Mon. Feb. 21-Wed. Feb. 23: The campground began to clear out as soon as people arose. The campground would change over through the day from being loaded with families and kids, to being almost entirely retired travelers like ourselves. Marv made scrambled eggs for us and then we took our bikes out for a ride. There is a 3.1 mile road called “Hammock Loop Trail” that circles through the developed part of the park and has 5 or 6 trails off from it. It’s paved and has hardly any grade to it and is very easy to peddle. We went to the far point of the loop to the Cyprus Swamp trail to take a ranger-led hike. Ranger Lewis explained that the boardwalk through the swamp was originally laid down by the CCC boys to haul out some of the Cyprus lumber. The land was bought by a woman in 1931 to preserve the Hammock, which is a hardwood forest surrounded by pines and/or swamps. The CCC had a camp there for 7 years during which they built what became the State Park in 1935. It is the first and oldest state park in Florida. We saw an ibis and heard other birds and saw a yellow rat snake, but no alligators. Some of the boardwalk is very narrow with just a low handrail on one side. After that walk we rode on around the circle and took the next hike on the Ancient Hammock trail by ourselves. We completed the loop drive on our bikes and went to visit the small CCC museum right off the drive, where we learned a little bit more of the history of the CCC in Florida. As we left the museum we came across a small crowd of people who turned out to be looking at a mama alligator with her 6 babies enjoying the 80 degree sunshine. After taking pictures we returned to our campsite to have a bite of lunch and then enjoy the sunshine ourselves. We read until about 2:00 then went in to nearby Sebring to get groceries and check email at a McDonald’s. We also made a three night reservation at Lake Kissimmee State Park for the end of the week. For dinner Marv grilled pork chops and I made a fruit salad and a vegetable salad with tomatoes, pepper and avocado. With pork and beans it made for a real feast! The fog was so heavy on Tuesday morning that it condensed on the Live Oak tree above the camper and dripped in loud plops onto the roof that woke us up. We had a leisurely morning as we waited for the fog to burn off, strolled the Allen Altiver trail adjacent to the campground with our coffee, and then left to bike again around 10:00. We took the Hammock Loop Drive again and stopped at nearly every trail available. The Live Oak trail, Hickory trail and Fern Garden trail lead into each other so that we could do all three while leaving the bikes in one spot. The Live Oak trail led to a 1000 year old oak that is 36 feet circumference at the bottom. It seemed to be barely alive but had several other plants growing out of its crown. The Hickory trail had several wild orange trees and we tried one of the larger oranges that had fallen from one. It was pretty sour but extremely juicy. From the wooden boardwalk along the Fern Garden trail we saw an alligator sunning itself beside the water. Back on the bikes, we rode on to the Young Hammock trail where it was easy to see how different the pine forest looked as it was being taken over by the hard wood hammock. We rode on around the loop and as we approached to about 100 yards from the spot where we had seen the mama alligator yesterday, we again saw babies (7 this time!) and then found the mama nearby. Two babies began swimming towards her and then she swam a little ways. Either she or the babies began grunting and then more of them swam towards her as one crawled up on her back for a ride. Marv again got some nice pictures. We had ridden about 4 miles again and had salads for lunch today. After resting for a while we rode 4 miles of their 8.1 mile bike trail that goes past the rustic campground and then through open pine areas. We made wraps for supper and took them to the campfire area where a Minnesotan man presented a two hour “concert” of songs with his guitar and harmonica. The most interesting thing of his very enjoyable presentation was his accompanying synthesizer harmony “machine” that apparently analyzed the guitar chords and then used his voice to make a harmony line. It was really nice when he did “Down to the River to Pray” and added 3 or 4 harmonies. About 60 people had gathered for the concert and a nice big campfire was kept going. It was a really pleasant evening. Check-out time on Wednesday wasn’t until 1:00 so we could have a leisurely morning. But Marv was up at 7:30 to hop on his bike and ride to the registration gate house to buy Tram tickets for 1:00. We had tried to take the tram on Tuesday but were told that all three rides were sold out for the day and that one needed to be there before 8:00 because they sell out immediately. Marv felt like he was going a bit too early until he pulled up and found a line of about 10 people waiting. Most were “Town Folk”, not campers. He came back with our tickets and we began packing up camp. Unfortunately, about 11:00 I had an “aura” that foretold an impending migraine headache. I took an Imitrex and a Tylenol with codeine and sat in the shade for about 15 minutes and was relieved when the aura subsided with no headache. We were a bit rushed at the end but managed to hitch up and drive over for the Tram right at 1:00. I was feeling the effects of the medication and feared I would throw-up at any minute, which was a shame because the Tram ride was really enjoyable. The affable ranger/guide/driver promised more than the hour long ride we were sold and came through with flying colors. Half the trip was on dirt roads that are closed to any other traffic. We saw lots of alligators, turtles, and interesting birds like ibises, hawks and herons. He entertained us as he taught us about the area and we stayed out for an hour and 35 minutes. I just wish I had felt better. It was time to leave on our return and we headed right back to the Lake Wales area to go to nearby Lake Kissimmee State Park. This is a newer park of 60 sites that is deep in orange orchard/cattle ranch country, where we had no phone service but several TV stations. Our reserved site had been double booked so they gave us a different one, on the outside of one of the two “wagon wheel” loops. Marv cranked the trailer around so that our door side opened into the site which has nothing behind it but trees, palms and scrub brush. We liked it so much that we immediately added a night so we could stay through Saturday night and not leave until Sunday.
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