[at-l] Weekend Wanderings

[Bluetrail@aol.com (Bluetrail@aol.com)]

As a contrast to Mags' snowy outdoors, this weekend's longest hike for me had carpets of lavender violets at my feet.  Florida's weather is already well into spring; it was 80, humid, and very windy (with mid 30's on tap for tonight!)  Friend Diane & I drove to DeLeon Springs State Park and walked the Wild Persimmon Trail, about a 5-mile loop.  The hike starts on a paved trail that meanders between 10-12 foot high azealeas that were covered with fuschia blossoms.  The real (dirt) trail forks off the paved trail.  Parts of the real trail were underwater, but we bushwhacked around just fine.  Barely got my socks wet.    

Saw lots of deer tracks but no critters at all.  About 3/4 of the trail is damp and jungle-like, with huge ferns unfurling new fronds and bromeliads coming into bloom.  A small portion is higher and drier with a live oak hammock that would make a great campsite.  (Hammock is Florida-talk for a grove of live oaks, those Spanish moss-draped trees with the huge, low to the ground branches.) 

On the way back we took a very short detour to stare at some 400-year-old cypress trees that the loggers somehow missed.

We skipped the mill replica beside the spring.  The mill is a restaurant famous for its pancakes.  You order the batter and sides and cook your own pancakes on the grill set into the table.  

Sunday I walked the prescribed Cropwalk, 3.5 miles on the Seminole County rails-to-trails (also the FT), with church groups raising funds to combat hunger.  We did get to see two bald eagles tending the young in their nest in a pine alongside the trail.  

Tonight, if I can get off campus in time, an hour on the FT after work!  (Does anyone else stash hiking clothes  underneath the desk?)

Joan
bluetrail@aol.com