2015-2016 Trip – Page 3 – Keel-Hauler's RV Travel Stories

Hillsborough River State Park

This is a really nice state park, and it was a good thing we made reservations a few months in advance. Even though we got here on a Sunday afternoon all the campsites were full for the night.

The weather finally got back to normal for the Tampa area. It had been running 10-15^o F hotter. When we got here it was cloudy, 65^o F and it looked like rain.

We had enough time to bike all around the 3 campground circles and bike along the river to see the big Class II rapid. We stopped at the little museum near the fort to learn about the Second Seminole war. On the way back from our 4 mile bike ride a little drizzle began and then it rained off and on until we went to bed.

We decided to paddle on Monday afternoon after it got sunny and warm. Even though the river was right behind our campsite I needed to carry the canoe down about 4 more campsites to find the path to the boat launch since the river banks were very high.

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The river was very pretty, we paddled about 3 mile down past Dead River Park. We took a break and paddled back upstream about a 3 hour trip. We only saw a couple of small alligators and a half dozen turtles since it was cool. They rent canoes upstream of our campsite but I guess the cooler weather kept everyone off the river, we only saw 2 other canoes.

We left our canoe at the boat launch so that we could paddle again on Tuesday. This time we paddled upstream past the livery, past the two bridges and one little rapid. But it was too rocky to paddle upstream above the Class II rapid. We only paddled a couple of miles in one hour and then I carried the canoe back to the RV.

Tomorrow we will leave early and see if we can get a campsite at Lithia Springs County Park, which is only about 25 miles away.

Lithia Springs Park

This Hillsborough County Park is one of our favorite campgrounds in FL. In fact my main blog picture above is from this park. There are about 45 campsites , all with power and water. They have two nice modern clean shower houses. There are only 5 campsites that are along the Alafia River. These are usually the sites we stay in.

We got here early Wednesday and found the camp nearly empty with our choice of camp sites. We paid until today, Sunday, and today decided to stay here for another 4 days.

They do not take reservations and up until now had a 14 day limit. The camphost said that now all RV’s could stay as long as 180 days. They limit tent campers because some homeless people find it an inexpensive place to stay.

There is a beautiful natural spring swimming area and beach that is probably popular in hot weather but it is not our cup of tea. There are two things that we enjoy here, paddling and bike riding. The Alafia River is a beautiful wild & scenic river with birds, alligators, otters and turtles. There is a county park upstream, Alderman’s Ford, that is a great put-in. Several times in year’s past we drove there and left our RV and then took a bike ride back to pick up the RV after we paddled the 11 miles down to our campsite.

On Thursday we decided to try paddling upstream for about 1-1/2 hrs. The water level was just over 100 cfs and we had some trouble paddling up some of the shallow shoals. They were easy to float back downstream and it took only half the time.

Ten year’s ago we discovered that they were building a huge housing development called Fish Hawk Ranch just south of our RV park and they were putting in miles of concrete trails. Well, over the years this 5000 acre area has expanded to thousands of upscale homes, shopping centers and schools. Last year they put in a new trail that connects our park directly to their development, so we no longer have to take the 1-1/2 mile road out of the park and the 1/2 mile road to the first trail.

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On Saturday we biked about 11 miles of their trails. We were surprised by the almost tame Sandhill Cranes that we saw in three different areas along the trail.

We then did some shopping at the Winn-Dixie before heading back to camp. Late in the afternoon it started to rain and we had heavy overnight rains while we watched the NFL playoff games in our nice dry motorhome. They call this camping?.

We biked about 12 mi again today. The Alafia River went up from 100 to 400 cfs, it would be good to paddle on Monday but the canoe livery is not doing shuttles in the winter. I have to decide if we want to load the canoe back on the RV and drive or find someone else that could take us to the put-in.

Alafia River

We are still here at Lithia Springs. The campground never seems to get over 30% full but the weather has been a little cool. It’s been going down to the mid-40’s at night and barely reaching the low 60’s during the day. It varies between sunny days to cloudy days but the only rain we got was the 1” rainfall that came last week end. It raised the Alafia (AL-AH-FIA) River from 100 cfs to 450 cfs. It was time to paddle it but the local canoe livery was not running any shuttles and I didn’t feel like loading the canoe back on to our motorhome and driving to the put-in at Alderman’s Ford and biking the 7 miles back at the end to pick up the motorhome..

Finally on late Monday I asked the campground host for help. He said we could put my long 17’ canoe into his short 6’ bed pickup truck that also contained his 5th wheel mount.

