Winter 2014--Myakka River State Park

Sun. Feb. 2-Fri. Feb. 7: We got up a little early and the fog was still lifting as we got on the road before 9:30. Our drive was again all back roads with little traffic. John and Brenda Sternberg picked up Louise in Siesta Key and we all arrived at Myakka River State Park within 10 minutes of each other. They asked to see how the trailer goes up so we got set up on site 27 in Old Prairie campground. Then John drove the five of us around to see more of the State Park with stops at the bridge over the river where one can always find alligators sunning themselves on the bank, the Bird (board) Walk, and the Treetop Canopy. Louise waited in the car while the rest of us took short walks at each. Lunch was at Phillippi’s Creek Village where we all had seafood including blackened salmon for Marv and a Florida Cobb Salad (with mango, grouper chunks and queso fresco) for me. Louise’s place was nearby and she rested while the four of us walked on the fine sugar white sand of Siesta Beach. John and Brenda wanted to get home in time to watch the Super Bowl with Brenda’s son. They dropped us off at the campsite, where we made wonderful Cobb Salads to eat while we watched the Seattle Seahawks demolish the Denver Broncos 43-8.

Set-up on Site 22

Alligators on the bank by the park road bridge

Close-up of the bigger ones

John, Brenda, Peggy, Louise & Marv at Louise's apartment

There was almost no phone or 3G at our campsite so after breakfast Monday we rode our bikes to the Visitors Center near the main gate and got information on trails and other things to do in the park. From there we peddled to the concession area about 3 miles away, where they have free Wi-Fi. It turned out that their Wi-Fi wasn’t real strong. In fact, we couldn’t upload or download anything large, including the newspaper, but we did manage to get our email and send out some so that people knew we were doing well. While we were there we shared a yummy Caprese wrap and a side of their homemade chips. We rode on up the main road to the Bird Walk where we saw more birds than on Sunday and then took Fox’s Low Road to Fox’s High Road to Myakka Island Road to Ranch House Road to circle us back to the main road. Calling them “Roads” is giving them more credit than they deserve. Each is more of a wide mowed area with a fire break plowed alongside. Island Road is through wide open Prairie and was spongy enough from the recent rains that it felt like we were peddling uphill the whole time, with no coasting. The sun was beating down on us but there were some small wet areas where trees afforded a bit of shade and frogs cheerfully croaked a greeting. The other roads were in Oak Hammocks or Pine Flatlands and more hard-packed so it was easier to ride. 

The trail in the oak hammock

The trail through the scrub prairie

Where we rested and watched the birds before returning to the campsite

Back on the main drive we stopped for a rest at the side of the river and watched Ibis, Great Egrets, Anhinga, and Osprey wheeling through the air and roosting in nearby trees. Each time we crossed the bridge over the water we stopped to look at the 6-8 alligators that can always be seen sunning themselves there.  By the time we returned to the campsite we had ridden 12.6 miles. After resting a while we rode a mile back to the Nature Trail to walk it as the sun set. In a clearing there was a flock of turkeys and a wild hog that raised its head to watch us for a bit, then loudly snorted, turned tail, and trotted away. In a marsh area there were two roseate spoonbills and other water fowl. We came out at the Treetop Canopy and climbed it in time to see the sun set from its lofty tower. We had minestrone soup and fruit salad to complete our Meatless/Motor-less Monday.

Roseate Spoonbill roosting in a tree

Wild boar

Sunset from the Treetop Canopy

Marv hopped out of bed first thing Tuesday morning and rode up to the Ranger Station to get our required permit to hike in the Wilderness Preserve. After breakfast we made a lunch and drove to the nearby gated parking area. It is a 2.7 mile hike through scrub Prairie to get to Deep Hole at the foot of Lower Myakka Lake. Deep Hole is an ancient 134 foot deep sink hole. It looks like an ordinary lake on the surface but we learned it has a deep “dead zone” of oxygen deprived water partway down. No plants live there and fish or other aquatic animals that enter the zone can’t escape and soon die, sinking to the bottom to become part of the deep gelatinous layer of goo at the bottom. As we hiked in we saw two couples and a group of three heading back to their cars. When we hiked out we passed one couple hiking to Deep Hole. We were all alone the rest of the time, with only the wild life sharing the vast expanse of prairie and then water. On Deep Hole we saw more roseate spoonbills, Glossy Ibis, Great Blue Herons, and a large number of White Pelicans. Gathered around a small inlet between the lake and the sink home were at least 30 alligators and innumerable vultures, all sharing the shoreline without seeming to notice the other. We found a log in the shade of trees near the shoreline to eat our lunch, walked a little way around the lake until the ground was too wet, and then left the peaceful area. It was into the low eighties by the time we hiked back and we were grateful for passing clouds that gave us some respite from the hot sun. Along the way we saw an osprey, a red headed woodpecker, and an Eastern Towhee, the latter which we identified back in our camper with the birding app on Marv’s iPod. When we got back to the truck the GPS took us to a McDonald’s about 6 miles away where I drank two large ice teas and Marv had a caramel sundae while we used the Wi-Fi to get two days of LSJ, answer email, and catch up on Facebook. Afterwards we did some grocery shopping before returning to the park to grill spinach-feta sausages for dinner and relaxed in the camper, where we ran the air-conditioning for a while to try and drop the humidity a bit. It had been another great but tiring day.

