A walk around Sweetwater Wetlands Park

 

Location: Gainesville, Fl

Date: 5/25/2015

 

It was the last day of the long holiday weekend and we wanted to do something outdoors, but nothing too strenuous. The city of Gainesville just recently opened a new park called Sweetwater Wetlands park just north of Paynes Prairie State park. This new park was created as a way to create a buffer for the water flowing down Sweetwater creek and cleanse it before it enter the prairie.  An article describing the restoration project can be found at this link. We decided to visit this new park and see what it had to offer.

Some of the boardwalks built along the wetlands

 

Some of the flowering plants

 

The water lilies in full bloom

 

 

 

 

Kayaking Potano Paddling Trail – Part 2

 

Location: Gainesville, Fl

GPS Coordinates: 29.576275, -82.249627

Date: 8/4/2013

Last Sunday Julie and I did some kayaking on the Florida designated Potano Paddling Trail starting at the northern section at Newnan’s lake in east Gainesville. You can check out that trip here.  Our progress on the Prairie Creek section was stopped at about the mile and a quarter mark by a downed tree that was blocking our way.

So a week later, we decided to start at the southern section from the bridge crossing Camps Canal at County Road 234. We were hoping that we could get all the way up to the section where we had to turn around last weekend.

Here’s the picture of County Road 234, which is a very scenic section of south eastern Alachua County. This is where we put in to paddle Camps Creek (Potano Paddle Trail). There’s parking next to the bridge on both sides of the road.

Camps Canal, which includes a section of the Potano Paddle Trail, is a canal built back in the 1940’s by the Camps family which owned a large section of land in this area. Their intent was to drain most of the wetlands in the area, including what is now Paynes Prairie State Preserve. This was a very controversial project back in those days and to some extent continues on today. This canal channels water down to Orange Lake south of Micanopy, which is a lake that has struggled with maintaining water levels over the years. So, they want and will take all the water they can get.  Paynes Prairie at one time was a lake, but has since dried up and is now a vast prairie. The managers of the prairie want the water to be diverted there to maintain the wetlands that have existed there prior to the canal being built. So, the two sides struggle over control of the water that we were kayaking on today.

Here are the locks that were built back in the 1970’s, cutting through the berms that were built from the earth dug from the canal. With all the rains we’ve been having this summer, there was a good bit of water rushing through and onto the prairie.  

Julie and I paddled upstream, with the first mile being in the canal. Since its' been around for so long, it was tree lined with many pine and cypress trees growing on the banks. So, it was a nice paddle, even though it was evident that it was a manmade water way.

Like I mentioned above, our hope was to get all the way to the downed tree that stopped us the week before, but that was not to be. At around the mile 1.3 mile mark we ended up in a cypress swamp which made for some tough paddling. We tried to follow where we thought the water was flowing from but we eventually came to a dead end. Plus the mosquitoes were starting to get a little out of control. So we decided to turned around. We were thwarted once again in our attempt to fully paddle this section of the Potano Kayaking trail.   When I Goggle Earth’d this area later, it looked like we should have gone more north-east through the swamp. but instead we went a little north-west. Unfortunately there were no trail markers that we could see. Maybe we’ll try it again and be more successful next time.

A little hard to see, but Julie’s back there working her way around all the cypress knees in the swamp. We had turned around just upstream of here. 

The area north of the Paynes Prairie water diversion locks was very natural and was an interesting area to paddle. We were in a very wooded section which was far away from any developed areas. We never saw anyone else on the water. Maybe that says something about the areas we tend to paddle!

Heading back down stream we passed the bridge where we put in and continued on for another three-quarters of a mile. This section of the Camp Canal was actually much nicer and more natural than the previous section to the north.  We eventually came upon a downed tree that was blocking our way. It probably would have been fairly easy to get by, but we had paddled enough for one day, so we turned around and headed back to where we put in.

Here is the GPS track of our trip today. It was about a 4.6 miles in length which is not to bad for the summer time in Florida.

