Candid Florida

Picnic pad at A.L. Anderson Park

Along US 19 in Tarpon Springs, A.L. Anderson is one of those parks that thousands of people whiz by every day and probably never stop to see what it’s all about. I was going to a meeting a couple of miles away and thought hey, why not stop! I’m glad I did. The park hugs the western shore of Lake Tarpon, offering plenty of picnic pavilions for big groups. On a weekday, it was rather quiet, save for the boaters putting in and taking out at the slip. I was delighted to find a marked nature trail that starts at the first pavilion on the left and leads you through a cypress swamp festooned with non-native but cheery philodendron along a boardwalk to the shores of a cove on the lake. I scared up two osprey pretty quick, and saw a young alligator cruising the shallows. The walk continues near the lakeshore, with side trails to private picnic pads amid the cypress, reminiscent of the ones I encountered at John Chesnut Park years ago on the far shore. Grab one for solitude and enjoy your lunch!

River view in James E. Grey Preserve

Thanks to Barbara Bowen on Florida Hikes! I learned about a relatively new park near downtown New Port Richey, called the James E. Grey Preserve. En route to a business meeting last week, I couldn’t resist the tempatation to go walk the trails.  What a surprise! An extensive boardwalk follows the sinuous path of the Pithlachascotee River, creating the well-shaded Palmetto Loop, which has beautiful overlooks along the river and an oxbow lake on the opposite side. A secondary loop provides a walk through an upland scrub habitat, where roserush and tarflower were blooming in abundance. It was a delightful find with slightly under 2 miles of hiking, and certainly worthy of possible inclusion in the new 50 Hikes in Central Florida. Watch Florida Hikes! for the results!

Cooters at Cooter Park, Inverness

Have you driven US 41 through Inverness anytime lately? If not, you’re in for a treat. Seems several years ago the city took on a serious cleanup and park creation project right along the downtown pondfront at the municipal complex, and the end result is Cooter Pond Park, notable for its big stack of faux cooter turtles at the corner with US 41. The boardwalk complex, which zigzags over the sizable pond, is an ideal place for birding.

I’ve been there several times since it opened, and it never fails that I encounter some large bird – a red-shouldered hawk this last visit – on the boardwalk railing by the gazebo. Look down into the pond, and you’ll see the namesakes of this waterway, docile and placid, and you might scare up a few gators, too. The boardwalk is a good half-mile-plus round-trip from the city lot, and offers little games and puzzles for the littlest ones.

In the heart of Gator Country, a deep sinkhole swallows the waters of Paynes Prairie at its northeastern rim in Gainesville: La Chua Sink. On a prior, drier visit, I could see Sweetwater Branch cascading down into the throat of the sink, but the bowl’s pretty full right now, and water is gushing down into it at an incredible rate.

A new boardwalk guides visitors around the sink to a lookout point over the broadest part, where the alligators have their say. You’d think you were at a gator farm with all the creatures you see thrashing about in the shallows and sunning on the banks, but this is the biggest gator hole in Paynes Prairie, and they flock here from all over. What was truly freaky, however, was the high-speed run that Sweetwater Branch makes down from an old weir and culvert into the sink. Complete with its own rapids to rival the Little Shoals of the Suwannee, it also offers the scariest water hazard you’d ever encounter — massive gators around every bend. What do you call whitewater with alligators?

In all the years I’ve been visiting or crossing Paynes Prairie, I’ve seen an abundance of wildlife. Bald eagles in pairs. Sandhill cranes by the hundreds. Huge flocks of white pelicans. The ubiquitous alligators. Wild turkeys and deer dashing across the park road. Skinks a foot long. But in all my attempts to come up with a look at the famed Cracker horses and bison, I’ve only come up with road apples on the trails. Until now.

A visit to the observation tower the other morning led to a truly open vista, with the waters once again peeled away to reveal the grasslands beneath. And there, in the distance, grazing on the prairie, not just one horse, but a family with foal. What a thrill!

Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park is a significant natural landmark along US 441 between Micanopy and Gainesville. Don’t miss it!

Ponce de Leon, it seems, was a short fellow. Or so the folks who crafted the statues (or are they statuettes?) of him at Ponce de Leon Park would have us think.

Now we know people centuries ago were short. Just take a look at antique beds and pioneer cottages. I’d be hitting my head on the lintel every time I ducked through the door! I had that trouble in Nepal, in fact, in every cab, bus, and shop. And I’m only 5’5″. Still. Ponce de Leon Park is Punta Gorda’s secret beach. It’s where everyone goes to see the sunset, to walk the short boardwalk through the mangroves, and to do a little fishing. It’s the home of the Peace River Wildlife Center – where they rehab injured birds and mammals – and a frequent field trip destination for CHEC, for wading out into the harbor to scoop up tiny critters.

But then there are the Ponces. They’re everywhere you look! I counted three, maybe four. All adorably sized, for a would-be conqueror. In 1513, the famed conquistador landed on these shores looking, as one did in those days, for gold. While he didn’t take any home, when he returned in 1521 to establish a colony on this coast, he suffered a wound at the hands of the Calusa, who understandably didn’t like the Spanish Armada snooping around their cities in the mangrove islands. Ponce died far from home in Havana, Cuba, in 1522, from complications related to that injury. And we have these pint-sized Ponces to remind us of his footsteps here.