the Main Hatchery Building |
When we came back down, we saw a worker and asked if there was more to see besides the area we had already explored. He poked his head in some other guys office and told him we were visiting and wanted to see more. It turns out the guy in the office is the person that runs the operations here and normally he wouldn’t give tours but it was a slow time of year so he told us to follow him.
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| Plumbers Nightmare |
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| Young Bass |
It is a rather impressive place. We got a great description of the various areas and how the process works from egg to larva to fish. I suspect we got more of a lesson than most people would but he seemed to be okay answering our questions and showing us all around. Besides the tanks and raceways inside the building, there are dozens of large ponds out back where the fish are raised to a size where they can be used to stock ponds and lakes all over the state. One other room in the building is where the new arrivals are quarantined before becoming part of the breeding process. The other unexpected thing was the tank full of small koi fish. Apparently this species is raised to a small size and used as food for the bass.
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| Getting Bigger |
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| One Large Pond |
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| Isolation Tanks |
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| Adult Koi to Produce Bass Food |
This guy was obviously into his bass facts and has a rather demanding job. So much so, that he actually lives in a house on the grounds of the hatchery so he can attend to problems as they arise 24/7. One question we neglected to ask him was if he is a bass fisherman or even enjoys eating them. I can imagine that with a job like this, he may not want to see a fish when he is off duty! On the way back, we stopped for a great lunch at at a greasy spoon called Southern Harmony and then swung by one of Chris’ favorite produce stands. Beasley Farm not only has an excellent assortment of vegetables it they have quite a few goats that Chris likes to visit.
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| Head Scratches Welcomed |
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| Got Food? |
Being mid January, we decided we really need to start thinking about where we will travel to over the summer months. We successfully closed on our property at The Great Outdoors so we knew we would want to come back to Florida during the winter months so it would make more sense spend the summer somewhere in the eastern half of the country. Back in 2018, we had spent some time northern New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and along the coast of Maine, but we didn’t really get a chance to see the Adirondack Mountains in NY, the Green Mountains in VT or the White Mountains in NH plus we missed much of the interior of Maine. With that as a starting point, we begin to investigate possible campgrounds in those areas to formulate a plan. More in a future post as the plans come together.
Chris wasn’t enthusiastic about the bike ride we had taken on the dirt roads near us in the Withlacoochee State Forest, but I had enjoyed it and decided to head back with a different route in mind. This time I ended up in another camping area along the river. Hog Island Recreation Area turned out to be rather nice. It too has some spots big enough for our rig if we are ever inclined to spend a few nights in the area. I managed to get in another 13 mile ride that was mostly pleasant.
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| View at Hog Island Rec Area |
The Villages is one of those unique retirement communities in Florida that many people are drawn to. Our experience there has been a little bit of a mixed bag, but we decided to give another section of it a try. Our first stop is the Fenney Nature Trail on the south side of The Villages. There was a guard booth on the way in but we were just waved through without question. At the trailhead for the trail was a sign stating all people using the trail must have a resident or guest ID. We decide to enter and hope nobody would question us. There is an Adventure Lab here which doesn’t mention any residency requirements so we do the short walk around Fenney Spring.
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| Fenney Spring |
Our next stop was at the Everglades Recreation Center. This place was definitely more open to “outsiders” like us - heck there is even a Publix nearby. We had another Adventure Lab to complete here and when we entered the large building, someone came up and asked if we were there for the line dancing event. That was an easy answer - NO! We found the required information from various displays inside but we did need to ask one couple if we could read the newspaper article hanging on the wall right over their shoulder. They were polite and let us get our information.
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| Impressive Room |
There are all sorts of sports fields and courts in the immediate area. We did a short walk around one of the ponds and got a chance to see lots of birds. One of the egrets had caught a rather large fish and was having trouble swallowing it. One of his buddies was chasing him hoping to snatch the fish if it were to be dropped. We didn’t get to see how the dilemma played out.
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| Heron |
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| Lots of Egrets Fishing |
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| Caught a Big Fish |
Having had our fill of The Villages, we head a bit further east to Flat Island Preserve. We had both an Adventure Lab and several geocaches to entertain us. There is a 3.6 mile loop trail that should be fairly flat given its name.
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| Flat Island Preserve |
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| At the Trailhead |
It was definitely a pretty walk. There are a few boardwalk sections and it looks like they even have an unusual unmanned kayak loaner system where you can put down a deposit for a kayak and gear, receive a code to unlock your equipment and go for a paddle in the creeks around the park. Upon returning you equipment, someone will verify you returned your gear and your deposit will be refunded. We would have needed to do these steps in advance but it could have been a nice way to get a free kayak trip. This was a nice little park to explore.
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| Boardwalk Section |
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| Large Mushroom |
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| Boat Launch Dock |
A couple days later, we head out for a bike ride along the Van Fleet Trail. We had done sections of this 29 mile long rail trail during our stay in Brooksville back in December of 2021 but had never gotten to the far southern portion of the route. We head to the Green Pond Road trailhead parking area and plan on going south to Polk City where it ends. The trail is a bit busier than the two rides we did on the northern sections but given Polk City is a fairly large town, it was probably to be expected.
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| Shady Section of Van Fleet Trail |
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| Moo |
We made it the 10 miles to where the trail ends or where it turns into a different trail that could be explored during a future visit. The bike ride back was easy enough but we hadn’t expected to run into rain. Once we were heading back north, we saw the dark clouds in the distance. A quick check of a weather app confirmed there was rain up ahead. We hoped to make it back to the car before it arrived but we had to ride the last couple miles in a light rain. There were a dozen people huddled under the shelter at the parking lot. They misjudged the weather forecast like we had. It was still a nice section of trail for a bike ride.
The following day we head to one of our favorite places in this part of Florida - Flying Eagle Preserve. We have explored this 10,000 acre parcel managed by the Southwest Florida Water Management District numerous times in the past. Certain sections are best visited via mountain bike while others are better suited for hiking. We have already found the majority of the geocaches hidden in the preserve but we noticed a trail we had never attempted before because there are no geocaches along it. One map showed the trail as a big loop but the preserve’s website shows the loop having a quarter mile gap. Having never been in this part of the preserve, we leave the bikes at home and head there for a hike. Of the two major entrances to the preserve, the one on East Moccasin Slough Road will get us closer to our intended route. This trailhead is also the entrance for the primitive camping area. There was a rather unusual gate lock mechanism in place that wasn’t there the last time we visited. It took me a minute to study and understand how it works. It permits 7 different padlocks to be used to gain access to the area.
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| Multi Padlock Gizmo |
There wasn’t much going on at the preserve this day. We head past the camping area and the airboat ramp over the road and work our way to the starting point of our trail to explore. Called “North Dead End Road”, we suspect the map that shows this trail as a loop is likely wrong.
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| Start of North Dead End Road |
Being part of a water management preserve, this area is full of small ponds, marshes and the like. The road itself was in good shape and dry with only the occasional mud puddle along the way. There are numerous spots where it is clear that the airboats will cut across the road to get from one pond to another. We occasionally hear one in the distance but never see one up close during our hike.
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| Airboat Crossover |
It was clear that the southernmost section of the trail isn’t used as much but it was still in fine shape. At just over the 3.5 mile mark we finally hit the “dead end”. A locked gate blocks the route but given how much vegetation is growing on it, I suspect it hasn’t been opened in years. I manage to get past the gate to see if I can tell where the trail picks up on the other side of the water but it is not visible at all.
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| Gate at End of Road |
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| No Obvious Road Continuation |
We turn around and head back. We were out for about 3 hours and didn’t see anybody out on this trail. There was somebody in the camping area just starting to setup camp we walked past there. We ended up with a 7.5 mile hike. This trail was in good condition and could have easily been completed with our bikes. Maybe we can come back and try the other half of the dead end road?
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| Sandy Section of Road |
Another go to spot for us in this area is the Withlacoochee State Trail. This nearly 50 mile rail trail cuts through 3 counties. In past visits we have likely biked each section - some numerous times. The Ridge Manor trailhead is closest to camp so we head there and head to the southern terminus of the WST. It is only a 12 mile ride but a pretty section of the trail.
Another reason for staying in this part of Florida is to visit with family. One of my sisters has a home in Hudson and another sister rents a place each winter in the area as well. We got a chance to visit with them and have dinner to catch up.
My sister told us about an upcoming event in Dade City. The annual Kumquat Festival is a one day event that takes place on the last Saturday in January. We wanted to do some hiking in the Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve just east of town so we planned to make a day of it - spend the morning at the festival and the afternoon hiking. I’ll admit I don’t recall ever hearing, seeing or even knowing of a fruit called a kumquat. So to think there is a festival celebrating the small citrus fruit was intriguing to us. We heard the place can get rather crowded so we head there early with the hopes of beating the bulk of the crowds. We did manage to get a decent parking spot just a few blocks from the closed streets where the festival is held. As we headed in, a band was already playing for a large audience.
