Swimming with Manatees, Car Camping and Caving

Swimming with manatees in Crystal River

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Story: We decided to go swim with the manatees for Nikki's birthday so we went up to Crystal River to do this. Kings bay is one of the only, if not only, place that you can do this legaly. We rented an 8 seater John boat from Crystal Lodge Dive Center for 17.50 an hour. Once on the water, it takes a while to get to the springs as you have to idle most of the time because of the manatees in the water. Three sisters was our first stop. There were dive boats with tourist stacked on top of each other in the canal. Once in the water, you ajust pretty quickly to the 72 degree water which in the Summer is freezing but when the air temp is about 70 too, its not as much of a shock. Manatees were everywhere inside and outside the shallow spring! Once inside the spring, you could see them hanging out on the bottom sleeping. They would wake up from time to time and swim past you.Once back in the boat we went around to Big Spring but decided not to swim here as its 30 feet to the bottom so kinda hard to see anything. Once back to the dive shop, we had lunch and snuck into the next door hotels pool area and hung out in the spa. Very nice!Shortly after that we packed up and headed on over to the campsite at Tillis Hill.By far, one of the neatest things I have done. Glad I could share it with good friends!

Tips: If doing this, Crystal Lodge Dive Shop is the only place to rent a boat. You can call ahead and reserve them but reservations expire at 9am so get there early. The manatees only hang out in the springs mainly for sleeping and will leave as the tide lowers so you want a decent high tide prior so that they are in the springs to begin with. The rate to rent the boat is 17.50 per hour. We had ours for about 3. You can take a guided tour but wheres the fun in that? Most swimmers were wearing wet suits but we didn't except Karl had a shortee. The water temps not a big deal.The dive shop will play a video for you so that you know what and what not to do.

Camping at Tillis Hill and caving at Dames

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Story: First, be sure to check out the Crystal River trip as the camping was the night of and the caving the day after.The campsite was real nice. Tillis Hill is the only camp ground in Withlacooche State Forest that you can make reservations so we chose that one as it was about a half an hour from Crystal River. They have showers and facilities there in case thats something you need. We camped on site 27 & 28. 2 tents, 5 people, 15.00 bucks and 2 cars per site.While Karls stew was cooking over the fire, Nikki looked up a goecache and off we went. On our way to the cache, Chenelle got after a cut down pine tree with the axe seperating the bark from the stump for the fire. We found some grubs in the bark so Tyler and I pulled a Man vs Wild and ate them. The cache was in what I think was an old strip mine area. It was 20-25 feet deep with steep sides. Really neat place to find! The cache was cool too. It was in an ammo box under a rock next to a tree and servival themed. We took sparlers and left a lighter. The log said that we were the first to find it in 2010!Once we got back to camp, we ate drank and played some manhunt.The next day we got off to the caves which was maybe 10 minutes away. Vandal was kinda soggy but Peace was dry. This is always a neat thing to take in.

Tips: The cave hike is short and an easy walk. Bring water for sure. In the summer months the bugs are ruff around the caves so pack spray. The caves can get muddy as well,

Withlacooche State Park Citrus Tract Loop A

Withlacoochee State Forest Citrus Tract Loop A

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I love this trail system! I was looking for another under 9 mile day hike and decided to re visit the Citrus Wildlife Mngmt area. I did loop C as an overnighter but A can be done in a day.This is a nice trail that is well marked and hiked often. The constant crossing of fire roads allows for easy navigation while walking. The terrain was not as diverse as the C loop but still nice and relaxing. The coolest thing was hiking thru the burn field. Some things were still on fire. I have never hiked thru a burn that fresh.

Cool stuff!