Peggy hiking to Deep Hole

Alligators and vultures around a small inlet at the edge of Deep Hole

Red-headed Woodpecker with a treasure in its beak

Eastern Towhee

We could spend all day Wednesday within the park, enjoying activities offered there, so I made spaghetti sauce in the Crockpot. We started at a 9:00 coffee hour held at the CCC log pavilion about half a mile bike ride from our campsite. We talked to Frank and Sandy who were camping in Palmetto, across the main road from Old Prairie where we are. We pedaled through it on our way back since we hadn’t seen it. Back at our campsite we did some housekeeping and reading before we had lunch. Then, because it was threatening rain, we drove the truck to Low Fox’s Road to take a guided hike of a small area with Ranger Nikki. As we returned we stopped at the Bird Walk once again and found more birds than we had seen before, including harriers, ospreys, spoonbills, the ever present Great Blue Herons, egrets and ibis, and even a tri-colored heron. Since it was on the way we stopped at the Outpost for ice cream for Marv and a giant pickle for me to use their WiFi. After enjoying angel hair pasta with the spaghetti sauce we rode our bikes back to the log pavilion for a presentation of “Florida Stories” and more music from the “Cracker” couple who had entertained at the coffee that morning.

Ranger Nikki leading our small group

Great Blue Heron with a festooned alligator

Tri-colored Heron

It was cloudy and cooler Thursday morning, just as had been forecast. We got up in time to drive half an hour or so and meet Louise Sternberg at Oscar Schrier State Park for the wonderful blueberry pancake breakfast they cook each week. Louise had introduced us to it two years ago when we camped at the park and it was fun to be there with her again and see people who have come to know her greet her once again. Since the weather wasn’t great Marv and I left there without doing any hiking and instead drove north to Sarasota to spend the rest of the day at The Ringling. The legacy of John & Mable Ringling now includes The historic Asolo Theater, the Original Circus museum, the Museum of Art, the Tibbals Learning Center, stores and cafes all on the grounds of their mansion Ca’ d’Zan and surrounded by the lavish gardens that Mable loved. It took all day to do it justice and since the day remained mostly cloudy and cool it was a good way to spend our time. The miniature circus and parade in the Learning Center were highlights, along with the many short film clips that were available throughout the original museum. They also have Ringling’s original luxurious converted Pullman Car in which he traveled all over the east setting up the circus’s next stop.   It was surprising to hear that despite his millions that John earned and spent during his lifetime, he died with less than $400 in the bank and only saved the mansion and museum by willing them to the state of Florida. When we had seen all we wanted we had the GPS guide us to Snook Haven for dinner. Mary Anne and John Larzelere recommended it highly and we soon learned why. Started in 1946 on the banks of the Myakka River near Venice, the smokehouse is famous for its food and simple presentation at wooden tables on sprawling porches on cardboard platters with plastic silverware. We split a smoked fish spread with their homemade potato chips and then Marv had fish and chips(more of their homemade chips) and I had their pick 2 platter—my choices were ¼ smoked chicken and baby back ribs with fresh corn on the cob and black-eyed pea salad. Everything was absolutely delicious and the smoked meats were fall-off-the-bone tender. Outstanding!!! It was about 9:00 by the time we got back to the campsite, where we didn’t have enough signal to listen to the MSU/PSU basketball game. But about 11:00 we magically had a small window of signal in time to hear the wrap-up at the end of the MSU victory. We both wanted to watch Jay Leno’s final show as host of the Tonight Show so it was a late night at the end of a very long day.

Miniature Circus: "Back door" to Big Top

Miniature Circus: Midway

Miniature Circus from above

Peggy relaxing on the piazza by the water at Ca' d'Zan

We slept in a little bit after our late night and gathered our laundry together before making scrambled eggs with lots of veggies, bacon bits, and cheese. We spent the morning doing three loads of laundry and doing a little more housekeeping, including making another marinated salad for lunch. Before eating it we hopped on our bikes and rode to the picnic area near the front gate and then hiked along the river. There were quite a few alligators sunning themselves as best they could on a cloudy, cool day that wouldn’t make it above 70°. (As it turned out there were far more alligators along here than there would be at the bridge today.) Lunch was the marinated salad and a fruit salad as we try to use up some foods before we move on. Since it was our last day we agreed we wanted to go to the Bird Walk one more time so we rode our bikes there but were disappointed to find few birds there today. We also stopped at the Outpost one last time for Marv’s ice cream and my pickle and some time on WiFi. As it got cooler and sunset approached we took the Nature Walk again but the animals all seemed to be hidden away there too. Angel hair pasta and the last of the spaghetti sauce tasted even better in the cool temperatures and then we watched the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics from Sochi, Russia. We had ridden our bikes over 11 miles today and 28 miles during our stay at Myakka. It was really nice to spend a week here and get a chance to feel like we had really experienced this wonderful state park.