After figuring out how to tie it down, by 11 AM Tuesday morning we were on our way. It worked fine, luckily the local roads were smooth and not much traffic. Joe helped us unload and we got on our way. The sign says that it is a 6 hour paddle to do the 11 miles back to our river front campsite.

The flow had dropped to 320 cfs which provided a really nice fast current. Most of the shallow Class I rapids were washed out but for novices there could be lots of problems maneuvering through the fallen and low hanging trees in the first 4 miles of the trip.

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It was sunny and about 62^o F, plenty warm for a paddling trip. The cool weather eliminated all the alligator sightings but we did see lots of turtles and birds. We were the only ones on the river which gave us a real wilderness experience. About halfway down there are some houses on the left and as you near the campground there are houses on the right. Other than that you are alone on the river.

We didn’t paddle hard and with the fast current we got back to camp in 2-1/2 hours. We are happy that we got to paddle this beautiful river again. Most of these FL rivers are very clean and scenic.

The remaining days at camp have been spent doing short bike rides on the trails at Fish Hawk Ranch. Our plans are to visit the huge RV show in Tampa on Saturday and then see if we can get a campsite at the popular E.G. Simmons County Park on Tampa Bay. It is 100% full but each day a few people leave. No reservations are accepted at this park.

E.G. Simmons Park

On Saturday morning we left Lithia Springs to do some shopping and then go to the biggest RV show in the USA.

Since we were not really in the market to buy a new RV we just looked at a few of the new designs and layouts and bought a new carpet cover for our step. We love our Phoenix Cruiser which is only 4 years old and is like new. It was the warmest day of our trip, the day was sunny and nearly 80^oF.

We were headed for another Hillsborough County Park but since it was late Saturday afternoon there was no point in trying to get a campsite at E.G. Simmons. We figured Sunday Morning was the time most local campers leave but this was a MLK Monday holiday and it may push things back to Monday morning.

In any case, we headed to a Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club that was only about 10 miles from the park and overnighted in their parking lot. In this way we could get to the park before 8 AM and hopefully get a low number on their waiting list. About 3 AM on Sunday morning a big thunderstorm blew in, dumping 2” of rain and a small tornado killed 2 people about 20 miles away.

We got to the park and found that like Lithia Springs, they changed the regulations that allowed most campers to stay as long as they wanted. But some of the campsites still had a 14 day limit. They suggested that we stay in one of their 8 no electric/water overflow sites and chances were good that we could get a 14 day campsite on Monday. They still charge $18 for seniors for the overflow sites.

So on Sunday only 2 campers got a site and on Monday there were 3 sites available.
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The park has 95 sites with almost every site on the water. The sites in the East camp were much larger than the West. We got a small site in the West camp right next to a camper from Parma, OH, who actually lived in Westlake at one time, small world.

The storm brought in a cold spell for 3 days with lows in the low 40’s and the highs barely reaching 60. I know that sounds good if you live in Cleveland where they are getting heavy snow with lows near 0^oF. But it was cold for us.

This park has lots of picnic pavilions and nice paved roads for riding our bikes around. It’s only about 2-1/2 miles to Ruskin, FL if we want to do some shopping.

It is supposed to warm up on Thursday and Friday when we will get the canoe down for a paddle around Tampa Bay to see if we see any Manatees.

My Back to Lithia Springs

Actually we are back to Lithia Springs but I have been having back problems (Sciatic Nerve Pain) since we left Hillsborough River three weeks ago. I think lifting and carrying the canoe has taken a toll on my spine. For my close friends and family, click here My Back Problems for more details about my experience.

Both E.G. Simmons and Lithia Springs are Hillsborough County Parks.

Simmons is on Tampa Bay.

Lithia is inland near Brandon, FL on the Alafia river.

The campsites are smaller and more open but are all on the mangrove channels at Simmons.

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There are nice park roads to bike at Simmons but you can connect to miles of concrete bike trails in Fish Hawk Ranch from Lithia.

It is windier at Simmons since they are on the bay but generally they are full even during the week, overflow waiting sites are available. Lithia fills up on weekends but usually has room the rest of the time. The new rules are still first come first served but you can stay all winter for $18/day for those of us over 65.

We will try to do some more biking if it stops raining. It is warm, around 68⁰F, but has been raining for the past 36 hours. We got almost 3” of rain and the river is high.

Our plans are to head south on Saturday morning to W.P. Franklin Campground on an island at a river lock on the Caloosahatchee River near Fort Myers for the next two weeks.

W.P. Franklin near Fort Myers

We arrived at the Corps of Engineers campground after our 2 hour drive plus a stop to grocery shop just as our sites current occupant left.

This campground is on an island in the Caloosahatchee River right at a navigation lock.