 

Potano Paddling Trail - Part2 at EveryTrail

 

Here’s a short video from today’s trip. Not very exciting, but gives an idea of where we traveled today. The first short clip is of the area north of Co Rd. 234. The second short clip is of the area south of the highway.

Kayaking Potano Paddling Trail

 

Location: Gainesville, Fl

GPS Coordinates: 29.618037, -82.253027

Date: 8/4/2013

 

Well, it’s been 8 weeks since there’s been any activity on this blog. Yep, it must be summertime in Florida. It’s usually too hot and humid to do any hiking, biking, kayaking or camping. Julie and I did decide to get an early Sunday morning start and try to get out on the water and do some paddling. Back in July 2010, we had tried the Potano Kayak trail. This trail circles Newnan’s Lake in east Gainesville and then follows the Prarie creek that flows out of the south part of of the lake.

We bypassed the circling of Newnan’s Lake as that would be way to much paddling on a warm summer morning and instead headed straight south to Prairie Creek. We came across a few small gators as we made our way from the boat ramp.  Entering the creek we noticed that the current was much stronger than the last time we did this paddle. The Gainesville area has seen a lot of rain in the past few months and as a result the lake level is way up and the current much stronger. But we did decide that we could make our way back against the current. So, we decided to keep going and see how far we could get. Back in 2010 we had to turn around at about the 1.25 mile mark because of a downed tree across the creek with no way around.

We passed Kate’s Fish Camp (seen below), but it looked fairly quiet on this Sunday morning .

We then passed under the Highway 20 bridge and came to the location when the Gainesville-Hawthorne biking trail crosses the creek. The last time we did this trip we were able to pass under the bike trail bridge, but not this time as the water was way too high. So, we had to portage about 100 yards to the far side of the bridge. Here we were able to put back in and continue on.

With the water level being so high, the water was out of the river channel and flooded the wooded areas that surrounded prairie creek. At times this was helpful as it allowed us to get by trees that were down on our path. Unfortunately, we came upon the same tree that stopped us three years ago. There was no easy way around and the current was pretty strong, so we decided to turn around. Foiled again…darn!

Julie and I do want to try and kayak more of this river. So our new plan is to start at very south end of the kayak trail and see how far back up river we can make it. Maybe we’ll do that something this fall as the weather cools.

 

Julie heading down Prairie Creek

This is the tree that finally did us in. No easy way around that we could find.

 

Some water lotus flowers on Newnan’s Lake

A water lotus seed pod.

Heading back to the boat ramp ending our day on the water.

 

And as always, here’s the GPS track of our paddle.

Potano Paddling Trail at EveryTrail

 

 

Here’s a short video from today’s time on the water.

 

Barr Hammock Preserve Hike – Take Two

Location: Gainesville, Fl
GPS Coordinates: 29.655667, -82.276076
Date: 3/3/2013
 
It was Sunday afternoon and Julie and I were sitting around the house like a few lazy slugs. Our college aged daughter had just departed after she just made a short pit stop home to do laundry and pick up some items needed for her Spring Break cruise. Why is it that these kids have more exciting lives than their parents?!
The temperature was in the mid 40’s and being two Florida wimps, we were hesitant to do anything outdoors. It was cold, windy and cloudy. However, the Weather Channel assured us that the skies would clear, so we figured we should get off our derriere and do something.
Julie wanted to do a hike that had the chance of being in the sun and giving us the chance to stay warm. So we decided to do the Barr Hammock Hike again. This is the same hike that we had done a few weeks ago, but to mix things up a little we decided to do the loop walking clockwise as opposed to counter clockwise as we had done it previously.  I know, we are wild and crazy. 
The first few miles of the hike was cold, with a brisk (cold) north wind. But as time went on the clouds moved on and it became sunny. Nearing the end of the 6+ miles I actually got warm enough to take off my sweatshirt. I think it had warmed up into the low 50’s.
Being cold, we didn’t see much wildlife today, but there were a few birds here and there. It was good to get outside, but we’re ready for a little warmer weather to make its’ way into the area.
 
