Author: bjregan

If the Everglades Parkway (I-75) that cuts across the bottom of Florida can be called “Alligator Alley”, we decided that the Van Fleet Trail that we rode our bikes on this week should be called “Gopher Tortoise Alley.” We lost count of how many gopher tortoises we spotted the first day on the trail.

Gopher tortoise along Van Fleet Trail


At first it seemed important to get a good picture of one of the critters. They live in holes dug into the sandy banks along the trail and you usually don’t see them until you are right next to them. Tortoises, being like turtles, are something that you think of as slow moving so we were sure we could stop our bikes, back up and snap a photo. Before long, though, we felt that we were playing a silly hide and seek game. Tortoises are much smarter and faster than they look. We would be as quiet and sneaky as we could but just as soon as we had our cameras pointed at one it would vanish in a flash back into its hole.

One of the gopher tortoise holes.


Lee trying to sneak up on a tortoise.

Finally, when we decided it was time to quit stopping every time we saw a tortoise, we began to see one or two that had ventured a bit further away from its hole. That allowed us to catch a photo before they disappeared.

And then we came upon a situation where we really got up close and personal. Here was a poor tortoise that had somehow ended up stranded on its back. A second tortoise stood next to it looking sympathetic and just as helpless.

Lee played good samaritan, got a stick and pushed the stranded tortoise back over on its feet. The other tortoise quickly scampered off, while the rescued one seemed to pause a minute to get its bearings before it, too, quickly disappeared. Makes you wonder how they get stranded on their backs and if there isn’t a human around to rescue them how do they get out of their predicament?

Speaking of predicaments, the first hour of this planned trip on the Van Fleet Trail found us in a predicament. The trail is 29 miles long, starting at the Mabel Trailhead near Claremont and ending at the Polk City Trailhead. Our friends, the Clendenin’s, who spend the winter in their RV at a park in Polk City, had kindly offered us overnight accommodations in an outside apartment on their lot. Our plan was to bike the 29 miles from the Mabel Trailhead to Polk City, spend the night, and then bike back the next day.

It took some additional planning and packing because of the threatened rain and the fact that this was an overnighter where we had to think of things we usually don’t need to carry on our bikes. We ignored the dark clouds and few sprinkles of rain and crossed our fingers that we had all we needed as we set off down the trail.

But what is this sign here as we left the parking area and crossed the boundary that begins the official trail? Is this really an official sign? Is the trail really closed? We decided to ignore the sign and see for ourselves what was up ahead, since no one else was around that we could ask.

After pedaling 5-1/2 miles we saw that the trail ahead was fenced off, there was no one around, and here was another hand painted sign.

We could peer around the fence and see up the trail to where there was a second fence but there was nothing that we could see that looked like construction on the trail. There was a footpath around the edge of the fence and since I couldn’t stand the thought of having to turn around not knowing if there really was no way around this thing, I pushed my bike around the fence and pedaled up to the next fence.

Oops, I guess the signs were right. We weren’t going to be getting through this swamp.

We had to pedal back to the car, load up the bikes again, and drive down to the next trailhead. So much for all our planning. Lesson learned is to always check a website for trail conditions before setting off on a trip. Later that day we did see some official signs about the construction project, but had failed to see the one inside the kiosk before we started our trip at the Mabel Trailhead.

After the initial frustration the rest of the trip was quite enjoyable.

We especially appreciated the hospitality of the Clendenin’s that enabled us to enjoy a relaxing evening in Polk City and a good rest before pedaling back the next day.

One more bike trip that we had on our bucket list before leaving this area was to pedal more of the Withlacoochee State Trail. A couple of weeks ago we had ridden with our friend, Jerry, on a 32-mile ride that was out-and-back from the Gulf Junction (northernmost) Trailhead, down to Inverness. That left 30 miles of trail from Inverness down to the southernmost trailhead at Trilby that we hadn’t yet seen.

