Author: keelhauler

After staying overnight with my friend’s Paul & Helen, I planned to shop and stay overnight at a Lowes near the campground so I could get to campground early on Sunday morning and get a campsite when the weekend campers leave. This campground does not take reservations. 

When I got near Tampa the forecasted heavy rain started, I thought that will chase the weekend campers away, so I decided to go directly to the camp at about 11 AM Saturday. I got campsite #50 near the river take-out beach trail.

Barry & Kimberly arrived on Sunday afternoon and we paddled the Upper Alafia River on Monday at a flow of 315 CFS. Which was great since it had been very low the past two weeks.

This is another favorite campground I havestayed here 15 different times over the past 24 years. Lithia Springs County Park has a large spring which is their swimming area. The water flows into the Alafia River. 

There are two sections we paddle. I like the upstream section from Alderman Ford to the campground which is a 9 mile paddle with a good current and little sandstone rapids. The difficulty for beginners is not the rapids but there are dozens of fallen trees to duck under, or paddle around.  Turtles, large birds and alligators are easy to see.

We had our campground host Chris drive Barry’s van and our three kayaks to the put-in and then he dropped the van back at our campsite. 

Here is a picture of Chris last year with my kayak. He used to take Peggy & me along with our canoe with his jeep. I really appreciate all the help he has given me.

The lower section starts from the campground and is almost 7 mi to the Brandon Boat Ramp. No fallen trees, just limestone riffles. The last 3 mi has some big houses and some small motor boats, so I don’t like it as well as the upper, but if the river level is low it is still paddleable.

The river level was dropping fast; we ran the upper at the peak flow of 315cfs on Monday and decided to paddle the lower on Wednesday which already had dropped to 215 cfs. The lowest I ever run the lower was 140 cfs. 

Barry dropped his car at the boat ramp take-out and peddled his bike back to camp, only an 8 mi ride on bike trails and neighborhood streets.

On Tuesday we took a 19 mi bike ride through all the concrete trails at Fish Hawk Ranch. As usual even though there are thousands of homes very few residents use these beautiful trails in their natural areas.

The weather all week was cool, 50 in morning and 65 for highs but finally on Thusday it is getting sunny and warmer.

Peggy checking out the FL Sandhill Cranes on the Fish Hawk trails.

On Thursday I decided to rest and work on my blog while Kimberly left early for a long bike ride and Barry left after lunch for a short bike ride.

On Friday we wll all take another long ride through the trails in Fish Hawk Ranch.

The Alafia River should still be high enough on Saturday for another upper run. The temperature are forecast to warm into the mid-seventies with sunny skies.

After Barry left to head back to
Pittsburgh I did 3 more bike rides totaling 40 miles around the Fish Hawk area.
I thought I would bride in the opposite direction to see if the little Mexican restaurant (La Villa) was still in
business. It was there with a similar menu but with much higher prices than 2 years ago.

There is a housing development (River Hills) here which surrounds a golf course and has some hiking trails in the forest
along the Alafia River. I decided to see if I could find them. I couldn’t find
the start at the southern end since it involved crossing a golf cart path. but
that was the right way to go. 

After some bike riding around I
found the north end of the trail and started walking it when I saw a sign that
said bikes yield to hikers. I went back and decided to ride on the very narrow but
hard packed trail with no mud or big roots to jump over. Where it was swampy the
trail uses a narrow boardwalk with no railings. It was a good trail but narrow and goes along above the river. The trail is very scenic and well marked. There were other
loop trails off the main orange trail but I didn’t try them. My 14mi ride was
mostly on neighborhood streets and walkways.

On Sunday 1/7 I left at 7am to go to EG Simmons Park, I got there when they opened the gate at 8am and found they had a dozen empty sites to choose from. I like the east campground since the sites are large and the canal is behind the campsite to launch my kayak.

This week had unusual weather for January in FL. It was very changeable going from stormy rainy to cold, to warm weather making it hard to decide what to do. I never took my kayak down since the warm days were also very windy.

A river runs through it when it rains

I was able to get in 3 nice bike rides totaling 29 mi, around the park and around the streets of Ruskin, FL.

