Candid Florida

Observation Tower at Wall Springs Park

Along the Pinellas Trail in Palm Harbor, Wall Springs Park is a perfect escape for folks who like their wilderness tamed and safe. The namesake springs – which do bubble up fresh water within a few hundred feet of a mangrove-lined bayou – were a popular natural swimming hole and spa for more than a century, but like many such places in Florida, fell out of popularity and into disrepair. Pinellas County brought the property back to life with a host of urban amentities, including a paved trail system more than a mile long, a boardwalk for birdwatching along the spring and its outflow basin, several fishing piers on the Gulf of Mexico, a massive playground with a sun canopy, and the one surprising addition that blew me away – the largest open-air observation tower I’ve encountered yet in Florida.  It’s built like a giant Lincoln Log structure of telephone poles, and the multiple decks are big enough to hold an entire classroom of kids. From the top, you get a sweeping view of the Gulf, including distant Anclote Key and Honeymoon Island.  Stop in for your own personal panorama!

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!

A “Great Florida Birding Trail” sign along SR 20 gave me pause to slow down and turn around for tiny Laird Park on the city limits of Freeport. I’d hoped the boardwalk led to a more extensive hike, but this is a small place, perfect for a picnic and a stroll along a creek for birdwatching. Ducks gathered near the outflow beneath the highway. This is a relatively new park, with restrooms, just west of the Freeport library on the south side of the highway.