Unlike our two days on the Van Fleet Trail with temperatures in the 80’s and wind from the south, today brought in a cold front with temperatures in the low 60’s and winds from the north. Our hope was to have headwinds in the morning and tailwinds in the afternoon so we started at the Ridge Manor trailhead and pedaled north for 17 miles to Floral City.

Wearing long sleeves and pants today, instead of shorts and T-shirts as we did the previous two days, but the winds weren’t too bad and the day was enjoyable.

A stop at Lake Townsen, near Nobleton.

That’s been quite a bit of pedaling the last 3 days and we will probably take a break tomorrow from bike riding. But no breaks from adventures because now its time to move on and who knows where we will be next and what fun awaits?

We’re back to civilization after a wonderful camping trip in the Ocala National Forest. The campground where we stayed at Salt Springs was an interesting combination of two very different types of camping experience. We were in the “primitive” area for tent campers, which was only primitive in the sense that it didn’t have electrical hookups. The restrooms and hot showers and tent sites were some of the best we’ve seen. It was quiet and practically deserted.

It turns out that almost all of the people staying there were at the other end in the area for RV’s. We were amazed at how full that area was, but it was so well separated from our area that we didn’t realize until the second day how full it was.

The tent section was a short distance from the swimming area, which is a beautiful pool built around the spring.


February is still too cold for me to think about swimming but, supposedly the water in the spring stays at a constant 72 degrees. It bubbles up from 7 large and 2 small vents in the limestone base. Most of the pool is only 2 feet deep with clear blue water where you can watch the many fish swimming around. The water is deeper over the vents; some of the vents are reported to be up to 20 feet deep.

What we also liked about camping at Salt Springs was the easy accessibility to the many hiking trails within the National Forest. The Florida National Scenic Trail runs the length of the forest. Obviously, we couldn’t hike all of it in the short time we were there but we did do an out-and-back section of it one afternoon.

We walked through pine scrub and oak hammocks and then the trail opened up to a view overlooking Hopkins Prairie, a massive wet prairie basin. Of course, with the ongoing drought in Florida, a lot of it is now dried up.

We did enjoy watching 2 pairs of sand hill crane making their way across the prairie.

The St. Francis Trail that we hiked on the second day was a 7-mile circuit hike that led us down to the banks of the St. John’s River.


In the 1880’s there was a town called St. Francis at this site, but we were a bit disappointed to find no evidence of a past settlement anywhere at the site, not even a signpost to indicate where it had been.

On the way back we did cross an interesting bridge that went over an old levee. The levee had been built to flood an area for rice paddies in an unsuccessful venture to grow rice.

Today’s hike, on the Yearling Trail, was the most interesting from a historical perspective. It traverses an area called Pat’s Island, which is not an island in the usual sense. Settlers called these areas of wilderness islands because they were oases of fertile soil and moisture surrounded by a massive “sea” of pine scrub. Pat’s Island was abandoned by its residents in 1935, after less than 100 years of human occupation.

In 1933 the author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings stayed with the last two inhabitants of the island, Calvin and Mary Long. Calvin’s childhood story of nursing a deer from a fawn inspired Rawlings to write her Pulitzer Prize winning novel, “The Yearling.” The novel was made into a movie starring Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman and filmed on location in the early 1940’s.
Residents of Pat’s Island used this sinkhole, which is now dry, as their source of water.

Remains of a cattle dip site.

The Long family cemetery.

Today’s hiking weather was some of the sunniest and pleasant we have had. We were very tempted to spend another day camping but decided to continue on with our plans to leave Ocala National Forest. This evening we are thankful that we made that decision. The first significant amount of rain has showed up here in the form of some heavy thunderstorms. I may have complained about the continued cloudiness and threat of rain last week in Gainesville, but, in actuality there was hardly any rain there during that time. It’s good to see some rain finally getting here and especially good to be in a nice, dry motel room while it’s raining!