The Savage Traveler: Winter Trip 2017--Holder Mine Campground in the Citrus Tract of Withlicochee State Forest

Monday March 28 when we left Lithia Springs didn’t start out too well. As we did the dishes, our gray water tank overflowed into the bathtub where we keep our laundry. It took time to clean up that mess and we had to stop and do laundry on our way out of town, which we really hadn’t planned to do. Before we left the campground Marv had to caulk around one of the ceiling vents because it had leaked like crazy in the rain. It took time to dump the Blue Boy and the trailer, and we had to shop for groceries. So we didn’t get to Tillis Hill until after 3:00. There were only two camps set up there. But we were surprised to find out that they now require Reservations made at least two weeks ahead. We called a number at the registration kiosk and were told that the Ranger was on his way to the office and would call us back so we should just wait. About 15 minutes later the office called to say that the ranger still hadn’t arrived but they suggested we go to nearby Holder Mine Campground, where they don’t require reservations (they will as of April 15) and they were sure there would be room. Of around 20 large sites at Holder Mine only about 5 sites were full. We got a nice site near the bathroom and Marv backed in the camper so that it opened into the Oak Hammock with no people in sight. Tuesday we took a 4+ mile hike on the trails at the campground. Then we went into Inverness to use Wi-Fi and call Ken to wish him Happy Birthday (we had neither phone nor internet connection at the campground). It turned out to be a wonderful campground with much to do for the three days we stayed.

No one in sight in front of our camper, just Live Oak Hammock

Peggy relaxing with her tablet

Dinner al fresco

Marv enjoying his morning coffee

There were miles and miles of trails and access roads beyond the campground so we mapped out our own hike of just over 4 miles and set out to explore.

We love the little "Muppet plants" of the first few years of Long Leaf Pines.
This shows three in a row of various ages, with the closest looking more like a
tuft of grass than the towering pine tree it would become.

Much of the sandy track we followed had clear and recent coyote tracks.

We thought these were tiny tracks until....

...we found these even smaller tracks!

Part of our trail was this shady two track road.

The second day we headed into Inverness and biked 10.5 miles on the Withlicochee State Bike Trail. On our return to Inverness we found Paige's to have their burgers and home made draft root beer. Deeee-lish!!

The Red Caboose says the name of the trail and bears witness
to its origins as a railroad grade.

Root Beer Barrel at Paige's

A large Gopher Tortoise was hanging around just outside her hole
but she ducked back inside before I could get a picture.

On our way back from Paige's we went to the restored Courthouse on the city square and toured their fine exhibits.

The Courthouse used four distinct architectural styles.

The designers made the unusual decision to place the Courthouse on the
diagonal of the town square rather than along the street sides.

The Courtroom was used in the Elvis Presley film "Follow That Dream".
When the building was renovated, the film was useful as a resource.

An archivist named Mary was looking up some documents but was happy too show us
around. The blue box behind her was marked "Elvis Presley" and she had just gone
through it to organize its contents.

Still on our bikes we went to the long boardwalk at Cooter Pond. We didn't see any of the alligators the signs warned us of but we did see one Cooter Turtle.

It's a very long, well maintained boardwalk that wraps around two sides of the pond.

A fine specimen of Cooter!

Our final day at Holder Mine was a bit cooler and cloudy with the threat of rain. We drove about half an hour north looking for a bike trail a couple we had seen on the Withlicochee Trail had told us about. We decided it must be at Rainbow Springs State Park and went there. But the state park turned out to be a redesigned Tourist Park from the thirties. At that time developers had taken pits and piles from phosphate mining and turned it into waterfalls and gardens, with a mini zoo, an air gondola, and swimming area in the spring that is the headwaters for the 7.5 mile long Rainbow River. It was abandoned in the seventies and left to go wild until a Rainbow Springs Restoration group hired a Landscape Architect to help renovate the falls and rejuvenate the gardens. It was a pleasant walk through the area but there is no bike trail there. Luckily, the Ranger could direct us to the trail we sought.

The azaleas were very nice.

Rainbow Spring from an overlook.

One of the waterfalls built into the side of a slag pile.

Another waterfall. They were all named but we neglected to note individual names.

About ten miles away we found the Blue Run Bike Trail. It runs along the end of the Rainbow River and crosses over the Withlicochee River just beyond the confluence of the two rivers. It's not a very long trail but in some ways it was nicer than the part of the Withlicochee Trail we had done because it follows the rivers. We rode from one point to the trail head at one end and intended to go further the other direction but as we got back to the truck it began to rain in earnest so we settled for a 4.2 mile ride, put the bikes away and returned to the campground to begin packing up to leave the next day.