Pioneer Park - 03/23/17 - Zolfo Springs, FL

March 23, 2017 through April 5, 2017
Pioneer Park
Zolfo Springs, Florida

We spent a delightful few days at EG Simmons County Park, now we move on to another county park in Zolfo Springs: Pioneer Park. All campsites at this park are first-come-first-serve and we had no problem securing a suitable campsite from the many campsites available.

Pioneer Park is located in Hardee County at the northwest corner U.S. Highway 17 and S.R. 64. The park is bounded on the north by the Peace River (popular with canoe and kayak enthusiats) and to the south by S.R. 64. On the west side of the park is a manmade 8.5 acre lake and a wildlife refuge. Fishing is allowed on the lake and the river and visitors can tour the wildlife refuge center for a $2.00 fee.

The road winding through the park is a popular area for walking enthusiats. On the east side is a Pioneer Village restoration and Cracker Trail Museum.

We have camped at Pioneer Park during our past winter visits to Florida and always enjoy our camping experience here. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of buzzards that gather here each winter and roost in the trees adjacent to the Peace River. Every morning between 9:00 am and 10:00 am they depart, soaring in a circular fashion, as they catch the warming thermals under their long, extended wings. The thermals carry them ever higher into the sky and out of sight as they disperse to unknown regions throughout central Florida. Then, at around 4:00 pm they return in scattered flocks, slowly winding their way in a circular fashion to ever lower altitudes. After circling for extended periods of time, they locate a branch on their favorite tree to roost for the night. As the branches on the trees fill up, late comers attempt to dislodge some of the earlier arrivals. Eventually, all of the buzzards have returned and found a suitable roosting site. It is quite an entertaining spectacle to witness these daily events.

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

Travel Details:
Departed: Ruskins, FL
Departure Time: 10:05 am
Arrived: Zolfo Springs, FL
Arrival Time: 11:45 am

Campground: EG Simmons County Park
Type: County Park
GPS Coordinates:
Latitude: N 27.73900
Longitude: W 088.46600

Camping Fee: $107.00 per week
Campsite: A49
Campsite Hookups: Electric & Water
Campground Amenities:
Flush Toilets, Free Hot Showers, Water Spigots, Trash Dumpster, Sewer Dump

Verizon Cellular Service: 4G-3 Bars
Verizon Internet Service: 4G-3 Bars (JetPack)
Dish TV Satellite Service: Excellent Service

Miles traveled today: 57

EG Simmons CP - 03/16/17 - Ruskin, FL

March 16, 2017 through March 22, 2017
EG Simmons County Park
Ruskin, Florida

We are slowly working our way north through Florida as milder weather begins to creep northward. On this leg of our journey we will spend a few days at the EG Simmons County Park in Ruskin, Florida. Fortunately, all campsites are first-come-first-serve and we had no problem selecting one to our liking from several available.

There are two campgrounds at EG Simmons County Park: East and West. We prefer the more spacious campsites in the East Campground.

EG Simmons County Park is close to Sarasota (39 miles) to the south and Tampa (29 miles) to the north which is an easy drive to visit both places. In Sarasota we enjoy visiting the Ringling Brothers Circus. In Tampa we enjoy visiting Ybor City and dining at the many fine Cuban resturants that encompass this area.

Just a short drive north of EG Simmons County Park, 7 miles on US-41, is the Manatee Viewing Center (6990 Dickman Rd, Apollo Beach, FL). It is located just south of the Teco Big Bend Power Station. Manatees hang out along the warm water discharge canal from the power station when the Tampa Bay water gets too cold. The viewing season runs from November 1 to April 15, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.

There are “No-See-Ums” at EG Simmons County Park. They are a family of tiny biting flies that can be quite pesty at times. They are often just as much of a pest as mosquitoes. They are attracted to carbon dioxide, therefore, CO2 mosquito traps can be used to attract and kill them. We have found Avon Skin-So-Soft to be an effective deterrent to these tiny pests. Fortunately, on this visit we did not encounter a problem with them.