It is a small campground and like the FL State Parks is almost impossible to get a campsite. You need to try 6 months in advance at exactly 10:00:00 AM. So last September after trying for 8 straight days, we snagged this site. All the sites are on the water with concrete pads and covered picnic tables.

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My back is starting to feel better but I had another camper help me get the canoe down, where it will remain until we leave.

When we looked across the river we saw these two bald eagles watching us set up camp.

This part of FL has gotten over 12” of rain in the past month, so all the rivers were up and Lake Okeechobee which is the source of the river is full and they are releasing a lot of water. But it is a big river and we didn’t think the current was that swift.

But the little Telegraph Creek, where we had paddled in the past, was roaring. We remembered it as a 5’ wide creek running though some farm land. The last time we actually saw a rare Florida Panther laying on a tree above the creek. This time we did see a big group of Llamas at the farm. We only made it about halfway and the hanging branches and fast current made us turn around after 1-1/2 hours.

It took us only 45 minutes to get back to camp and we barely paddled at all. The weather has finally warmed to near 80^o F but it is still very cloudy. Our plans are to relax here for two weeks before heading to the east coast. We plan to paddle & bike around the area.

Calooshahatchee River paddling

Since our campground is on an island in the middle of the Calooshahatchee River we thought we would do some canoeing trips.

We tried an 8 mile bike ride looking at all the expensive houses in the small developments near our campground but doing so required us to bike along N. River Rd, which has no bike lanes and has some fast traffic. I thought we could make it over to Calooshahatchee Regional Park where they are supposed to have bike trails, but Peggy did not want to bike another mile down the road.

So on Wednesday we paddled downstream on the Calooshahatchee River, paddling around the oxbow islands. It is a big river and a windy day so it was tiring. We probably paddled a little over 6 miles.

The Calooshahatchee River, which means “River of the Calusa,” was the main waterway of the Calusa people, who lived along the coast of southwest Florida and travelled in their dugout canoes until they were eradicated by the European explorers in the late 1700s.

On Thursday we planned to paddle upstream about a mile to Hickey’s Creek but our campsite is on the downstream side of the dam and you are not allowed to paddle through the river lock. So we had two options, we could either carry the canoe through the campground to the upstream side of the dam or paddle over to the south side of the river where we could just slide the canoe up the grassy slope and down to the upstream side. This was much easier, no lifting required. I didn’t want to reinjure my back which is finally starting to feel much better.

The creek is about one mile upsream of the dam and is easy to paddle the 3 miles upstream to a park. However there are many homes along the creek so that it is not as pretty as I had remembered. But it gets much more scenic when you reach the park.
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Reading from their park description, “Hickey’s Creek Mitigation Park was established in 1994 as a gopher tortoise mitigation preserve. Hickey’s Creek is a shady oasis for paddlers and a picturesque spot for fishing and picnicking. Its dark waters are home to otters, alligators, largemouth bass and the occasional manatee.”

We did see a lot of turtles and a few scenic views along the creek. The weather was sunny and warm but very windy.

This past week has been partly cloudy with temperatures in the low 80’s every day but last night a cold front rolled in bringing a liittle rain, lots of wind and for the next week they predict the high’s only in the mid-60’s, with lows around 50^oF.

Cool, Windy Weather

It’s not unexpected that even Southern Florida has cold spells. Well last week was one of them. Mornings were cold in the 40’s and daytime highs barely reached the 60’s. But what was worse was the wind, at times reaching 40 mph. On those days we stayed inside but finally the wind stopped, and we got out paddle again.

On Wednesday we got out in our canoe and paddled even further up Hickey’s Creek. The creek is much narrower and wilder beyond the little park that we got to last week. There are many low hanging branches and tight bends but has more wildlife. We paddled for 3-1/2 hours and even though it was only 60^oF, it was sunny and I didn’t need a sweatshirt.

We saw a Alligator, a Limpkin, many Ibis and Egrets.

A few weeks ago they got 12” of rain in the counties around Fort Myers, but the rain had stopped by the time we got here. However, as we drove due south on the small local roads from Lithia Springs, all the farm fields were underwater. All this water is entering the Caloosahatchee River and has also filled Lake Okeechobee for the first time in a few years.

The local TV news people are going crazy; “It’s been terrible, all this brown water coming out of the river is ruining our beaches at Sanibel and Fort Myers. It’s all that dirty polluted water from that big bad lake”. Nothing could be further from the truth. First of all the lake is now full and whatever comes in must flow out. I guess the locals here just want the Lake to flood until the dam bursts. Don’t they realize this? Second, they are only releasing 5000 CFS from the dam into the river but here downstream at our campground there is 10,000 CFS passing through the lock. This means half the water is runoff from the record setting rainfall and of course with pine trees there is a brown color to the water along with the dirt and fertilizer runoff from the farms. Here at camp the water is brown colored but clear and the fishing is good.

