Life After 50 Hikes

Life After 50 Hikes is good! Selecting whichever trail I want from hundreds of possibilities, hitting the road and scouting out new locations, finding interesting places along the way... and apparantly forgetting everything I learned as a hiker during my first 50 hikes.

This past weekend Mom and Tabatha joined me for a Saturday hike. I chose Lake Louisa State Park, which I had seen on the way to another Clermont hike, Crooked River Preserve, last year with Lisa and Trevor. I figured we'd stop at Showcase of Citrus afterwards for ice cream, and I would be able to sneak in a visit to the Lakeridge Winery to satisfy my craving for pure Muscadine grape juice. I told them we'd be hiking in the open, no forest, so they could wear shorts.

Lake Louisa State Park is a beautiful place, boasting a variety of terrains criss-crossed with miles of both marked and unmarked trails. It also has plenty of forest.

We started our hike at 11 AM, parking near Dixie Lake and crossing the street to one of many trailheads we saw along the paved road. I left the bottled water in the cooler in the car. The temperature was already in the high-80's. We stepped into the cool forest, without bug spray. I had an air horn for the bears, but I didn't bring trekking poles to fend off the wild boars. I was wearing jeans, but everyone else was in shorts. I didn't turn on my GPS tracking, and proceeded to wind us in and out of trails with little care for a linear track. And the only snack in my bag was a single protein bar.

I'm sure you'll be surprised to hear that 30 minutes later we were hot, thirsty, swatting away mosquitoes and standing 10 feet from a coiled snake that I had almost stepped on while paying more attention to the recent rooting of wild boars than the path my feet were walking along. What, that doesn't sound like fun to you? Honestly - that's what I love. Not the not being prepared part - I usually pride myself on being prepared (and I did have my first aid kit, multi-function tool and pen and paper in my pack). But I love the excitement of the unknown. I don't allow a whole lot of unknown in my day-to-day life, but I can't stop it out there in the wild. The whole wild is somehow out of my control, and in a complete reversal of my very nature, I love it. I love that around the next bend there could be a beautiful meadow or an interestingly shaped tree or a piece of history that has survived salt and sand and hurricane-force winds to greet me on this day or an alligator who may or may not be waiting to take a bite out of my leg. I don't particularly love the spiders, but I respect their right to spin their webs (out of my intended path, of course).

In all it was a particularly satisfying day. I survived the snake, we tracked wild boar, we did not run into any bear, we hiked 4 miles that was mostly in the shade, and nobody passed out. Admission to the park was only $5 and the bathrooms were clean with showers available because of the camping facilities offered. Picnic tables and grills, a canoe launch, and many more miles of trails that we didn't cover, all make this place ideal for a return visit. We looked at the rental cabins and contemplated a family vacation next summer.

After leaving the park we did drop by the winery for my grape juice, and by La Fiesta Mexicana for a nice lunch/dinner to fill our stomachs. We topped the day off with a stop at Webb's Candy Shop, where we bought some chocolate and I had the chance to taste some desert wines made in St. Pete. Yum!

I Made It to 50!

50 hikes, that is! This weekend, in the company of Mom, Trevor and Trinity, I finished the last of the 50 hikes outlined in Sandra Friend's Guidebook "50 Hikes in Central Florida." And while some of them were admittedly harder than others, and on some of them we got quite lost (including this last one) and didn't exactly follow the trail laid out in the book, I'm still very satisfied with this accomplishment. Over the last 20 months I have:

• visited 50 places that I had never been before,
• discovered the joys of hiking in Florida,
• realized there are hundreds of hikes available in our surrounding area that can be explored as day trips,
• exposed my family to a world of outdoor fun nearly in our own backyard,
• pushed myself to physical challenges greater than reaching for the remote control,
• learned more about Florida's environment, wildlife, and history,
• glimpsed that wildlife in the form of fox squirrels, alligator turtles, gopher tortoises, alligators, deer, and even a not quite sighted Florida Black Bear,
• and become a more experienced (and safer) hiker.

I really am over the moon that I made my goal - perhaps not quite on my original aggressive timeline, but in a reasonable amount of time. So many people supported me in this endeavor, by hiking with me or by listening to my encounters after the fact - especially Mom, Dad, John, Lisa, Trevor, Trinity, Nicole, Dana, Logan, Libby and Bianca. In fact, of that list, only Nicole didn't actually make it onto a hike (but I know she wanted to be there). And now, before we move on to Life After 50 Hikes (did I mention there are over 600 trails in the State of Florida just waiting for me to discover them?!), let's look at a few more layouts from the hikes we completed.