Little Manatee River State Park

Little Manatee River State Park

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This was an awsome day hike. I know that I have said that before but this was a good one! I was seeking a nice hike for the day but I wanted a hike in an area I have never been before so I decided to go south about a half hour to Little Manatee.Ill start with how to get there. From Tampa go South on I-75. Get off on 240A and go East thru Sun City Center. Turn right on 301 going south. In about 4 miles turn Right on Lightfoot and almost shortly Right into the park. At the ranger station, let them know what you are up to and they will give you a trail map and a combo to the gate that will get you to the trail head. After that you leave the park and go back the way you came. Once back on 301 heading North, after the river, you will see a dirt road pulloff on the Left. Thats the parking lot. The gate combo is usefull if primitive camping mainly or if you cant jump a fence. There is a small parking lot inside the gate to leave your vehicle. I just left mine on the outside and hoped the gate. I guess you dont need to bother with the ranger station if you dont want... you didnt hear that from me.Once on the trail from the parking lot a short blue blazed trail will take you to the North / South split. I went North (right) as I wanted to see the river on the way back which is on the South side of the trail. Right away it was soggy so be prepared. As you walk, you will hike thru pine forest onto sand flats into marsh lands. The stillness was amazing out there. You quickly realize that you are the guest. There are constantly things going on all around you if you can tune into it. I took the campground spur just to check it out. .4 miles round trip so no biggie. Nice site with a table and thats about it.. At one point on the main trail it washed out so bad that I doubled back 100 yards to find a blaze to verify that I was on the trail which I was. After a while I was surprised to wind up basically in someones backyard as part of the trail borders a subdivision. As you get down in to the marsh it gets really neat. I was waiting for the whole forest to come alive but no luck. I didnt see a thing which really surprised me. Walking along the river is always neat too. Word to the wise, if hiking the whole trail.. after you pass the blue connector the trail gets really tight and ill maintained. Not a deal breaker but interesting. Overall, great hike. I want to make a point to do this during the differant seasons as the plant life is diverse and I look forward to the spring, summer and fall blooms that I have heard so much about. Today my hike was 6.7 but if you take the blue connector you can cut that in half. This can be a great day hike or short overnighter.

You choose but deffinatly walk it!

Flatwoods Park via Trout Creek

Flatwoods

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First I will say this; Flatwoods is a huge piece of property! There is the actual Flatwoods Park off of Morris Bridge Rd where you can access an 8 mile paved loop and a 15 mile un paved loop. Now the loop is what links the multiple smaller parks together. If you want to get technical, trail marker 0 starts in Trout Creek (where we start today), through Flatwoods, on to Morris Bridge, over to the Trout Creek off road area, and back across Fletcher into Trout Creek. When I ride the 15 mile loop, I start in Flatwoods as there is an air station and I like the way the varied conditions of the trail play out.

Today, we start our hike from the parking lot of Trout Creek and walk the road over to where we pick up the trail. Up the hill to the right will put us on the Levee where we are in wide open spaces however soon we drop into the oak forest. This is a great bike path so watch out if walking! Koda treed a poor Raccoon today. Felt kind of bad for the guy. Soon the trail is broken by a power line then back into the woods. Shortly after, the trail pops back out of the woods then back in. Now you are actually headed for the creek that gives the park its name. A large metal bridge spans Trout Creek and it gives a great vantage point to look down into the water. In the summer the water is the color of tea. We walk on till we get to the Panther sign. This is not a warning but a break off trail that will take us north. I have biked everything so far in the past but Panther was new to me and I set out today with Koda specifically to walk it. FYI, at this point, if you don’t take Panther, you will end up in Flatwoods Park after a short while.

Panther is a nice trail that takes you thru a variety of ecosystems. One minute you are walking past a huge swamp area then thru Palmettos onto dense pine forest. The wildlife is all over out here. Today, we saw a young buck with 2 of his ladies not 50 feet away from us! There is a lot of boar activity too. Also, down by the lake you can see many types of birds. Be aware on Panther though, oak and palmetto roots dash across the trail and it is tight and windy. Plenty of toe stumpers and rim dingers abound!

Over all, easy hike. My favorite moments were seeing the deer and taking time by the lake. Very cool!