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

Travel Details:
Departed: Cedar Key, FL
Departure Time: 9:50 am
Arrived: Ruskins, FL
Arrival Time: 3:45 pm

Campground: EG Simmons County Park
Type: County Park
GPS Coordinates:
Latitude: N 27.73900
Longitude: W 088.46600

Camping Fees: $18.00 with Senior Discount
Campsite: 103 – East Campground
Campsite Hookups: Electric & Water
Campground Amenities:
Flush Toilets, Free Hot Showers, Water Spigots, Trash Dumpster, Sewer Dump

Verizon Cellular Service: 4G-3 Bars
Verizon Internet Service: 4G-3 Bars (Jetpack)
Dish TV Satellite Service: Excellent Service

Miles traveled today: 252

 

Shell Mound CP - 03/10/17 - Cedar Key, FL

March 10, 2017 through March 15, 2017
Shell Mound County Campground
Cedar Key, Florida

This is our fourth visit to Cedar Key. We specifically come here for the “World Famous Clam Chowder” served up at Tony’s Seafood Restaurant.

Shell Mound County Campground will serve as our home base while we enjoy our return visit to Cedar Key.

Cedar Key is a small town in Levy County, Florida. The population was 702 at the 2010 census. The Cedar Keys are a cluster of islands near the mainland. The Cedar Keys are named for the eastern red cedar, once abundant in the area. The old-fashioned fishing village is now a thriving tourist center with several regionally famous seafood restaurants. The village holds two festivals a year, the Spring Sidewalk Art Festival and the Fall Seafood Festival, that each attract thousands of visitors to the area.
 

In 1950, Hurricane Easy, a category-3 storm with 125-mile-per-hour winds, looped around Cedar Key three times before finally making landfall, dumping 38 inches of rain and destroying two-thirds of the homes.

Hurricane Elena followed a similar path in 1985, but did not make landfall. Packing 115-mile-per-hour winds, the storm churned for two days in the Gulf, 50 miles to the west, battering the waterfront. All the businesses and restaurants on Dock Street were either damaged or destroyed, and a section of the seawall collapsed.

After a statewide ban on large-scale net fishing went into effect July 1, 1995, a government retraining program helped many local fishermen begin farming clams in the muddy waters. Today, Cedar Key's clam-based aquaculture is a multimillion-dollar industry.

On October 3, 1989, 8,000 acres in and around Cedar Key were added to the National Register of Historic Places under the title of the Cedar Keys Historic and Archaeological District.

A cautionary note about GPS coordinates for Shell Mound County Campground. On our approach to Cedar Key, westbound on FL-24, our Garmin Nuvi directed us north on Shiloh Road and then west on what the GPS showed as SW 78^th Place, a single-lane, dirt road. We knew the road to Shell Mound is a two-lane, paved road so we continued north on Shiloh Road to find a place to turn around. Shiloh Road is a dead-end road, but fortunately provides a large turn-a-round area at the end that allowed us to get turned around. Once we got west of Shiloh Road on FL-24, our GPS guided us directly to Shell Mound.

The correct route to Shell Mound is to follow FL-24 west to CR-347. Travel north on CR-347 to CR-C326 (SW 78^th Place). Travel west on CR-C326 to the Shell Mound entrance on your right.

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

Travel Details:
Departed: Silver Spring, Florida
Departure Time: 12:00 P.M.
Arrived: Cedar Key, Florida
Arrival Time: 2:45 P.M.

 

Campground: Shell Mound
Type: County Park
GPS Coordinates (actual coordinates at our campsite):
Latitude: N 29.20935
Longitude: W 083.06211

Camping Fees:
Water & Electric: $15.00
Electric Only: $10.00
Primitive Tent: $5.00
Military Discount: 50%
Senior Discount: None
A 7% Sales Tax and 2% Bed Tax are added on to all fees.