Hike #6 - Lake Kissimmee State Park (broken up into 2 day hikes) - clicking on an image will take you to one of my galleries where you can view it larger and see the credits.

Hike #7 - Tibet-Butler Nature Preserve

Hike #8 - Hillsborough River State Park

Hike #9 - Lettuce Lake Park

Hike #5 - Split Oak Forest WEA

I guess it's been a long time since I shared a Hiking layout. With only 1 hike left on the 50 hikes goal, after 18 months of hiking, it's about time I try catching up. I've scrapped more than half my hikes now. Here's hike #5, which we completed while Lisa had a migraine and I learned how not to tell her the true distance of a hike. This is also the hike where we ran into a nudist, trudged through deep sand, and found a Split Oak tree.

Hike #4: Lake Lotus Park

Hiking with 5 children - yes, it is as fun as it sounds, lol.

We had a kid-friendly hike planned on February 12 so I asked Kuik and Amanda if I could keep the girls for the weekend.  Trevor invited his friend Stephen, Trinity had Bianca and Libby, and Lisa and I were brave enough to head out to Altamonte Springs in 2 cars with 5 kids for a 1.3 mile hike at Lake Lotus Park.  Hike #4 for us, Hike # 22 in the book.

Neither Bianca or Libby understood what hiking was, and my explanations weren’t helping. I had the 3 girls in my car, and Lisa had Trevor and his friend Stephen in her car. Lake Lotus Park is in Altamonte Springs. I-4 East to Maitland Blvd took us there. Maitland Blvd is Exit 90, so around Exit 87 I heard from Lisa wondering if we would ever get there and if I knew where we were going. Luckily I had just seen the sign that Maitland Blvd was coming up so I told her 3 more miles. Once on MB the park came up pretty quickly, only a few miles down. It was the weekend so we had to use off-site parking. We chose the parking lot that gave us walking access, pulled all the kids out and headed to the park. Libby was, as I predicted, cold within a block so I ran back to the car for a spare jacket I had brought just in case. The plan was to hike, then Lisa could watch them play in the park while I ran back for the coolers.

When we got across Maitland Blvd, a very busy road, a park ranger was waiting for us. He explained that if we had parked in the back lot we could have walked under the street through a tunnel, which is much safer, or ridden the tram. The tram guy drove up just then and asked if we’d been waiting for him, but I assured him that we had just chosen to walk. They encouraged us to use the tunnel when going back. We grabbed a trail map, hit the restrooms and started on the trail. Trevor and Stephen were carrying some of Trevor’s toy guns. The girls led the way, with Libby in the front.

Lake Lotus Park has a 1.3 mile trail system made up of a combination of dirt trails and boardwalks. The boardwalk trails elevate hikers above swampier areas and take a nice stroll across the adjoining lake. There is an observation room on the lake as well; inside are seats and pictures to guide you through the wildlife experience. Stephen pointed out Snowy Egrets and Sandhill Cranes. We took our hike picture on the lakefront boardwalk. I texted Amanda a picture of the girls around 10 am from the observation room – she couldn't believe we'd started so early, lol.  Bianca conned Lisa into carrying her for the second half of the hike, and I got a good picture of that too.

We completed the hike in about 30 minutes and let the children loose on the playground. There are two playgrounds – one for smaller children (where all the equipment is shorter) and one for bigger children (with taller swings and slides). There is also an unmovable jeep and a big wheel tire.

The tram-driving Park Ranger approached us as the children played and asked if we’d like to see the beehives back on the trail. Trevor, Stephen and I did so Lisa watched the girls play while we headed back into the trail system. The Park Ranger led us to a 70 ft tree and pointed up – there was a giant beehive and we could see honey bees swarming around the hive. He then directed our sights about half-way down where a knot in the tree hid another hive that had been built in the hollow trunk. The original hive was the one up above, but it had grown so big that it split into two additional colonies – the one in the trunk and one further down the trail. The Park Ranger led us to the third hive which was as big as the first but not fully built, some of the hive was still opaque rather than golden. Trevor and the Park Ranger had a long conversation on honey bees, while Stephen showed other kids on the trail what we’d been shown. I couldn't believe how big the hives were - they were so far up and yet very visible to us.  The Park Ranger said with binoculars we'd really have a good view.  Something to think about for future hikes.

