The travel adventures of Pat and Penny
Wright Lake NFS Campground, Sumatra, Fl.
The bees love the fresh Azalea blossoms!
The artist is stirring!
We were given an armful of firewood, so after a dinner of mahi and beet salad, we had a perfect night for a warm, bright campfire:
Wright Lake NFS Campground, Sumatra, Fl.
Today was a good day to hike! We started with a late morning .25 mile jaunt around the lake (it’s a big pond). At lunch, we decided to do the 5 mile hike through the forest. Here are some of the interesting points:
Wright Lake NFS Campground, Sumatra, Fl., 55 mile jump
After a very inauspicious departure from Ochlockonee SP, we were glad to arrive at Wright Lake NFS Campground without rain. Last night, we did as much packing as possible, including backing the truck up to the trailer hitch. All that was left was the four stabilizer jacks, retracting the awning, and raising the trailer up a few inches to back the hitch ball under the hitch.
We had until 1 pm to check out, the overnight rains had abated, the forecast had no more rain. So, we got our breakfast and tea; Penny headed for the shower. As I was retracting the awning, a cloudburst nearly drowned me! The downpour left as quickly as it arrived; I was soaked to the bone. Penny arrived back from the shower house looking as if she showered in her clothes! She put on dry clothes and I went to the shower.
I put on dry clothes and we were ready to travel. All we had to do was hookup. As I did so, another squall let loose. We had put on rain coats, but our shorts, socks and shoes were drenched. So, after dumping our waste tanks sans rain, we changed clothes once again.
This park like campground has huge sites with water hookups, but like most national parks, no electric hookup. And there was no cell phone service! It’s been awhile since we primitive camped. We’ll make the best of it!
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Ochlockonee River SP, Sopchoppy, Fl.
These bird pictures were all captured within 30′ of our campsite!
Some scenes of the Longleaf pines in the pine flatwoods. These fast growing trees have all their branches high above the forest floor allowing fire underneath to inhibit choking shrubs. In early pre-European times, Florida and other southern states were predominately pine flatwoods, a wonderful habitat.
Ochlockonee River SP, Sopchoppy, Fl.
Penny and I rented a canoe for a 7 mile, 4 hour loop around the Ochlockonee and Sopchoppy rivers. The tide and the wind were sometimes helping and other times not. It seemed like more not. But we had fun enjoying the isolation and stark wilderness. We encountered only one other boat all day!
Ochlockonee River SP, Sopchoppy, Fl.
Yesterday we visited the Gulf Specimen Marine Labs (GSML), an aquarium of sorts with an emphasis on education about marine biology. Not only do they have tanks of sea creatures that can be picked up or touched, but other tanks of hostile creatures such as moray eels that are definitely look only. Bus loads of children arrive daily during certain times of the year. Last time, we were among the excited throngs of kids. This year we were there virtually alone where we could speak with the staff about the concerns of overfishing vis-a-vis the plight of the fishermen. They were certainly concerned about both, but the reality is too many fish restaurants and dwindling fish populations. Not to mention increasing pollution levels in the waters,
GSML also provide marine specimens to universities and research centers across the south to help forestall the extinction of a great number of species besides turtles. They are located in Panacea, Fl. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to find a panacea for the survival of all these wonderful animals?
Ochlockonee River SP, Sopchoppy, Fl., 40 mile jump
Two years ago, I stalked this unique doe for days after our initial sighting (during which I wasn’t ready to photograph). On the last day of our stay here, I got one picture of her that was just okay. So this year, I hoped for better results and my prayers were answered on the first full day! She is not an albino, but a mutant.
There are also white squirrels here. Must be something in the water!
Bees too! Two bumble bees were attracted by my red shirt (and awesome good looks), but I got them before they could get me!
Wakulla County Park, Newport, Fl.
The rain finally stopped yesterday, but it was too wet to do much outdoors. Today, we opted for a drive to the lighthouse though it was a bit gray and blustery. We weren’t disappointed!
Watch a short gator video by clicking below:
This photo from the Visitor Center shows the triangular pond we hiked around today: 
The Gulf is beyond the dike over which we walked. After all that walking, we drove to the town of St. Marks to enjoy crackers and blue crab dip, a beer and a view of the water.
Wakulla County Park, Newport, Fl., 269 mile jump
That was an unusually long jump for us. We drove through some cloudbursts as turned west into the panhandle, so we prayed that we could setup camp without rain gear. Thankfully, our prayers were answered; by the time we were finishing up it started to sprinkle. Then, it poured down rain all night!
It’s a tiny little park on Hwy. 98, which is its only drawback. On the other side of the highway is Lighthouse Road that goes south 10 miles to the historic St. Mark’s Lighthouse on the Gulf of Mexico. Seven of those miles are National Wildlife Refuge covered in ponds, swamp and estuary. We visited two years ago to our delight!
Hillsborough River SP, Thonotosassa, Fl.
Today was really amazing! A canoe rental was well worth the $27 for two hours. There was plenty of wildlife and beautiful scenery to admire. First, the wildlife:
And, the scenery:
