Another Hike Along the Florida Trail

We’ve been busy around here.  There’s just so much going on with friends in the neighborhood.

Monday was Webster flea market day.  Diana and I went primarily for fresh vegetables, but we also strolled through several of the antique booths.  I found a new martini glass, but mostly we loaded up on fresh fruits and vegetables.

While we were in Webster, Gene was here with Vern.  Much caulking has gone onto our roof.  Now, I’m anxious for some rain just to see what happens or, perhaps I should say, doesn’t happen.  I don’t expect it to leak any more.

We had originally planned to hike on Tuesday, but there were several things that needed attention around the motorhome, so we attended to those things.

Tuesday evening Tony, Diana, and Gene and I were invited to Mike and Peggy’s for grilled hamburgers.  Stories were told, howls of laughter erupted, souls were laid bare, and tummies were filled.  We had a great time.  Thanks Mike and Peggy for a wonderful evening of fun, friends, and fellowship.

To work off those delicious hamburgers, Gene and I were up early heading for the trail.  We went back to the Citrus track where we had hiked on Saturday.  We even parked in the same spot and headed down the blue blazed connector trail to the junction with the Florida Trail.  Instead of turning to do the loop trail like we did Saturday, we continued on the Florida Trail until it intersected with the B Loop Trail, about 3 miles.

Drive to the trailhead passes through a tunnel of live oaks in Floral City.

For 2.5 miles the trail was very similar to what we had done on Saturday with the sandy foot path covered with longleaf pine needles and dotted with ant hills.  After a couple miles on the trail, we dropped down a few feet in elevation into what seemed like a large bowl.  Perhaps it was a large sink hole.  There are numerous sink holes in Central Florida.  In this area we saw lots of saw palmettos and a few wildflowers.  There was even a cave.

We were so excited to see the flowers.  On all our hikes since arriving here, we’ve seen a few tiny white flowers growing very close to the ground.  None of the photos I’ve taken have turned out well.  We saw many more of these flowers today, plus yellow Jessamine vine, a white flower which we think may be a dewberry variety, and another yellow flower which I could never photographed clearly.  One of the things we really enjoy about hiking, particularly in the spring, is the wildflowers.  They made our hike for today.

This small cave entrance had evidence of people crawling in there.
Won't catch me going in there.

When we reached the junction with the B Loop Trail, we stopped for a short break, then retraced our steps to the car for a total of just over 6 miles for the hike.  We had taken our lunch in the cooler and found a picnic table in the Holder Mine Campground for a relaxing lunch after our hike.

We think this may be a dewberry variety; not sure about that.

Saw palmettos

Since we left early and the hike was short, we got home in the early afternoon.  After showers and a little more visiting with friends, we’re settled in for a quiet evening at home.  Life is so good.

Yellow Jessamine

We want to welcome two more followers--Ms. Fiddlesticks and Carole.  We’re so glad to have y’all tagging along.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for tagging along.