When we finished viewing the hives and discussing bees, the Park Ranger led us to a different part of the trail to see the markings of a resident Florida Black Bear. She has a young cub and does occasionally appear to hikers. She is not aggressive if she’s left alone and has lived in the park for years. She had another baby last year that has since been sent off on his own. Her claw marks were evident in several tree trunks – she claws trees to mark her territory, when she needs to move herself onto the trail, and when she’s climbing for food like honey. There are blackberry patches in the preserve that she strips clean within weeks of their ripening. The ranger showed us pictures of the bear on the bulletin board when we returned to the playground.

Surrounding the playground were picnic pavilions. None of them had been rented so we had our pick for our picnic. Libby and I went back to the cars for the food. While walking she told me that she loved hiking. We followed the ranger’s directions and used the underground tunnel – it runs alongside a running river. When we first walked into the tunnel Libby said “It sounds like it’s raining,” which is how we discovered the river. We walked to my car and I drove it back over near the tunnel. I left Libby in my car and walked back to get Lisa’s car. Then we loaded up with all the food and hiked back over to the picnic area.

Lunch was sandwiches – ham for most, chicken for me, and PB&J for Bianca – fruit (grapes, apples, bananas, and pears), chips and juice or water. We ate and then decided we needed to move on to the next activity, since it was now noon and Stephen had to be home by 4. We said the magic word – mini golf – and the kids followed us (from in front of us, lol) back to the cars through the underground tunnel.

Lake Lotus Park is a real treat for families - I highly recommend it with the easy trails, nice playground and ample picnic area.  If you rent out a pavillion for a party you can drive in one car with supplies.

Hike #3: Tiger Creek Preserve

I'm a few hikes behind now - that's what happens when you forget to blog for a week or two.  Here's my layout and description of our third hike, an 8.4 mile hike in Tiger Creek Preserve in Babson Park.

Hike #3, Tiger Creek Preserve (#31 in the book), consisted of two trails covering 7 different habitats.  We found the first trail head, the George Clooney Trail, immediately on our left when we turned onto Pfundstein Rd.  The parking was along the roadside rather than in a real lot.  It was a warm day so I wore short sleeves and my hiking pants.  I grabbed the index card for the first trail and we moved out.

This first trail, a .7 mile hike, had several side trails that ended with a dead-end “End of Trail” sign (which the book noted and the instructions were to take the trails to the end and then backtrack).  The diamond markers promised to mark our path were nonexistent but the path was short and not that difficult to follow so soon we were on our way.  We came across a seating area with wooden benches and took a side trail.  On the first side trail there were some odd marks in the ground which Lisa informed me were signs of wild hogs, which rut in the ground. Now we were a little nervous, not really keen to come across wild hogs (or coyotes or bobcats, whose tracks we also saw during our hike).  Luckily those predators were not among the wildlife we saw today.  I told Lisa that they usually come out at night, which I’m pretty sure is true.

Towards the end of the short walk I did get us a bit lost. I saw what I thought was an observation tower so I walked us in the opposite direction.  It was actually the entrance sign and I was supposed to walk towards it.  We realized that when we got back to the part of the trail where we saw the hog marks.

The longer portion of the hike was still to come - 7.7 miles.  We found the second trail head, The Highlands Trail, further down the road; we drove down a dirt road to get to this one which had a grassy parking lot.  There were maps at the entrance sign which were a big help, since my hand drawn map was pathetic.  There was also a sign-in sheet; Lisa recorded our visit and we started out on our hike around 11:30.

The trail was marked with orange blazes and it was on this hike that we finally learned how to follow blazes (paint markings on trees and metal poles and sometimes orange flags).  Always keep your eye on the next blaze; a double blaze means an abrupt and sharp turn in the trail.  We planned to take one side trail which was marked with blue blazes.

The trail was sometimes dirt and sometimes sand (where it crossed with a jeep trail).  It was not as hilly as Catfish Creek Preserve but not flat.  We walked to an intersection where the 1 mile side trail we wanted was clearly marked to the left.  We headed left and followed the blue blazes across a cute and fairly long bridge with no railings.  On the other side we surprised a flock of quail which came bursting out of the scrub scaring Lisa (who was still focused on bobcats, coyotes, and serial killers).  This side trail was quite cozy, with trees surrounding us and a nice carpeted floor lined with lichen, a type of moss, which dried with the absence of rain.  We often heard rustling in the bushes but we didn’t see anything.

The side trail was a circle and we ended up back at the bridge.  We crossed back over; the picture for this hike is on that bridge.  Back at the trail sign we walked over to the main trail, once again following orange blazes.  This section was 6.3 miles (that sounded a little scary).  We were now in terrain that symbolizes the Lake Wales Ridge: sandy, hilly, and open.  There wasn’t much tree coverage and it was sunny; sun block would have been a good idea.

A little ways into the trail we heard a loud noise in the shrubs.  We stopped to look and there was a big gopher tortoise staring at us.  As we whipped out our cameras he ran forward and slid down into his burrow.  We weren’t fast enough to get a picture of him, but we did get a picture of his home.

This was the best marked trail we’ve been on; it was easy to follow the orange blazes.  Sometimes there were arrows and mile markers to show how far we’d walked.  Halfway around this loop we heard crashing in the brush and looked over to see two large deer bounding through the scrub, flipping up their tails as they disappeared into the trees.  So cool! 

The hike was beautiful but it was long and we started to feel it at mile 5.  We were thankful to come to the end of the big loop and even more happy when we came out of the main trail back to the starting path, but too happy I think because this is where we almost got lost and forgot to follow the blazes.  Using Lisa’s phone navigation, which worked out here in the boondocks, we got back on track.  The last mile was painful – Lisa couldn’t stand up straight and my ankle had stiffened and felt so sore.  We collapsed in the car where I had one last bottle of water to guzzle.  We finished around 2:30, so the entire 8.4 mile hike took 3.5 hours.

Layout credits:

Kit - Believe by Ruth Davis

Fonts - PC Brita, PC Chessie Dash

They're here!

I've finished my first 3 hiking layouts - the title page for the album and layouts covering hikes 1 & 2.  I know you've been waiting for them.  The journaling on the pages is basically the original blog entries, so I'm not reprinting that here.  You can just go look at the earlier blog entries.  :-)

We didn't get to hike last weekend because of technical difficulties, but we're headed back out again tomorrow!

Title page:

Supplies used: The Fairy Glen Fantasy Paper Set by Scrapdragon Designs, Family Roots by Scrapdragon Designs.

On the double-layouts below I used pictures from the hike to blend behind the left pages for interest to the journaling pages.  On the right pages I used papers from The Fairy Glen Fantasy Paper Set to blend behind the pages to add texture to the solid papers.
Hike #1: Circle B Bar Reserve

Supplies used: The Fairy Glen Fantasy Paper Set by Scrapdragon Designs, Folded Papers - Jewel Brights by Scrapdragon Designs

Hike #2: Catfish Creek Preserve

Supplies used: The Fairy Glen Fantasy Paper Set by Scrapdragon Designs, Folded Papers - Jewel Brights by Scrapdragon Designs

Hike #2: Catfish Creek Preserve State Park

Catfish Creek Preserve State Park is located a bit off the beaten path in Dundee, Florida. This area is a part of the Lake Wales Ridge. The trailhead is just a small parking lot with some signage touting the preserve as an award winner. My guidebook directed us to head off to the right after parking where we would pick up a trail map in the red mailbox. She wasn’t kidding, either, there was a red mailbox and when we opened it there were trail maps inside. Cool!
Lisa and I arrived at 2:45 pm and set off on our hike. At that time the temperature had reached a high of 53. It didn’t get any warmer that day. The author estimated it would take 2 hours to hike a 3.5 mile perimeter trail. The book warned that the trail was for people who were looking for a physical challenge. I’m going to have to take these warnings more seriously. And we should probably start our hikes earlier so we don’t have to worry about nightfall catching us.

Just like last time I wrote down the gist of the directions on a note card and took that with us. Note to self – it’s hard enough to read a map, written directions are just not my forte. We started on the trail leading off to the right and immediately noticed the marker numbers that were described in the book. We had to walk to marker 8 and then turn right. Well, not exactly – that’s not what my instructions said, but that’s what my mind read. We were actually supposed to come to marker 8 where we would then see marker 12 intersecting and turn left. Kind of different, don’t you think? Either way we never saw marker 8 or marker 12, but we did see markers 13 – 16 so we followed those. We were on red and white blazed trails, which seemed close enough to the white blazes we should have been following at the time.

The first thing we noticed was that, just as the book warned, the trails were all loose sand. Many of the trails were shared with equestrians which is why they were so loosely packed. We also noticed that the trail was very hilly, giving us a challenging walk (to be honest this is what I was looking for, although I did not share that information with Lisa prior to the hike in case she had any thoughts of backing out, lol). I brought my trekking poles, the ones Dana and Nicole gave me for Christmas; based on the description of the trail I thought this would be a great place to try them out. They were a big help at keeping my balance uphill and downhill on the uneven terrain. It took a while to get the height and wrist straps the way I wanted them so I’m glad I chose to use this as a test run.

While walking up one of the hills I was looking down, of course, to make sure my feet were working properly (falling on a hike doesn’t sound like much fun) and I saw a snake. Well, I saw Lisa’s feet right next to a snake. So I tell her, “Hey, isn’t that a snake?” And she says “Where?” I say “Right there, you could be stepping on it.” Sure enough, it was a snake – really skinny, about 2 feet long, and orange and black. It looked alive but it didn’t move, so perhaps it was sunning itself to warm up. We took several pictures, and then thought we shouldn’t push our luck since we couldn’t tell whether the head was triangle or round. For the record, neither Lisa nor I freaked out about the snake. I was proud of us for that, although in retrospect perhaps we should have been a little more worried that Lisa almost stepped on a snake without seeing it and that I walked towards the snake rather than running away (I needed a picture).

When we reached marker 16 I knew that we had a problem, because by this time I had noticed that we should have reached marker 12, which I’d never seen. My solution to the problem was to keep walking straight. The numbers were going up and eventually we were supposed to arrive at 24, so it seemed logical that straight was the right way. As we walked through a gate (clue #1) and over a very steep hill, I noticed there were no more marker numbers (clue #2). About 15 minutes later I finally admitted to Lisa that we might be lost. Just then we reached number 77. Yes, lost – 77 was not on my card anywhere. Lisa suggested that I look at the trail map – duh. I pulled out that cool trail map we found in the mailbox and, yes, oops, 77 was way off the trail we should have been on. In fact this trail was leading us out into the unchartered wilderness and was in no way related to the perimeter walk we were originally on.

We headed back over that steep hill, retracing our steps in hopes of rejoining our trail. When we reached marker 16 we had to choose left or right (because straight would presumably take us back to the beginning). I looked at the map and finally decided we should go left. Yes, left. Yes, I’m sure, left. As we walked we saw the correctly marked blazes and followed the numbers up 18, 19… 19, we had to turn at 19 if we were going to see the statue. It’s at this point I can finally admit I should be giving Lisa more information about these walks before we take them. She’s being an incredibly good sport at letting me plan the whole thing, so I should probably warn her about things like hills, and sand, and snakes, and statues.

The statue is of the founder of the preserve, Allan David Broussard, and is one of the highlights of the walk. We found it (I’m so proud of us) atop one of the tallest hills yet, and the view from up there overlooking nearby ponds and forest was beautiful. Each walk needs its own picture so the statue picture will symbolize Hike #2. Hike #1’s picture is Trevor and I at the end of the walk. I managed to get the tops of my trekking poles into the picture. Lisa managed to drop her phone in the sand/dirt for the second consecutive hike.

Lisa started tracking deer prints as we walked; they eventually led off into the forest. There was another print too – she says large cat (i.e. panther), I said perhaps dog (I’m not a tracker), but whatever animal it was followed the deer off into the forest. Interesting.

Right after seeing marker 24 we went off course again and ended up at marker 38 (I was looking for marker 23). We couldn’t find our way past the 30’s so we backtracked to 24 and walked around the other way. While we were backtracking we saw numbers that I promise weren’t there the first time (if they had been, I would have seen them and known we were walking the wrong way). Lisa wondered how we could have missed all these things. My theory was that perhaps we were no longer actually walking; we might still be laying on the trail somewhere. Maybe the snake had gotten us. Eventually we found marker 24, though, so that theory went out the window.

We wrapped our hike up after 2 hours and 20 minutes, arriving back at the car just before dark. This is a hike we’ll need to do again. First of all it’s a good way to judge our fitness, and second of all we did not do the trail we were supposed to walk – our trail was some mishmash of trails intertwining together making no clear path since several times we had to backtrack to find our way again. I’m very happy that despite our wanderings we did find the statue. I’m also glad we did such a difficult walk early in our sequence, because we should feel differently the next time we hike it (meaning, we should be in better shape, lol) and perhaps we will have improved our sense of direction (or else we’ll learn how to read a map). For now our legs were sore and our fingers were frozen but we had accomplished something (and made it out of the woods before dark) and that felt good. What felt even better was the hot bubble bath I took when I got home.

