Growing up hiking

I am attracted to all the hiking opportunities that are available inside and near Tallahassee, Florida. There are trees and trails for everyone who likes being outdoors. The forests in our community make up for the lack of sea and mountain, although the sea is only about 45 minutes from Tallahassee, if driving.

My love of hiking started with my dad. When I was a child under 10 years of age, living in southern California, dad took me camping and hiking in Yosemite, Sequoia, Big Bear and other parks. I remember the rocky streams we crossed, and the narrow trails we hiked on through challenging terrain. I remember the rattlesnake we met on the trail and the deer.

Then, when living in Albuquerque, New Mexico for two years starting at 11 years of age, I experienced more hiking. Grandpa owned a mountain canyon, which he partly subdivided into home lots. One afternoon, grandpa offered to take me for an early morning hike the next morning through the back of the canyon and over a couple ridges.

The next morning I woke up, went to Grandpa, and without saying anything to him, he stated that he knew why I was there that early in the morning. He knew I was ready to hike up Echo Canyon with him. That is what we did. Grandpa always hiked and made an extensive list of all the flora and fauna he observed in his canyon. I am so grateful to have seen that list and the artifacts he collected.

I will always be grateful for my humble hiking beginnings.

Won’t you like to go on a hike with me?

Joy in Florida’s State Parks

If you really want to know Florida, you need to get out into our many state parks, 161, in total, national parks, and local parks. Florida is a state of outdoor pleasures and recreation, I know,  I grew up in northwest Florida, and have camped, hiked, and swam, in most of the many state parks in the region, including a few national seashores, for example, Gulf Islands National Seashore.

 

There is so much more to Florida, other than sunny, coastal beaches, boating, deep sea fishing, and cultural attractions of the big cities. Florida is a land of  various ecosystems, and natural preserves. Traveling from Pensacola, Florida, to Tallahassee, Florida, where I live, most of what is seen are forest lands, with an inexhaustible appearing of pine trees almost everywhere.

 

When you get out into our forests, you find our different species of pine trees. It seems that my friends, the pines, are everywhere in north Florida. I am thinking of the many tents I have put up underneath these forest watch towers. So much is attributed to the pines, economically, historically, and in terms of ecosystem survival. I have built many campfires using pine logs for fuel, and pine needles for tinder. I have used fallen pine trees as benches for sitting, and objects to practice my wood carving skills. I have used pines hang my hammocks, put up my clothesline, and to hang food. I have observed so many squirrels climbing up and down pine trees, and when I was a kid, in Milton, Florida, we had an abundance of squirrels in our pine rich backyard. Of all the trees on earth, the pines are my favorite. They take me down memory lane. For me, they represent nature in the world I know the most. The smell of pine, on a wet rainy day, or sunny day, in a thick pine forest, is a good and satisfying aroma, to me.

 

The Florida Trail, which goes 1,400 miles, from Big Cypress National Preserve in far south Florida, all the way to Fort Pickens in the Gulf Islands National Seashore close to Pensacola, Florida, in the far northwest corner of the state.  No, it is not the Appalachian Trail, with its many challenges, but the Florida Trail offers a different variety of challenges, from hiking through swamps, thick jungle like sections, and very high temperature, and humidity. Also, Florida has what some would say, every kind of dangerous snake, spider, and other critters, found in North America. The Florida Trail is not a fast walking trail. Caution is always necessary when on the trail.

 

There are many smaller hiking trails all over Florida, even within my nearby community of Tallahassee. There are many people in Tallahassee who are passionate about hiking, and camping, and the other day, I went to one of the local hiking group’s meetings, and listened to what the new schedule of hiking and camping trips consist of and where the events will take place.

 

To get involved in group hikes, trail maintenance, and to learn more about Florida’s trails, a good organization to join is the Florida Trail Association. Invididual membership is $30. Family membership is $35. The Apalachee Chapter which in in northwest Florida has a website, and it is http://apalachee.floridatrail.org. There toll-free phone number is 800-343-1882.

