Upper Hillsborough Tract - Zephyrhills
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Story
I'd been down in Florida for a few days visiting my father so I thought I could squeeze in a geohike before I headed back north. I hadn't had an opportunity to plan this so I pulled into a Barnes & Noble before it opened and acquired a wifi signal and sat in may car and imported some GPX's into my GPSr. I found a large park about 20 miles north of Tampa and off I went.
The entrance into the park was a long dusty dirt road that was lined with canals. The sky was darkening and I could literally hear the mosquitoes buzzing outside as they talked amongst themselves about the feast they were about to enjoy.
When I arrived at the kiosk I learned that the park was about 10 miles x 20 miles and that it contained lots of wildlife, including gators, feral pigs, black bear, water moccasins and other assorted flora and fauna. Needless to say I decided that I wouldn't bushwhack too deeply off trail. It wasn't particularly clear where the trails were but off I went towards the proverbial arrow.
The temps were hovering about 75 when I got started and off I went. I was poorly prepared with no water or food as I expected to only be out about an hour. I was wearing long sleeved shirts and long pant however.
The caches down here tend to be small. I haven't seen an ammo can yet. I began walking and skipped every other cache as I thought it would make my return trip more enjoyable. Eventually I decided to just keep on walking and kept bearing right at every trail intersection in hopes that it would provide me a loop.
I ended up walking about 6 miles. I didn't have my GPS on the entire time. On one occasion I was involved in a minor bushwhack amongst some thick low growing tropical shrubs of some sort. I heard a rumbling noise abotu 20 feet away and it scared me so much I screamed. It turned out to be a very large bird of prey that was eating something deep in the bushes. I didn't know I could run so fast. A bit later I was searching for a cache in a tree. I lifted a piece of bark and surprised some kind of lizard. I don't know who was more scared, him or me.
The last mile or so was tough as I was tired and thirsty. All in all I enjoyed my first Florida hike in the bush. Not as much fun as hiking in New England, though.
The entrance into the park was a long dusty dirt road that was lined with canals. The sky was darkening and I could literally hear the mosquitoes buzzing outside as they talked amongst themselves about the feast they were about to enjoy.
When I arrived at the kiosk I learned that the park was about 10 miles x 20 miles and that it contained lots of wildlife, including gators, feral pigs, black bear, water moccasins and other assorted flora and fauna. Needless to say I decided that I wouldn't bushwhack too deeply off trail. It wasn't particularly clear where the trails were but off I went towards the proverbial arrow.
The temps were hovering about 75 when I got started and off I went. I was poorly prepared with no water or food as I expected to only be out about an hour. I was wearing long sleeved shirts and long pant however.
The caches down here tend to be small. I haven't seen an ammo can yet. I began walking and skipped every other cache as I thought it would make my return trip more enjoyable. Eventually I decided to just keep on walking and kept bearing right at every trail intersection in hopes that it would provide me a loop.
I ended up walking about 6 miles. I didn't have my GPS on the entire time. On one occasion I was involved in a minor bushwhack amongst some thick low growing tropical shrubs of some sort. I heard a rumbling noise abotu 20 feet away and it scared me so much I screamed. It turned out to be a very large bird of prey that was eating something deep in the bushes. I didn't know I could run so fast. A bit later I was searching for a cache in a tree. I lifted a piece of bark and surprised some kind of lizard. I don't know who was more scared, him or me.
The last mile or so was tough as I was tired and thirsty. All in all I enjoyed my first Florida hike in the bush. Not as much fun as hiking in New England, though.