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| Geared Up Plays at the Festival |
I had envisioned a festival that encompassed at most a couple of blocks of the downtown section of Dade City. But what we found was way bigger than that. The main row of vendors spanned six blocks long and three blocks wide. There were all sorts of crafts, foods and kumquat themed items. Chris had researched in advance and wanted to go to the Kumquat Growers area where we could purchase all sorts of products made with the small orange fruit. The line was pretty long but moved relatively quickly. We ended up getting a small bag of them and some kumquat jam. After getting our items, we saw a kumquat ice cream vendor and decided to give it a try in this form. They have a taste that is okay but not something I would need to have frequently. I suppose once a year would be fine.
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| Kumquat Growers Area |
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| Kumquat Mural |
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| Old County Courthouse |
The other big attraction of this festival was the car show. It was staged in a large parking lot by the new courthouse building. There were an impressive number of cars here with a wide range of types from classic muscle cars to tricked out hot rods to newer sports cars. There was definitely something for every taste. We wandered around for some time checking them out.
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| Crowded Car Show |
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| 1967 Corvette |
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| Shelby Cobra |
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| Nash Metropolitan |
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| Rusty Buick |
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| Ford Coupe |
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| 1954 Lincoln |
By the time we were ready to head out for our hike, the crowds were huge. The line for the growers area was over a block long. We would try our kumquats over the next few days and discovered they were not something we really liked so only half the bag got eaten. Even so, it was still a fun event to check out.
We head over to our intended hike in the Green Swamp Wilderness. We have done some hiking in the past in the nearby Withlacoochee River Park but today’s hike would be in the state forest just across the river from that park. Our goal was to follow the Green Swamp West Loop which is a 4.4 mile hike. Of course there were some geocaches to find along the way and even more if we were willing to extend our hike to some old Boy Scout camp.
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| Ivy on Barb Wire Fence |
The trail was in good shape. At times it crossed some fire roads that were extremely sandy and rutted. Fortunately we were hiking the trails instead of attempting to bike the roads. We found most of the caches along the route and at a little over the 2 mile point, we had the decision to make. Continue to the south to the Big Foot Wilderness Camp or simply head north around the loop described in AllTrails. We were feeling pretty good and even though it was a hot day, the trail was generally shady so it wasn’t too bad. I’ll admit, part of the reason for going the extra distance was simply because of the name - Big Foot.
The camp is pretty remote but the trails to it are easy to follow. The camp itself looks to be mostly unused but still standing. Right on the bank of the Withlacoochee River, I suppose the other option for accessing this camp would be via boat.
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| Old Boy Scout Camp Building |
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| Big Foot Wilderness Camp |
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| Nearby Withlacoochee River |
A map at the main camp building detailed the four satellite camping areas just a few hundred feet away. They all had a fire pit and some old dilapidated benches. After getting the few geocaches around the camp area, we retrace our route back to the main trail and then continue on the loop route. As we went by a neighboring ranch, a herd of cattle were grazing in the field. One of them had a white spot on its forehead that looks like the state of Florida. Our extra detours bumped the entire hike up to 6.5 miles but it was a rather pleasant hike.
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| Which Way Do We Go? |
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| Cow with Florida Forehead Spot |
After taking a day off, we head back out for another hike in the Ridge Manor area of the Withlacoochee State Forest. We have hiked this area before, but we had a few geocaches we had yet to find. AllTrails lists our intended route as the Withlacoochee River Extended trail at nearly 8 miles but we knew we could reduce that by 2 or 3 miles pretty easily based on how the legs were holding up. The geocaches were at the beginning of the hike and we seemed to have quite a problem finding them. I will blame that on the fact that my handheld Garmin GPSr was not functioning and we needed to rely solely on our phones. Once the caches were found, we could go for the real hike. We came across a sign for Wild Pig Waller but didn’t see any, but then we made our way to the portion of the trail along the river and while we were sitting on a bench enjoying the view, another couple walked by and told us about a group of wild pigs further north up the trail. We headed north a bit and kept our eyes and ears open but never saw them. The trail along the river was quite nice with some good clearings where we could see the river and sometimes small houses right near the water. Our total hike was 5 miles.
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| Wild Pig Waller |
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| River View |