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But they are still complaining on TV every day. They want this freshwater stopped, the salt water fish don’t like it and some die.

I noticed that NBC was videoing in our campground so I walked over to talk to the cute reporter. I found myself on the 6 O’Clock News that day. I videoed this using my cellphone from our TV, take a look.

For us to paddle the river upstream of the lock it’s easy to paddle across the river and portage through the Corps. picnic ground and lock viewing area. Yesterday we decided to stop and view the boats going through the lock and visit the Corp. visitor center. The photos above are a view of boats passing through the lock.

They say that Manatees also pass through the lock everyday and wait around until the lock opens each morning. The lock is only in operation from 7AM to 5PM. So boats wanting to traverse FL from Fort Myers to Stuart on the waterway must wait overnight here, if they get here too late in the day.

Today is our last day at Franklin Locks. We leave Saturday morning to travel along the river to the East Coast and the city of Lake Worth. We will stay for a week at John Prince Memorial Park. on Lake Osborn.

John Prince Park – Palm Beach County Park

This large park is just part of the Palm Beach County Park System. It is located in Lake Worth, FL. This is the Link to the park & campground.

The camp has over 300 small campsites, jammed in between a private airport and the lake. However it seems to be very popular and most of the sites are occupied for the entire winter season. 68 sites are limited to 14 day stays and they are all along the shore of Lake Osborne.

Prices are similar to Florida’s State Parks but they only take reservations 90 days in advance, so it is much easier planning and getting a campsite here.

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The weather has been back to normal temperatures, 60-75^oF for this time of year, except on Tuesday morning. We awoke to a severe thunderstorm which had tornado warnings for our location. In fact, 3 tornadoes touched down south of here. The storm was gone in an hour and we had an 80^oF day.

What we like best are the paved bike trails, shown on the map above. It is about a 9 to 10 mile ride around the park and lake. The weather has still been windy and since we could see the entire lake from the bike ride, we saw no reason to try canoeing around the lake.

There are birds everywhere who seem to have lost all fear of anyone on the trails. We saw large flocks of Ibis, many kinds of ducks, including the 3 Wood Storks above. Lots of Herons, Anhingas and Egrets. There are supermarkets not far off the trail where we can do a little shopping.

Our vacation plans after this are a little loose. We had figured by now we would want to go north to Ocala National Forest where it would be cooler. But we really have not had any really warm weather yet, and Peggy didn’t want to go very far North already. We agreed we both liked Lithia Springs, south of Tampa and Silver Lake, north of Tampa and wouldn’t mind spending a week or so back in that area before going north to Ocala.

Lithia Springs 3rd time

After spending a week in Lake Worth, we were ready to move on. The weather has been cool all of January & February, which is actually good for staying active. We did a lot of bike riding as I had discussed in my last blog but we wanted to canoe again.

Most of the Florida rivers are very wild and isolated but we felt maybe it was too early to head north to Juniper Springs. It is due east of Ocala. We decided instead to head back to Lithia Springs which is about 200 miles away.

We decided to see if we could see Lake Okeechobee from a bike trail along the Hoover Dike. There is a trail entirely around the lake but see the map above, the Orange Lines are trail closures. So we picked the 5.6 mile section in Clewiston to ride since it was on our way to Lithia Springs. But even though there was a great big parking lot, the trail access in Clewiston was closed, so we drove to the more northerly trail access point and found out that we could bike about 4.5 miles each way along the dike. However all you could see were the canals on each side of the dike, it turns out there is a grass island at that point which limits your view of the lake.

I rewarded Peggy with a Prime Rib dinner at a nice restaurant in Avon Park. Peggy got a haircut at a Super Wal-Mart and it was getting dark so we stayed overnight there.

We left early and went directly to the put-in at Alderman Ford where I dropped Peggy off with the canoe. I had called the campground host who graciously shuttled us the last time, to see if campsites were available. We missed our favorite site #40 but got another big site. They gave me a shuttle ride back to the Peggy and the canoe. The river was still running at a descent level, about 280 CFS. There were 6 or 7 little class 1 rapids. I can never slow Peggy down, we finished the 4 hour trip in 2-1/2 hours.

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On Monday we headed back on about a 10 mile ride through a new section of bike trails east of Fish Hawk Ranch. We had a few hills that Peggy didn’t like along the main road but it was a perfect day for biking.

We plan to stay here at least four more days.