An Active Day–Friday–January 4, 2013

 
Warning:  this is a long post with lots of photos….it was a VERY active day;o))
 
We started off bright and early with a 10 mile bike ride.  I guess Nancy is roping me into HER New Years Resolution to up the biking miles.  See, I told you she has a way of getting things done;o))  Actually it really felt good to get back to riding our bikes!!  On our ride we spotted a huge flock of Wild Turkeys. 
01 - Turkeys
 
 
After breakfast, we hopped in the car and drove just 10 miles down the road, Route 19,
to the Yearling Trail.
 02 hwy 19 rain  03 - Yearling Trail - Sign
It was raining very lightly, but not enough to stop us from hiking;o)
 
 
The trail is a little over 6 miles long and located in the Juniper Prairie Wilderness Area.
03b - Yearling Trail - Trail Map
We followed the map to #6, then skipped #7 & 8 and backed tracked to 9, 10, and 11.
That made our hike a little over 5 miles.


We first heard about the trail from Sherry and David, who wrote a wonderful post about the trail and the history of this area.  Click on there name above and check it out…no sense recreating the wheel;o))


The film, The Yearling, starring Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman was filmed here. 
The movie was based on the book of the same name written by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.
03c - Yearling Trail - Rawlings Poster
(Be sure to click on any photo to enlarge)
 
 
Our hike was a pretty walk through various ecosystems.
03e - Yearling Trail - beginning of trail  03e2 - Yearling Trail - Pine Trees
03e3 - Yearling Trail - Long Needle Pines  03e4 - Yearling Trail - Scrub Palmetto
 
 
Birds were the only wildlife we saw.
 
                    Scrub Jay                  
03f2 - Scrub Jay 
 
Red-headed Woodpecker
03f3 - Red Headed Woodpecker
 
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
  03f4 - Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
 
People actually lived here up until the late 30’s.
03d - Yearling Trail - Pat's Island Poster 
 
You would be hard pressed to find evidence of that
other than the few markings that were labeled for us.
03b2 - Yearling Trail - Trail Map Points of Interest
 
#2 and #4  The Cattle Dip and The Sink Hole
 03g1 - Cattle Dip #2  03g2 - Sink Hole #4
 
#5 and # 9  Patrick Smith’s Home Site and the Long Cemetery.
Patrick wasn’t around so Bill was his stand-in;o))
03g3 - Patrick Smith's Homestead #5  03g4 - Long Cemetery #9
 
Our favorite site was this lovely Live Oak in the middle of the Pine Trees!!
03h - Live Oak
 
We got back to the motorhome about 1pm, had lunch,
then headed to the boat launch here at Salt Springs with ourt Sea Eagle kayak. 
04 - kayaking - walk to boat ramp
 
Two of our RV neighbors had just got Sea Eagles exactly like ours and
asked us to join them on their maiden voyage. 
Of course, we agreed!! 
 
Everybody ready to launch… we had lots of spectators too;o))04b - kayaking - at the boat ramp 
 
Jerry and Pam
04c - kayaking - Jerry and Pam
 
Ron and Terri
  04d - kayaking - Ron and Terri
Notice how quickly Terri learn the Linda Payne kayaking style;o))
 
What a great afternoon. 
We didn’t do a lot of paddling,
but we spent a lot of time floating amongst the Manatees.
04g - kayaking - Large Manatee with scare going under our kayak 
04k - kayaking - Next to kayak
 
 
Tom scratching the manatees back.
04f1- kayaking - Tom scratching the manatee's back
 
Ron and Terri getting a Manatee Hug;o))
04f - kayaking - Manatee hugging Sea Eagle
 
 
Female Manatee nursing her calf!!!
04h - kayaking - Large female nursing her calf
 
Nature IS Amazing!!!
 
04j1 - kayaking - Next to kayak
 
  04j - kayaking - Next to kayak
 
What a wonderful day!!!
I guarantee I will be ready for a good night’s sleep. 
I’m already yawning and it's barely 7pm—Good Night!!

11 comments:

  1. What a beautiful sight! Terrific times with fellow kayakers :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is definitely up close an personnel with the wildlife:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my goodness what an amazing time with the manatee. Just fabulous pictures. I am so jealous. But you must be exhausted.

    Where did you go to bike 10 miles??

    ReplyDelete
  4. Maybe it's good you only saw birds on your hike, because a Big Foot sighting might have really messed up your day, or given you a little more exercise as you ran for your lives. ;c)

    Super pix of the manatees, I've never seen them in the wild, only at Disney World and Sea World. One of these days we'll see them in the wild.

    ReplyDelete
  5. If we ever get back east, we will have to do that hike. Amazing pictures of the manatees! We had a similar experience a few years ago, but did not get those kind of pics. Awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You guys are amazing - you do so much! I get tired just reading your posts!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great pics of the manatees! Sounds like a fun-filled day.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The perfect day! Love the pictures of the manatees!

    ReplyDelete
  9. You can't get much better than that! One day, we too, will get to see the famous manatees. Bet you slept really, really well last night :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow - that's a jam-packed day! Incredible shots of the manatees!

    ReplyDelete