Night Visitor

Well marked canoe trail

Peggy viewing St Pete skyline from the park

The weather has been very unusual this year; it would change
every three days from cold mornings in the 40’s, to some rain during the day
and then a warmer couple of days in the low 70’s. There were no bugs or sand
fleas at all, but it limited some of my activities. But at least it was warmer
than back home with snow and temperatures near zero degrees.

I only got to paddle my kayak twice, once around the canoe
trail and on a calm day along Tamps Bay over to Bahia Beach.

I had trouble getting a prescription shipped to local Ruskin
post office. I rode my bike over there twice and once over to the Apollo Beach
PO where it was eventually shipped but lost. I finally got them to reorder
it from a Walgreen’s which was in Sun City Center about 10 miles away. I had to
take a busy local road with narrow bike lanes until I got to the golf cart
lanes in the 50+ community. I was able to shop at an Aldi’s and Walmart near
the Walgreens so that was good. I made the ride twice and it drizzled on me
both times.

So during my 2 week visit I rode my bike almost 100 mi and
paddled about 10 miles. The weather forecast is finally predicting temperatures
in the 80’s at my next campground south of Sarasota.

Some of the things Peggy and I always did didn’t happen. We
liked to ride our tandem over to the Manatee Viewing Center in Apollo Beach. 

and Peggy liked to get some Grouper at Julies Fish House an outdoor restaurant about 3 mi from camp.

My CampSite #71

This is a very popular campground for bicyclists because it is about in the middle of the popular 25 mi long paved Legacy Trail. and the trail along the Venitian Waterway Park. 

Click on these links to see detailed maps of the trails and my rides.

Small Site but even room for my Hammock.

These trails also connect with trails along the beaches in Venice, FL See My Map of a ride through Venice past all the beautiful homes.

There is also a nice trail West of the our campground along Casey Key.

I parked sideways to get privacy in top picture

Along the Venitian Waterfront Park

My longest ride was going north to Sarasota where the Legacy Trail ends but connects to a new bike lane along Ringling Blvd that takes you to Bayfront Park & Marina/Island Park, pictures below.

In the past 4 days I biked all of these trails from my campsite for a total of 100 miles.

On Sunday 1/28 my plans were to watch the NFL playoffs. My friend Doug Smith had
planned to stay with me before he headed up to near St Petersburg on 2/1. He
called from just past Atlanta and was slowly heading south, I suggested he
could hurry down to my campground and watch the games with me. Well he made it
in time to watch Buffalo and Detroit both lose their games. 

He spent the next 4 days with me enjoying the cool dry weather, hiking, cooking, shopping and both of us telling lots of stories. He hadn’t brought a bike but I was able to borrow an e-bike for him from a camper I met. 

So on Tuesday we took our bike ride south on the Legacy Trail and stopped at the small train station museum and watched the small planes landing at Venice, FL.
He was glad I got him an e-bike so that he could keep up and bike the 18 mile round trip. 

We cooked dinner every night but on his last day Doug took me out for a great lunch at the nearby, on the water, Casey Key Fish House. We both had an excellent Grouper dinner.

After Doug left, on Friday I took another 29 mi bike ride south to Caspersen Beach and then north through the million dollar neighborhoods up to Venice Beach. 

These were nice beaches with lots of people looking for shells.

 

My daughter Pam and her husband Sam had been condo shopping for the past two weeks in Cape Coral and staying with friends, but were now driving back to Vermilion, OH. Since I was only 5 mi off I-75 they stopped by on Saturday morning to say a quick hello and check out my campsite.

The weather forecast for Sunday was lots of rain and I wanted to get in at least one more bike ride so on Saturday afternoon so I took another 14 mi ride along
Casey Key and back to the Legacy Trail.

I love the Legacy Trail and all the connecting trails that you can ride near
Sarasota and Venice. It the past two weeks I rode my bike 160 miles, it was good cardiac rehab.

The next place I have camping reservations is at WP Franklin COE Campground on the Caloosahatchee River east of Fort Myers, however that is not until Sunday 2/11. So I have 6 days to stay somewhere else until then.

In the past I’ve stayed at Pioneer County Park in Zolfo Springs northeast of here and had no trouble getting a campsite. They do not take reservations but that’s where I’m heading to on Monday morning.

On Monday morning just as I left it began to rain, when I got off of I-75 near Sarasota to refill my Propane tank my GPS suggested I stay on these secondary roads, possibly an accident on my original route to Zolfo Springs. It was a good route and I got to Pioneer Parks by 11:30 am as the rain stopped. It’s been cool and dry since then.

I decided to stay in the beautiful primitive campground. It has no hookups but my solar power is all I need since I picked a sunny site next to a small fishing lake, where the Ibis & Giant Egret keep me company.

View of lake next to my campsite

This is my view of the rest of the empty campground. Campers seem to like the sites in an open field with power & water hookups. Since it has been sunny all week my deep cycle batteries are fully charged by noon each day. I only run my generator for a few minutes if I need to use my microwave oven.

Vultures like to roost each night in the tall trees by the lake

Adjacent to the campground is the Florida Cracker Museum and a series of old FL buildings. They have stories and artifacts about the original settlers in FL called Crackers. They say the name was from the crack of their buggy whips. Each year during the last few weeks in February a big festival is held here.

Campsite #5 at WP Franklin

Aerial View of WP Franklin

On the way to WP Franklin on Sunday morning I stopped at the growing Babcock Ranch Development where I enjoy all the bike paths and have biked here for the past 3 years.

Click for larger map of Babcock Ranch Bike Rides 2023 (Red) & 2024 (Blue)

The eastern area is all new this year. Lots of homes but very few businesses and restaurants considering how many people now live here.

On Tuesday I paddled from my campsite up Telegraph Creek and back (7 mi) and on Wednesday I did a 13 mil bike ride through the neighborhoods near our campground.

The weather has been sunny with temps in the high 70’s all week. However they are forecasting lots of rain coming in late on Saturday and all day Sunday. So I decided Friday would be a good day to get in some more kayaking.

Hickey Creek Mitigation Area

I paddled about 1 mile up the Caloosahatchee River to Hickey Creek, and then 2-1/2 mi as far as I could make it up the creek. I had to turn around where a big fallen tree blocked my way. I checked, it was the same place I had to turn around last year. I came back to the kayak landing and had lunch, then I paddled back to my campground, a 7 mi round trip.

Here is a picture of Peggy and Bob Nicholson who paddled up here with me 7 years ago.

As I told in my last blog I was able to get a great campsite right on the Alafia River, #40 with easy river access. The river sites are limited to 14 days, while the rest of their campsites are available for 28 days. They do not take reservations but if you get here early in the morning, it seems someone is always checking out.

This is a map of Upper Alafia River. Click Here to see Florida Paddling Trails Association’s River Info and bigger maps.

On Wednesday I decided I needed a haircut really bad so I biked over to Great Clips and got a crewcut.

On Thursady I did another 18 mile bike ride mostly in the eastern area of Fish Hawk Trails. The weather has been perfect all week with lows around 60 and quickly warming to the mid-70’s by late afternoon.

River Launch at my campsite #40

On Friday morning I noticed that the river had dropped down to 130 CFS, which is the lowest I had ever paddled it. I like the first 3 miles of the Lower Alafia River so I decided to paddle downstream 3 miles and then back to my campsite eliminating the need to run a shuttle. There are a lot of shallow shoals and I wasn’t sure if I could paddle back upstream through all of them but I made it. It took me almost 30 min longer going back upstream to my camp. It took a little over 2 hours with no breaks.

This is a map of the 7 mile Lower Alafia River. Click Here to see Florida Paddling Trails Association’s River Info and bigger maps. 

I saw 3 nice sized gators enjoying the sunny skies. Most jumped in the water when I approached.

Peggy’s last time at Lithia Springs

On Sunday I will head north about 60 miles back to Cypress Glen Campground in the Withlachoochee State Forest. It’s been 2-1/2 months since I was here on my way south. My travels must not have been far since this is the first time I had to get gas since then.