Hiking – The Lee Family

June 14, 2009August 30, 2009

Hiking at Oscar Scherer State Park.

We decide to get back into the swing of things with a short hike this weekend. Upon arriving at Little Manatee River SP we were told that the trails had been closed due to a wild dog issue. The closest park we could think of was Oscar Scherer SP. We had never been there, but I knew that they had several trails, and we figured it was worth a shot.

It turned out that the “trails” were really sand roads through scrub land, and it appeared that whoever created the system made every effort to avoid trees, and anything of remote interest, although the little lake, and two crossings of the stream were nice. Needless to say it was a hot couple of hours, without much to see. It did give me a chance to take my GPS project for it’s first run, and one that I was quite happy with overall.

Steph posted pics in the gallery, and there’s a temporary Google Map with the GPS Track here. Once I get a little time I plan on making a permanent section of the site for hikes that we do, now that we will have more data along the trip.

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November 10, 2008August 2, 2009

North Florida in November

This last weekend we packed up the kids and went up to north Florida for some sight seeing and some hiking. Saturday we spent the day at Florida Caverns State Park. This is the only park in Florida with dry cave tours. It’s a 45 minute tour and well worth the time. One area has a formation that looks somewhat like a wedding cake and in fact they sometimes hold weddings there. Thought that was interesting. We did see a couple bats, but they were nice enough to leave us alone. Robert and Devin walked the trail after the tour while Matt and I checked out the gift shop…LOL. We then went to Falling Waters State Park, which has the highest waterfall in Florida, which is only because it falls into a sink hole. It’s 100 feet deep and 20 feet wide. We did not realize it depended on seasonal weather and rainfall and since we haven’t had much rain lately, when we went, it was….well, to put it nicely, not working. There were plenty of boardwalks that overlooked many other sink holes though and that was interesting. After that we went to the Air Force Armament Museum near Eglin Air Force Base. Inside there is warfare armament from the early days of World War I right through to today’s high tech planes and bombs. Outside there is vintage military aircraft including the fastest plane ever built – the SR-71 Blackbird. Wish we would have had more time, but enjoyed the time we did have there. Sunday we spent the afternoon hiking the Garden of Eden Trail. A 3.5 mile round trip self guided trail. There were a couple steep climbs and descents through the trail. It eventually opens up to great view from a bluff 135 feet above the Apalachicola River. A strenuous hike, when you’re use to more flat lands, but well worth the view of the river. Then it was on home. Always good to be back home…..until next time.

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March 1, 2008August 2, 2009

Hiking at Hillsborough River State Park

Today we hiked 5.5 miles at Hillsborough River State Park. A lot of the scenery probably looks the same as other areas we’ve been too…that’s just Florida for ya though. We’ve added new photos from the hike today. There is a great suspension bridge there that overlooks the river. Took some good pictures of what they apparently call rapids. Didn’t see any wild life other than some squirrels, a couple owls and some turkey buzzards, and plenty of mosquitoes. The Off really comes in handy back in the boggy areas. No Gators in site and that always makes for a good walk. This is a really nice park though with plenty of scenery and things to see. We had a great day.