Hike #1: Circle B Bar Reserve

This is the first of my Hike Series posts.  Don't worry, if you're not a hiker, they aren't going to take over the blog, lol.  I'm just introducing a little variety, in my life and on here.

I invited Lisa and Trevor to join me yesterday on my inaugural hike of the 50 Hikes in Central Florida I hope to complete this year. The Circle B Bar Reserve off of 540 in Lakeland (going towards Winter Haven, past PCC) is a Wetlands Restoration Project off of Lake Hancock.  The guidebook promised us a 4.4 mile hike with wildlife and flora.  Not wanting to take the guidebook onto the hiking trail, I wrote the hiking directions on an index card and brought that with instead.

Finding the Circle B Bar Reserve was easy enough, it's well-marked on 540.  We arrived just before 9 am, knowing the nature center was open from 9 - 4.  We got off to a rocky start once there, though - I parked too soon.  I saw a few cars parked and that was that, I parked there.  When we got out of the car I mentioned that I was expecting a nature center, but a brisk walk down the paved road didn't turn up anything so we decided to begin our hike and drive around looking for the nature center later.  As it turns out, there is a much larger (and more populated) parking area about a mile up the road, next to the nature center.

We hopped onto the trail and started walking at a brisk pace.  Though it's been a cold winter here, there was still some foliage to see and the book was right, this is an awesome place for bird watching.  We saw a variety of herons, egrets, cranes and ducks as we walked along the trail.  We walked up Heron Hideout Trail until we found Eagle Roost Trail, then we turned left.  The trails were busier than I expected; there were a lot of photographers out and about (with some serious cameras and in some cases tripods, photographing nature and probably the birds in particular).  Sprinkled along the trail are various informational signs - for example, one on alligators informed us that if alligator eggs hatch in temperatures below 86 degrees, they are likely to be female, whereas if they hatch in temperatures above 93 degrees they are likely to be males.

We came across a large cluster of empty snail shells along the marshes that lined Eagle Roost Trail, just before we got to the intersection with Alligator Alley.  I wasn't even expecting to find shells on a freshwater lake let alone the number and size of these.  We continued past Alligator Alley and soon Eagle Roost Trail turned into Wading Bird Way.  I've named it Stinky Dead Fish Trail.  Lake Hancock is home to fish that can't handle cold weather, and as I've said we've had an unusually cold winter this year.  The result is that many of the fish in Lake Hancock have died, and the stench is becoming powerful (I'm sure it would have been even worse if we hadn't been hiking in 50 degree weather).  Now you might think that we saw the dead fish by looking into the lake and marshes that line the trails.  That's not where we saw them - the dead fish were scattered along the sides of the trail.  I'm assuming the big cranes and egrets that inhabit the area are grabbing the dead fish from the water and dropping their remains on the trail.  Many of the ones we saw were shells - just their skins/scales - and skeletons - literally, fish skeletons neatly picked of all fish meat.  It was quite a sight.

Wading Bird Way ended at a windmill and we turned right on Windmill Whisper Trail.  This led back away from the marshes (in rainy season, though, I'm pretty sure that trail would be amidst wetlands as well) and took us back to our starting point, the car.

We got into the car at 8,000 steps (per my new slim pedometer) and drove down the road to find the nature center where we should have started.  We would have walked at least part of Alligator Alley if we had started there.  This is where Trevor insisted there was an indoor playground - and he was right, there was.  Inside the nature center they had an information booth with a sign-in sheet and trail maps, an interactive children's center with coloring activities and other information, and a giant tree and hallowed out log that the kids could climb up to a perch, or tunnel under into a replica of a stormwater drain.  There were interactive videos and other visual aids in there to teach visitors about stormwater run-off, water conservation, Native American history, and about the species that live on the Reserve.  We even saw a fish skeleton that looked exactly like what we'd seen out on the hike.

After letting Trevor play in the Nature Center we went back out to the trails for one last look.  We took the Lost Bridge Trail that was not a part of the path mapped out in the book, and I would guess that's because it's an Out and Back hike rather than a loop.  We walked the trail which meanders through a deserted orange grove, found the lost bridge, walked across it (it was a very long bridge that probably keeps visitors from getting their feet wet during rainy season), let Trevor empty "rocks" from his shoes, and walked back.  By the time we were done we had 10,000 steps.  Not a bad day's work.

So, Hike #1 which is #11 in the book was a success, and a lot of fun.  The nature center is impressive and the trails are interesting and easy-to-follow.  On a  scale of 1 to 5 where 5 is hardest, I rate this hike a 2.