The dike on the south end of the prairie. There is  water/wetlands on both sides of the trail. 

When walking this trail, just follow the rules. “Deep mud like pudding”!!??

And interesting weed with purple flowers.

A couple Sandhill Cranes. They didn’t cooperate and had their butts towards the camera. Most of the Sandhill Cranes in the area had already started their migration north. Don’t know if these two are late in leaving or are some that spend the entire year in Florida.

Here are a few pictures of a few warblers we saw along the way. There’s many of these birds darting among the brush that line the trail.

Here is the GPS track of the hike we did today.
Barr Hammock Preserve - Levy Loop Trail #2 at EveryTrail
 
I borrowed (stole!) this picture from Karen’s Blog at “Rving: The USA Is Our Big Backyard”. Julie and I bought a Heartland Edge trailer a few years ago and that is what we use when camping. We’ve never seen another one in a campground during our travels  So, when reading blogs this morning I was surprised to see this picture of an Edge. I guess when the wheels or axles wear out, we can just plop it on a flatbed truck and continue on.

Our Future?                                                                      Our current look, but I guess wheels are optional!
 
 

A few easy Sunday morning hikes

Location: Gainesville, Fl
GPS Coordinates: 29.655667, -82.276076
Date: 2/24/20136076
It was Sunday morning and we wanted to find a local hike that was new to us or had been awhile since we had done. We decided to try the Morningside Nature Center which is a city park run by the city of Gainesville. Morningside also has a “living history farm” that depicts farming life from the mid to late 1800’s. We used to go here often when our kids were younger as they enjoyed checking out the animals and the old farm house. Unfortunately, the farm is only open on Saturday during the weekend, so we were not able to walk around the farm. This park does have several miles of hiking trails through pine woods, and cypress swamps with several sections being newly rebuilt boardwalks that traverse through the wetlands.

Here is a birding blind. Unfortunately we didn’t see any birds as we passed by this location. Morningside park is part of the Great Florida Birding Trail.

One of the boardwalks on the hiking trail

This small guys was very busy trying to make a new home in the dead tree. He didn’t seem to mind us walking by.

A pileated woodpecker was flying from tree to tree

One of the grass huts behind the educational building at the park,

This guy was living behind the educational building. I think he was looking for a food handout as we walked by.

Here is the track of the trails we walked at this park
Morningside Nature Center Hike at EveryTrail








Since the hike at Morningside was fairly short, we decided to also drive up the road a few miles to the Gum Root Swamp hiking trail. This is also a park run by the city of Gainesville. We did a short one mile loop, but missed the section that runs another mile or so further north. The trail was not marked very good at the north section, so we didn’t realize that there was more to hike until we got back to our car. Gum root swamp park is part of a larger section of land that has been set aside as the Newnan’s Lake Conversation Area. Newnan’s lake is a body of water east of the area we hiked and it good size lake, but very shallow.

There was a small river running from the swampland that makes up a part of this park.

Near one of the ponds that the trails runs by, Julie found this snake hanging out in the leaves and pine needles. I don’t know my snakes, so don’t know what kind of snakes this is.

A small wooded pond within the park.


Here is the track of this short hike we did,
Gum root swamp hike at EveryTrail

Barr Hammock Preserve

Location: Gainesville, Fl
GPS Coordinates: 29.516146, –82.307258
Date: 02/10/13
 
Today we decided to walk the Levy Loop trail at the Barr Hammock Preserve. This is an area that just opened to the public for hiking after being acquired by the Alachua County Forever land conservation program. Currently the hiking trails follow a series of dikes that were built years ago to help drain the land for agricultural use. The conservation program is working on returning this land to its’ natural state and to re-establish the flow of water into the prairie. More trails are planned for the future, but the trail now open is a 6.5 mile loop around the Levy Prairie.
Here is a link to the flyer that describes the hike.












Here is the GPS track of the hike:
Barr Hammock Preserve - Levy Loop Trail at EveryTrail