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2024
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San Felasco Hammock State Park
May 6, 2024
Total Distance: 9 miles
I arrived at the park at around 9:30 and it was already scorching hot outside. On the last visit, we had only explored a tiny portion of the park that lies on the south side of the highway. This time, going solo, I headed to the north side where like 95% of the land in the park lies. The trails were much wider and better established than they'd been in the southern portion.
I was squatting to take a picture of a mushroom-covered dead stump and was ready to walk away when I did a double take and noticed a broad-headed skink (Plestiodon laticeps )! It was my first time spotting this species and I didn't know it existed, so it was really exciting to see the shiny, smooth little reptile with its big chubby body and bright orange head just watching me while it basked.
I took the eastern most paths around and up until I hit an intersection with the utility road (which I'm going to hit up next time). While trying to decide which way to go, I heard a crash down the trail ahead of me and saw a snake trying to whip its way into the branches. So, that pretty much decided my route. Apparently my approach had frightened a rat snake out of the upper branches of a tree into a lower one where it hid with its little face peaking out at me from under the leaves. I saw another snake cross the trail ahead but it was too far to tell for sure what kind (probably a racer, based on the long slender body and tiny head).
There were tons of sinkhole ponds on the sides of the trail so I ran into plenty of mosquitos, and it was obvious the place gets a LOT more flooded in the wetter seasons. And, as usual, there were plenty of ticks. Eventually I hit some pinelands that had recently gone through a controlled burn. It smelled fantastic and was eerily pretty. There were big blue butterflies everywhere that I later identified as Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis astyanax). It was the only one I saw hold still for more than half a second, the rest were flying at full speed non stop through the brush. This one found a pile of aromatic animal scat to feast upon and that was apparently worth holding still for.
Coming around a bend, I startled a little female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on the side of the path. I had to crane my neck to the side to get a look at her without advancing further, and hilariously she did the same thing to look back at me. Then she took a few seconds to rip some more leaves off the young tree she was eating before stumbling off through the bushes.
There were a couple black racers hanging on the side of the trail towards the end of my hike. One of them was in the silliest pose - it had its chin rested on a log and it was just watching me go by. The last portion of the path was extremely hilly and rocky and I started a couple more deer on my way out, including what might have been mother and child (so cute!)
Sweetwater Preserve & Payne's Prarie
April 16, 2024
Total Distance: 14 miles
Sweetwater Preserve
This was my longest hike of the year so far. I started at around 11:45am and was out for six and a half hours. This time I brought enough snacks, water, and sun protection to stay as long as my energy held out. Right off the bat I spotted a couple of opiliones mating on a leaf on side the of the trail.
It was an uneventful walk through the woods. The water level was lower than last time but the seasonal wetlands was still still there, and loud with bird and frog activity. The cicadas were also singing from every tree (I don't understand why people dislike them, I think they sound soothing).
Once I got to the sandy portion of the Sandy Trail, I encountered a massive female Florida softshell turtle (Apalone ferox) on the trail! She was kicking up sand to dig herself a little nest, I gave her a wide amount of space but didn't want to leave the trail (it's a habitat restoration area) so I still had to get within a few feet. Her big bulgy eyes followed me as I past her, they're so cute and I felt so bad disturbing her. I walked a ways past and watched her through a gap in the trees, and she (wisely) readjusted and chose a spot a little further under the nearby tree to keep digging.
Payne's Prairie - La Chua Trail
This was my first time seeing lovebugs (Plecia nearctica) since moving away from north Florida in my youth. Payne's Prairie was going CRAZY with them. As usual, I saw plenty of hawks and osprey. It seems like more often than not, they have a fish or something else clutched in their claws in this particular park. And all the water plants were covered in big purple blooms, it was gorgeous.
There were far fewer gators than usual sunning themselves, probably due to the warmer weather. But I did have multiple wild turkey sightings, including a group of four ladies running across the trail right in front of me together.
Sweetwater Preserve
The walk back through Sweetwater was especially pretty at sunset. I tried (unsuccessfully, as usual) to get a picture of a zebra swallowtail butterfly after seeing multiple through the day. I also saw looked like a white sulphur butterfly (is there such a thing? I need to learn more about butterflies) but it was too far to get a really good look.
Once back in the park, I followed most of the trails on the west side, which are deceptively long and winding. I was really hoping to see what I'd seen at sunset at this park before - armadillos emerging from their dens. But the last time I'd seen this, it was winter and the sun set much earlier in the day. This time around the sun was still relatively high in the sky when I left the park after 6pm, so I had no luck there.
Serenola Forest Preserve
April 23, 2024
Total Distance: 3 miles
I made another trip to this tiny park early in the day, arriving just after 9 a.m. The weather started out cool but heated up pretty quickly. The trees gave enough cover to keep the sun off me, though I kept my sun hat on for tick protection purposes. Like last time, I didn't see a single other person on the rail.
