Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park - Gainesville

Sunday (11/8) was a beautiful day for hiking, and we spent the day at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park near Gainesville. We recently learned of the preserve, and were looking forward to seeing a wide variety of wildlife during the hike. We started the day at the Visitor's Center. The center itself is a very interesting design, and is staffed and well done. A short walk from the center is a 50-foot high observation tower. Although we did not see much this particular morning, it provided a great view. We were told that at times the bison and / or horses will come close enough to get a good look.

There are numerous trails throughout the park, several of which allow pets, bicycles, and / or horses. We randomly chose the Jackson's Gap trail to walk first. This was a nice hike through shady hammock and pine flatwoods. It was a short hike of only about 2.5 - 3 miles round trip from the visitor's center parking area. We then drove to the Lake Wauberg area, had our picnic lunch, and took the short walk to the boardwalk over Sawgrass Pond. Here we spent an incredible hour or so amazed at the amount of wildlife in such a relatively small spot. We observed 3 grown alligators, a group of about 10 alligator hatchlings, several snakes, turtles, multiple water birds, and more. You also have a nice view here of the University of Florida facilities across Lake Wauberg, and this day there was several sailboats and canoes on the lake. The park has a boat ramp for non-motorized boats only. Most of the pictured below were taken from the boardwalk. This area alone was worth the trip.

We has also heard from other park visitors that we should visit the La Chua Trail, which required leaving the park and driving about 11 miles in toward Gainesville (the visitor's center provides excellent printed directions). This 3 mile round-trip trail takes you past the Alachua Sink and to the center of the prairie marsh. There were more gators than you could easily count, many of which were as large as we have seen anywhere. At the end of the trail, there is an observation platform at the end of the trail providing a nice panoramic view of the basin. Here we saw many birds, as well as a long distance glimpse of some of the wild horses. There were also this day many beautiful wild flowers in bloom across the prairie.

All in all, another great day at one of Florida's many excellent state parks. Admission is now $6 per vehicle, but there was no charge to park at the La Chua Trail area. Also, we found nearby the trail head for a 16 mile paved bike trail, the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail, that we look forward to trying very soon. More information available at http://www.floridastateparks.org/ and http://www.prairiefriends.org/.

Alligator hatchlings

Osprey taking off with a snack.

Anhinga

Gator hatchling swims under the watchful eye of a parent

Look closely - this snake obviously ate recently

Gives me the shivers, but pretty colors.

Double crested cormorant

Walking Tour of Sanford

We have had a Sanford mailing address for the past 3 years, and keep our boat at the Monroe Harbour Marina in downtown Sanford, yet we have never truly explored Sanford until we took a recent walking tour sponsored by the Florida Trail Association. This was another tour hosted by Steve Rajtar.

This walk lasted about 3 hours and covered over 6 miles of historical buildings and sites. It really provided a sense of Sanford's history, and we were amazed at the number of restored beautiful homes in the area. There are also several parks in the downtown area, and many churches which also have a wide range of architectural styles. The downtown area has many older buildings as well, and there is a nice variety of restaurants and shops in the historic shopping district.

Downtown Sanford is located on Lake Monroe, which is part of the St. John's river. The waterfront area is nicely done and well maintained - it's a nice place to walk along the water or just sit in one of the swings and just relax. Other points of interest along the tour are a former ornate hotel now being used by a missionary organization, the national guard armory, the Elks Club building, and many other sites. It was great to learn some of the history and to see many of these buildings, etc. that we otherwise would not have known were there.

One of the many nicely restored and well maintained older homes in Sanford.

One of the many interesting church buildings along the tour.


Another of the older churches.


Building housing the Sanford Museum on the shores of Lake Monroe. Interesting to note that the tops of the columns (green part) are formed in the shape of celery stalks, one of the primary crops for the area in years past.

One of several parks in downtown Sanford.

Historical Tours with Steve Rajtar and the Florida Trail Assn.

In July Mary had seen a mention somewhere of a guided canoe tour of the Winter Park chain of lakes with a historical emphasis. We decided to check it out, and were thoroughly pleased that we did. In fact, during the past 2 weeks we have been on walking tours of the Greenwood Cemetary (night tour), the Lake Eola area in downtown Orlando, and a canoe tour of Lake Ivanhoe.

The tours are sanctioned by the Florida Trail Association, and are conducted by local attorney Steve Rajtar. Steve had done extensive research on many areas and towns in Central Florida, and he (often with his wife) has published many books and articles on the history of the area. When conducting tours in person, he blends history with a perspective of modern day, and does so in an entertaining manner. If you have any interest in the history of various places in Central Florida, it would be well worth your time to check out Steve's schedule and plan to attend one of his tours. The Florida Trail group also sponsors many other hikes, canoe trips, bicycle rides, etc. led by a variety of volunteers. We hope to attend some in the near future, and will write about how those go!

The historical tours with Steve are completely free. While he typically has available a variety of books for sale, as well as a patch for each tour available for $4.00, there is absolutely no pressure to purchase anything. You can find the upcoming schedule on the local Florida Trail website at http://www.central.floridatrail.org/. The is also a website that lists all of Steve's tours and links to the self-guided tours and directions that you can download, but that website will be going away in the near future - here is the link: http://www.geocities.com/yosemite/rapids/8428/historicalseries.html.

The group starts the canoe tour of Lake Ivanhoe.

View of downtown Orlando from Lake Ivanhoe.

One of the many interesting homes we saw in the neighborhoods around Lake Eola.

Fountain along the edge of Lake Eola

View of downtown at the end of the Lake Eola tour.