O'Leno State Park in High Springs Florida

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Seems like the 8 nights at Crooked River went quickly and now it's time to move further south. The next stop is in our home state of Florida. O'Leno State Park is in the town of High Springs. The closest big city would be Gainesville to the southeast. We will spend a week at O'Leno which will start a nearly five month stay in Florida. The drive is a reasonably easy 150 miles. We skirt around the outer loop of Jacksonville and don't run into much traffic. The campground is a couple miles into the park and while the park road is paved and in fine shape, the campground road was surprisingly "rustic". The dirt road is a loop and somewhat rutted. I guess I could look at the ruts as a way to slow down which was required since there were a lot of trees close to the road with many low hanging branches. I was glad to find that our spot was one of the few pull through sites and better yet, it had 50 amp electric when were were only expecting 30 amp. Our spot did have a downfall associated with it. It was situated directly under a hickory tree. This time of year, the tree was dropping the hickory nuts which are about the size of walnuts. Let's just say that we never got used to those nuts dropping at random times on the roof of the rig!

Our first full day was going to be a very rainy one, but it wasn't supposed to start until around noon so we figured we could at least get out for a short walk on one of the many trails in the park. One of the interesting features of the area is the Santa Fe River which runs through the park. Our trail took us over the river on a very interesting suspension bridge. The bridge deck is suspended from cables and is free to sway back and forth as we walk across with the river below. As the trail follows the river, we get to a point where the river ends - at least above ground. The river disappears underground for roughly three miles only to surface again at the aptly named River Rise Preserve. I was hoping to see the water swirling around much like a sink or toilet, but there wasn't any real evidence other than it is clear that the water was flowing into the area at a rather fast pace only to disappear. We managed to get back to camp just as the distant thunder could be heard and sprinkles were starting. For awhile during the peak of the rain, we had a nice little swimming area outside the rig, but it seems to drain pretty quickly once the rain stopped given the sandy soil conditions of the area.

Why Did the Turtle Cross the Trail?

The Disappearing Santa Fe River

Neat Old Pavillion

Heading Onto Suspension Bridge

Side View of Bridge

Tortoise Takes Shelter

Given we have our Florida State Park Pass, we take off the next day to check out Ichetucknee Springs State Park. It's only a dozen miles away so it isn't a big deal getting there. There is both a north and south entrance to the park but surprisingly the two are not connected within the park, not even via hiking trails. We pick the northern entrance because it has interesting sounding springs plus that's where the geocaches are hidden in the park. Being midweek, there was no attendant to check our pass but we were able to fill out the self-service envelope and accomplish the same thing. We first head along the boardwalk that leads to the Blue Hole Spring. It's a nice 1/3 mile walk that brings us to a deck overlooking the spring. There are steps leading into the incredibly clear blue water. It is possible to see the actual spring opening near the center of the pond and you can clearly see the disturbance on the surface caused by the water flowing out of the spring. The water comes out at roughly 71 degrees Fahrenheit at a rate of 70 cubic feet per second. That figure didn't mean a lot but with some unit conversions, that equates to 31,000 gallons per minute! Scuba divers come here to explore the underwater caves although none were here during our visit.

Stairs Leading Down for Scuba Divers

Actual Spring at Blue Hole

 Heading back closer to the parking area is the swimming area at Head Spring. Workers are putting in a larger deck to accomodate more people although no swimmers were there on this chilly but sunny morning. We head out on some of the hiking trails to see the area and grab the few geocaches along the way. When we get to the kayak and canoe launch area, we are greeted by a dog tied up near the top of the launch while his owners prep their kayaks. We stick around and watch the boarding process. This dog was extremely excited to be going for a ride. He nearly pulled the owner over as he bounded down the stairs to the awaiting tandem kayak. He seemed to be a pro at entering the boat. Chris and I could only think about how fearful our dog Shelby would have been at such an outing. 

Incredibly Blue Water at Head Spring

Another View of Head Spring

Interesting Fungus?

Dog Going for Kayak Ride

The next day was a trip to another state park. The destination being San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park. This is a large (7300 acre!) park adjacent to I-75 between Alachua and Gainesville. The southern section of the park has miles of hiking trails and more than 50 geocaches along the way. We go early in the day with plans to stay until we find them all. After crossing the street from the parking are to the trailhead, we see the sign about a trail closure because of a southern pine beetle infestation. Of course the trail closed has about 25 or so of the geocaches along it. We don't hear any tree cutting going on but figure it doesn't make sense to risk getting hurt or getting caught on the closed trails. We still had a pleasant 7 or 8 mile hike and managed to find nearly 20 geocaches. I guess the others will have to wait for a future visit when the trails are reopened.