I was hoping to see another Question Mark butterfly and wasn't disappointed - one landed directly at my feet. Once again, I couldn't get a picture. They are just as flighty and shy as sulphurs (which I also saw plenty of, as usual). The dragonflies were out in full force. I also saw another very fresh pile of animal scat full of fur, pretty sure there's bobcats in those woods.
I nearly stepped on a small turtle making its way across the trail, it was maybe 5 inches across. It had a nasty scratch on its back so it's possible something tried to gnaw on it, but otherwise it was a beautiful little critter. It was a lot more bold than most turtles I've encountered and kept its head out to eyeball me while I got pictures.
I noticed multiple slime molds on this walk, too. I saw more scrambled egg slime mold, which seems to be pretty common around here (got a distant shot but it was on a log off in the brush and there's no way I'm going off trail in that place). And I noticed another once I'd only seen in the Everglades before - chocolate tube slime mold (Stemonitis splendens)!
Payne's Prarie - Bolen Bluff Trail
April 20, 2024
Total Distance: 6 miles
This was our second trip to the south side of Payne's Prairie after visiting La Chua trail at least a dozen times. The first visit we went in through the main entrance, this time we gave the Bolen Bluff Trail a try.
There were TONS of birds on the trail, we saw cardinals and woodpeckers immediately after walking in. Some kind of tiny white millipede was running in and out of the leaf litter on the ground, they were so cute.
The trail ran through the trees before hitting the open prairie for a mile leading up to the observation tower. The place was exploding with birds - redwing blackwirds, anhingas, cormorants, herons, grackles, and soooo many crows. We also scared a black racer into the bushes.
For the first time, we spotted the bison in the park in the distance! Once we got to the observation tower and used the binoculars, we could see they were hanging out in a group with some wild horses. They looked like they were having a lovely, peaceful day out there. The observation tower was also swarming with bumblebees and wasps but they didn't bother us.
There wasn't much else to this section of the park - just the observation tower trail and the small 1.2 mile loop leading to it, so we walked it twice. There were a few little side trails that led back down to the prairie so we ventured down them and back, stopping on one for lunch.
I spotted a spider with a funnel nest built into a hole in the ground, and a huuuuuge wasp nest at the base of a tree. The main entrance was more than a foot tall and I could see smaller side entrances on the other side of the tree trunk, so the nest must have been massive and gone pretty deep underground. I got a short video but obviously did not risk getting too close.
Sweetwater Preserve & Payne's Prarie
April 16, 2024
Total Distance: 7 miles
Sweetwater Preserve
I arrived at the trailhead at around 11:30am. The weather is finally warming up so it was much hotter than usual, but it still felt good out there. I hadn't been to this park in a couple of months and it's obvious this area is transitioning from the dry season to the wet season. Tons of little ravines on the sides of the trails that had previously been dry were now full of water, and there were tiny ponds in places they hadn't been before.
I went with my usual favorite route, dubbed The Sandy Trail. The tiny waterfall which was just a trickle was now flowing full-on (even if it was only like 10 inches tall). On one side of the trail there was an entire lake in a place that had just been woods before. I could only see a little through the trees but the sound of birds and frogs was intense.
After the trail exited the forest into the grasslands section, I saw a pair of swallow-tailed kites flying above the trees together, and one of them was carrying a snake! I couldn't get a picture with my phone but it was so cool to see, and it was a decent sized snake.
There were also a lot of strange bugs that looked like white and black bees flying around just above the sand. I watched one land and burrow all the way into the sand, completely burying itself.
Payne's Prairie - La Chua Trail
I was excited to get to La Chua trail so I could check out a newly-cleared path I'd seen on previous visits with my boyfriend. It had been too flooded for us to finish (he REALLY needs some waterproof footwear) but I don't mind that kind of thing so I was determined to get to the end this time. It was the first place I headed once I got to the park after walking down the connecting Hawthorne Trail.
I was initially suspicious that the new path was just a clearing they made to service the utility poles that run through the park, but that turned out not to be the case. It cut through marsh grass for a good 10 or 15 minutes of walking before eventually hitting a big area of shallow water, and there were dozens of species of wading birds everywhere. I even saw a Roseate spoonbill! It was the closest I ever got (though still not close enough to get a picture).
There was a LOT of damage from feral pigs in the park, which I hadn't seen here before. It's mindblowing how much damage they can do, there were places that were ripped up for a hundred feet or more. The entire shore where the birds were was ripped to shreds. Luckily I didn't encounter any.
I walked the rest of the trails in the park. Most of the place was deserted, which was so nice. I was excited to get back to the area where I'd seen the crayfish last time. While loitering there and daydreaming, a big black snake of some kind slithered onto the trail to sun itself just inches from my heels. I don't know if it's possible for snakes to actually jump, but it looked more like the poor thing actually LAUNCHED itself into the tall grass to get away from me rather than slither. Of course, I wanted to see it again, so I stayed there for ages. I noticed another massive black snake in the grass on the other side but just shifting my weight scared it into flopping away (I feel confident they weren't black racers, they usually move with a lot more grace than these did).