Campsites:
Water & Electric: 1 through 12, 20, 21, 23 through 28
Electric Only: 13 through 18
Primitive Tent: 9,19 & 22

Total Campsites: 28
Campground Amenities: Flush Toilets, Free Hot Showers, Water Spigots, Trash Dumpster, Sewer Dump – (RV’s must back up a gravel incline to access dump).

Verizon Cellular Service: 3G-3 Bars
Verizon Internet Service: 4G-22 Bars (Jetpack)
Dish TV Satellite Service: Excellent Service

Miles traveled today: 103
Route Traveled:
West on FL-40
West on CR-326
North on US-27
North on US-ALT 27
West on FL-24
North on County Road 347
West on CR-C326 to Shell Mound Campground

Juniper Springs - 03/02/17 - Silver Spring, FL

March 2, 2017 through March 9, 2017
Juniper Springs Recreation Area
Ocala National Forest
Silver Spring, Florida

On our previous visits to campgrounds within the Ocala National Forest, located east of Ocala, Florida, we camped at Alexander Springs, Clearwater Lake and Salt Springs. On this visit to Florida we camp at Juniper Springs.

This landmark natural spring features a swimming hole, campground, picnic facilities and a mill house. It was opened to the public in 1936. We will spend eight days exploring this beautiful, subtropical area.

Florida has more natural springs than any other region in the world. There are over 600 springs in the state – some merely a trickle and others among the largest in the world. The springs maintain a constant year-round temperature of 72 degrees F.

Juniper and Fern Hammock Springs reside within the Juniper Springs Recreation Area and flow into Juniper Creek. Combined daily water flow from these two springs is about 13 million gallons. That’s enough water to fill 750 swimming pools every day!

Canoeing and kayaking a seven-mile run down the Juniper Creek is very popular year-round. Juniper Springs offers canoe and kayak rentals with pull-out service. Pull-out service is also available for visitors who bring their own canoes and kayaks. The water from the springs forms the Juniper Springs Run, one of the top 25-canoe runs in America.

Just 37 days after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s inauguration, the first recruits joined the Civilian Conversation Corps (CCC). Between 1935 and 1936, CCC engineers designed and built the most interesting feature of Juniper Springs Recreation Area: the Juniper Millhouse. This structure was built at the foot of the main pool of Juniper Springs. Water flowing from the springs was channeled into a narrow sluice and then allowed to pour back out to its natural configuration. The rushing water that poured through the sluice turned an undershot waterwheel (so named because the water ran under instead of over the wheel). That wheel, in turn powered a generator in the millhouse that produced more than enough electricity to meet the needs of the recreation area during the early part of the 20^th Century.

The Juniper Springs Millhouse no longer generates electricity, but the structure has been beautifully preserved. The stone wall at the waterwheel end is a beautiful piece of CCC masonry work.

During our eight-day stay at Juniper Springs Recreation Area, we were amazed and delighted there were no pesky mosquitoes present, day or night. What a relief, the mosquitoes in southern Florida were horrible!

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

Travel Details:
Departed: Wauchala, Florida
Departure Time: 9:30 A.M.
Arrived: Juniper Springs Recreation Area
Arrival Time: 1:30 P.M.

Campground: Juniper Springs
Type: National Park
GPS Coordinates:
Latitude: N 29.17974
Longitude: W 81.71287
Camping Fee: $23.10 (50% discount with Senior Pass)
Campsite: 34 (March 2 through 4 – First Come, First Serve Campsite)
Campsite: 41 (March 5 through 9 – Reserve Campsite)
Campsite Hookups: None
Campground Amenities: Flush Toilets, Free Hot Showers, Water Spigots, Trash Dumpsters, Sewer Dump
Total Campsites: 79

Cellular Service: Verizon – 4G-2 Bars
Internet Service: Verizon Jetpack – 4G-3 Bars
Dish TV Satellite Service: Excellent service only in campsite 41. All other campsites have obstructed view of southern sky.

Total miles traveled today: 164
Route Traveled:
North on US-17
East on I-4
North on US-27
North on FL-19
West on FL-40 to Juniper Springs Recreation Area