Our Plans Dashed by a Beetle

We discovered the Saarinen Preserve by investigating the geocaching map. There were a dozen caches clustered together near Newberry Florida. From the description of the property, it sounded like it might be a fun place to check out. There are several miles of trails that run through the 70'ish acres of land on the preserve. We did reasonably well finding the geocaches and found the trails to be nice. The only downside was when we ran into one of the monster spiders they seem to have in Florida.

Top View

Bottom View

We headed back to San Felasco the next day but this time we came with the mountain bikes. On the north side of the park are about 35 miles of singletrack trails that wander through the park. It also happens to have miles of equestrian trails. Several trucks with horse trailers were there when we arrived but we didn't see any horses during our ride. I thought the "horse washing station" was an interesting addition. There were a handful of geocaches along the trails and none of these trails were closed because of southern pine beetle. In fact, the trails here are excellent. There are some sandy spots but not too soft to make the riding challenging. One exception was when I went down one of the horse trails to look for a cache while Chris waited at the top of the hill. Yes, there are a few hills but they really aren't too steep. I really wish we would have checked out this section San Felasco sooner in our stay. I likely would have come back here several times to explore more of the trail.

Horse Washing Station

We knew our last day at O'Leno was going to be another rainy one, so when we got back to camp from our bike ride, I went out for another one here in the park. It turns out there is some pretty decent biking to be had in this park. Most of the trails here are closed service roads, but the surroundings are pretty and the ride was fun. There are even more trails on the far south side of the park but I didn't have the time or energy left to explore them. We made the most of our weeklong stay here especially given the couple of rainy days that were forced into the mix. One feature of this campground that I neglected to mention were the showers. These are possible the best showers we have run across so far in our travels. The only thing that seemed rather strange was the placement of the water valve with respect to the shower head. The two non-handicap shower stalls were plenty big, but the valve was a good 8 feet from the shower head which made for difficult temperature adjustments. I'd be curious as to how such a design came to be implemented.

There was a Crooked River

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Our fun on Jekyll Island came to a close and it was time to move on. We weren’t going very far, just over 50 miles to Crooked River State Park in Saint Marys Georgia. It’s just a few miles from the Florida state line. The campground has about 60 sites and the majority of them are quite large. Some of the sites have full hookups and there are many pull thru sites. Our spot was a back in site with water and 50 amp electric. Since we are only here for 8 nights, not having sewer hookup won’t be a problem. It did seem odd to see some of the small pop up trailers in a 90 foot pull thru site but our spot was more than big enough for us. We got a short walk in after getting situated. There are lots of trails that meander through the park.

The next day we loaded the bikes on the rack and drove into downtown St Marys. The plan was to bike around the area to get a feel for the town. Before starting on the ride, we walked over to a geocache near a cemetery just a few blocks away. On our way back to our car, another car pulled up next to us. The driver asked us where we are from. He could tell we weren’t from here since our walking pace was faster than the typical local. Turned out the guy is the mayor of St Marys and he welcomed us to town and hoped we enjoy our stay. I guess we found ourselves in a friendly small town. We hopped on the bikes and did a random bike ride around town checking out a few sights and finding several geocaches. 

Along St Marys River

Waterfront Stage in Park

We headed south to Florida the following day. Fort Clinch State Park is just across the river from St Marys. We decided it makes sense to by an annual Florida State Park Pass since we will be in the state for more than 4 months. This park has a fair amount to check out. We start the morning by riding the 6 mile mountain bike trail loop. Being Florida, there aren’t any really serious hills. But there are some sections with lots of tree roots making for a challenging ride at times. It is all single track and fortunately the trail is configured to be one way so we don’t have to worry about oncoming traffic. The trail basically parallels the park road on either side of the road. When we got to the halfway point closer to the park entrance station, Chris decided she had had enough of the loose sand and roots and would just ride the park road back to the main parking lot. I continued up the trail and made pretty good time since I didn’t have to worry about how Chris was doing. I did nearly do a face plant at one point when I discovered a hidden root under the loose sand that steered my front wheel right into a bush. 

When I got back, we had lunch and changed out of our cycling gear to do a hike or two. We headed out a trail that takes us to the beach along the St Marys River on the outside of the old fort. We noticed something in the water quite a distance away but initially couldn’t identify it.  Could tell it was big and thought it might have been a dock but then we realized it was moving, and heading our direction. Turns out it was a submarine. Our campground is right next to the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay - part of the US Navy. I guess this sub was heading home. It was impressively big and given most of the thing is underwater, we can hardly imagine its actual size.