On my way to the boardwalk I saw a big bald eagle fly over. They're common enough in the state but I don't get to see them often. It even passed me again carrying a BIG fish, it seemed to be heavy enough to be impeding its ability to fly. The entire park was also covered in blackberry brambles (or they might be dewberries). I gotta remember to go back in a couple of weeks when they're ripe.
Serenola Forest Preserve
April 12, 2024
Total Distance: 3 miles
I discovered this trail within walking distance of my apartment, it took just under an hour for me to get there on foot. So for the whole trip I walked close to 8 miles.
The trails were nicer than I was expecting, considering the entrance was in the corner of a neighborhood. I saw a lot of trees with trunks at least 4 or 5 feet in diameter, so the area has been like that for a while (sometimes these little nook parks are just an some overgrown undeveloped properties but that doesn't seem to be the case here). There were TONS of butterflies in this place - a lot of new ones I'd never seen before like a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) though I couldn't get a photo, a Question Mark Butterfly (Polygonia interrogationis) of which I got one very distant shot, and a bunch of similar orange-and-brown ornate ones that I didn't get a good enough look at to identify.
There were more ticks in this park than any other I have ever hiked. There was a warning at the entrance so I knew they were coming but DAMN. I picked at least 5 or 6 off of my legs/arms while I was out there. I also found a very fresh/moist pile of animal scat full of fur, so there was possibly a bobcat watching me walk down the trail.
There's only one real trail marked on the map, but there was another one that was obviously well traveled and maintained leading away from the picnic area. It went on for at least 1/2 - 3/4 of a mile before letting out on a service road I'd walked up on a whim a few months ago (it was winter, so it was dead and ugly then as all the plants had gone to seed). Now in spring, the place was full of wildflowers and most excitingly - a wild turkey!! I scared it and it immediately hunkered its shiny brown body into the tall grass. I squatted by the treeline and waited, after a few minutes it cautiously bobbed out of its hiding spot then ran off in a full sprint. They are such funny birds.
Paynes Prairie State Park - La Chua Trail
April 4, 2024
Total Distance: 6 miles
Got a bit of a late start and arrived in the park at around noon. Weather was lovely - clear sky, temperature at ~60°F, nice breeze going. It was a great day for wild flowers, there were little pink ones EVERYWHERE.
Took a path through the woods first and it was pretty heavily flooded, there was a whole section of path that was impassible. The other fork was also flooded but not so badly we couldn't hop across. We stopped to check out the little lazy river crossing the path and I got my first sight of a wild crawfish (possibly Procambarus alleni)!
One thing I couldn't get a picture of was the massive number of dragonflies all over the park. Everywhere we went, we had dozens darting around us. There was also a neat paper wasp nest I used to always visit there that was gone, they lived in a sink hole and I think it got flooded :(
Heading back to the boardwalk, I got to see my first bittern! It even did it's signature "I'm a reed" move. We also managed to spot a very distant wild horse in the park across the water - it was far enough that we could barely make it out even with binoculars. It was still pretty exciting, it was just hanging out in the water rooting around.
After resting up on a bench we went down the Hawthorne trail towards the La Chua Overlook for the first time. It was paved with grass on the sides but still had some neat little scenic paths that cut through the trees.
I'm not even going to bother posting a picture of the overlook because they came out so bad, especially compared to how majestic it was in person. It was a hill that looked down across the prairie and over the big sink hole lake, we could easily see for miles. Definitely worth the 3 mile roundtrip walk.
San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park
March 26, 2024
Total Distance: 7.5 miles
First time visiting this park, it was about a 15 minute drive outside of the city. Like all Florida parks, it was incredibly lush and exploding with plant and animal life.
We spotted a few deer, who stopped to stare back at us from afar. It seemed to be caterpillar and inch worm breeding season because they were absolutely everywhere - crawling on the trails, hanging from the trees by threads of silk, climbing up every tree and stem we saw. Most of them were forest tent caterpillars (Malacosoma disstria) but there were a few others I still need to identify.
There were a couple of massive iridescent green beetles on the trail I identified as 'caterpillar hunter beetle' (Calosoma scrutator) which definitely makes sense, there was a feast out there for them. I only managed to get a couple of blurry shots because they were not eager to get anywhere near me. They were a very exciting find. Another exciting one we saw a lot of was the ebony jewelwings (Calopteryx maculata), soooo beautiful.
There were a few small boardwalks and bridges going over tiny creeks throughout the park. I adore a tiny creek, they're so beautiful. The midday light filtering in through the trees made the place look absolutely magical. I got some great shots.
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