 

Northwest Florida has caves, in Mariana Caverns State park, in which the public can enter and view the rock formations, and learn about cave formation. There are other caves which I have found in north Florida as well, on private property as well as public lands. North Florida even has waterfalls, rolling hills in and around Tallahassee, and other parts of the region, many lakes, swamps, rivers, creeks, streams, bays, inlets, islands, white sand river banks, such as on the Blackwater River, near Milton, Florida, shell banks, shell mounds, Indian mounds, and sink holes. North Florida, which I know the most, is a great study of nature, and what the glaciers left so long ago as they helped to construct what is today, Florida.

 

One of my favorite activities growing up in northwest Florida, was swimming. I swam everywhere where there was water. I swam across lakes, and rivers. I loved swimming so much that during high school, I was on the Milton High swim team. During my college years at the University of West Florida, I divided my recreational time between swimming, playing tennis, camping and hiking.

 

Come on, you just got to experience the Florida outdoors, and if you live in Florida, experience more of land. I am always discovering something new in the land of northwest Florida. Now, I can share my outdoor love, with my son, and wife.

 

To find camping vacancies and reserve your campsite in any of Florida’s state parks, go to http://reserveamerica.com.

 

When I am in my organic garden, here in northwest Leon County, just outside of Tallahassee, looking over at the green zone conservation area, in back of our property, or when I am sitting beside a campfire in one of our favorite parks, or when, I am on a trail hiking, I think of the verse from Genesis, which always means much to me: “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” The bible does not say it was just good, or just beautiful, or just OK, but it says that it was “very good.” That is exactly how I feel about nature in northwest Florida. It is so comforting to acknowledge this “very good” work of the Creator, especially on a very hot August day, or a cold January

day.

 

Here are some other useful Florida sites:

http://floridagreenwaysandtrails.com  Florida has many greenways

http://fl.dof.com  About Florida’s forests

http://floridastateparks.org  Good resource on state parks in Florida

http://VisitFlorida.com  A must see for people interested in Florida

 

My Favorite Recreational Activity

Here we are, all set up at a campsite, and drinking coffee (or hot chocolate). Camping in the state parks near Tallahassee, Florida, elsewhere in Florida, and in parks outside this state, is my world of fun, relaxation, getting away, and adventure. I make new observations of an ecosystem each time I go camping, and find a new fact about nature. I experience the surprise, freshness, and eternal cycling of nature. There are many ecosystems, and they all are important, they all serve a purpose, and are beautiful in their own unique manner. We usually visit different state parks and stay in different camp grounds each time we pack our gear and head out to the outdoors.

It is even more fun exploring nature with a child, a family member, a friend. Stories are shared around the campfire, delicious meals are cooked, hikes take place. Each meal is different, and different tools are used to prepare the meal it seems, or at least the method of cooking or preparing the meal changes, advances, and gets better with practice, as cooking is a different experience outdoors in nature.

A hike is a good way to connect with nature, and others. It is a very good way to mingle with others, get to know and learn about others better, and share the observations of nature. My son looks forward to exploring ecosystems with me. We recently hiked in an wetland ecosystem and studies the sights, sounds, and wonders of a wetland. We have been to the mountains of north Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee on several occasions, and ran, played, photographed nature, and felt the elements of nature together. We went on a hike down into an area with a waterfall. That was a fun little hike. Got to hear the sounds of water falling, and see the speed in which water falls. We have explored gulf coast ecosystems, wooded pine forest ecosystems, praire basin ecosystems, and more.

Each campsite offers a different array of plants. I am fond of trees, and the greens displayed, the apearance of the trees around the site. Trees are my favorite element of nature, and I can’t imagine nature without them. Too me, the trees make the experience most comfortable, the way it should be.

We have new camping and hiking discoveries coming up, and although we have a busy, if not overly hectic schedule, yet we take time to be ourselves, and appreciate the simplicity of earth, and go on camping trips together.