Submarine Passes By

Beach at Fort Clinch State Park

After the sub passed by and we concluded the walk around the outside of the fort. We decided it was worth the extra $2.50 per person to actually tour the inside of Fort Clinch. We have visited quite a few historic forts during our travels. Fort Stevens on the northern Oregon coast and Fort Worden on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State are two memorable ones from 2017 and more recently, Fort Knox in Prospect Maine. This one is is definitely worth the admission cost but it isn’t quite as large or elaborate as these other forts. They do still have a handful of the old cannons positioned around the perimeter. The stone and brick work is definitely impressive. There are curved stairs leading to the upper level at each of the five corners. They are roughly S-shaped which must have made for very difficult construction, but they have held up quite well given the Fort was built in the mid 1800’s. Many of the rooms are open and furnished as they might have been back in the day. From the descriptions, the jail was mostly used as a sobering up spot for the soldiers after a bit too much drinking.

River Side of Fort Clinch

Entrance to Fort Clinch

Tunnel into Courtyard

Curved Staircase

Overlooking Interior of Fort

Ready, Aim, Fire

Fort's Wall

Ferns Taking Hold

Soldier's Clothing

 

S Curved Staircase

Laundry Room

Interior of Jail Cell

The following day we did a more leisurely bike ride along the trails to the east of the park. Before getting to the Sempervirens Trail, we pass 11 cabins that are much bigger than those you find at most campgrounds. They can sleep 8 to 10 people and look like they would be ideal for a family getaway. We discovered that there are many more trails than the park map highlights. We try a few side trails but seem to always run into loose sand or downed trees forcing us to retreat. We eventually made it out most of the way to the Bay Boardwalk Trail but needed to bypass the actual boardwalk since it is in disrepair. 

Overlooking Crooked River

Boardwalk Needing TLC

We headed back into St Marys the next day to check out the Submarine Museum. Before getting into town, we stop at the main entrance to the Submarine Base. There is a small parking lot prior to entering the military check point. The only thing for us civilians to see there is the retired USS George Bancroft. This sub was first launched in 1965 and retired in 1993. The tower (or fin) from the sub is now mounted in the ground to appear as if the submarine is submerged in terra firma. It was pretty neat to see. There happens to be a fairly new geocache hidden nearby this sub, but from the descriptions of other geocachers, the MPs at the nearby entrance gate aren’t too keen about strangers wandering around and looking suspicious. One cacher was detained for 45 minutes while being questioned about what she was doing. We opted to not push our luck. We don’t have to go for every geocache.

USS George Bancroft

The museum is right on the main street in St Marys. While it is a rather small place, it was packed full of all sorts of displays and memorabilia from everything submarine related. Surprisingly we spent nearly 2 hours looking it all over and watching a video on how submarines work and what it’s like to be a submariner. Possibly the neatest thing there is the actual periscope from a retired sub. It can be turned and focused on boats in the nearby river. I even managed to get a reasonably good picture through the eyepiece. Some people may find the museum boring or ho-hum, but we made the most of it. 

Display at Submarine Museum

Interesting Drawing

Suit Up

Model of USS Grayback

Unique Propulsion Method

Submarine Controls

Up Periscope

Picture Through Periscope

The next couple of days were slow from a tourist standpoint. On Thanksgiving Day, we didn’t do a whole lot but Chris did make a very nice dinner. A new cheesecake recipe has made it to the top of our desert list - pumpkin cheesecake is better than pumpkin pie! Black Friday was quite rainy so again we didn’t get out for much more than a short walk in the campground. 

On our last full day in the area, the weather was dry so we drove a bit north of camp to the Georgia Coast Rail-Trail near White Oak Georgia. It turned out to be quite a nice walk. Much wider than most trails like this and about 8 geocaches along the couple mile section of the trail we walked. After this, we checked out the old tabby sugar works building right across from the submarine base. We have now seen tabby buildings in a couple locations but this place is much bigger than the house on Jekyll Island. That’s because this used to be a sugar processing plant back in the early 1800’s. It’s in reasonable shape for a building that is nearly 200 years old. 

Nice Wide Rail Trail

Old Sugar Processing Building

Worn Interior Wall

Close-up of Tabby Wall

Crooked River was a nice stop, but admittedly there weren’t that many things to see in the area. We might have been better off using some of the 8 nights we spent there and pushed them back to extend our stay on Jekyll Island or move them forward to our next stop at O’Leno State Park in High Springs Florida. But part of the fun with our lifestyle is learning these things for the future.