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Coming into Salt Spring CG in Ocala NF brought back memories. The electric sites were full but we prefer the primitive area anyway and were assigned #143. Once settled, we realized we had been in this site about 5+ years ago. Memorable because this was the place I ducked under a palm and ended up with many tiny nymph size ticks in my hair. No bushwhacking this time.
It would have been easy to type cast our neighbors and look for another vacant site They obviously had been there for a while which is common in warm areas. With time they grew on us and their stories unfolded.
John had a camper truck with NH ‘Nam license plates and trailer for his Harley. He had picked up Dave who is best described as a hobo hitchhiking from Iowa to Fl with his springer spaniel pup Gabe. Russell, a man w/out a home, had just been invited into the group having come out of the forest. All were disabled vets looking out for each other. John was quiet and walked with the stature of an officer but had just gone through a fusion of 3 cervical vertebra. Russell spoke in riddles, wore funny hats and spent most of the time in the forest w/a machete gathering wood.
Holding true to all the folks we have met from Iowa, Dave was an open, friendly, common sense kind of guy and handsome under all the road dirt. He bonded to Harry and gave him tips on fly casting. They swapped flies. Russell brought us wood. I gave them oranges from the local produce stand as well as a griddle meant to stay home. It was a good stay.
Moving on, we went to Blue Cypress Lake near Indiantown for one night to check it out. This is a water management and conservation area under the guise of a fish camp. There is no charge although they have showers and toilet facilities. The camping area is grassy diagonal parking on a finger of land bordered by a fishing canal and cedar swamp. Although the lake is big, the only place you can look out is from a walking bridge. Unsettling was a dead cotton mouth snake hit by a car not far from our van. Without kayaks to explore, one night was enough. The next stop will help connect the dots w/Blue Cypress and explain the lazy guy that throws a plug into the fishing canal and goes back into his vehicle waiting sometimes overnight for the bobber to move.
Steve & Ellen are a week ahead and have been our scouts on this journey sending reports back. They spent some time in Dupuis WMA and it sounded like a good spot. There is no charge but you need to get a permit online or at the visitor’s center. This is a great place w/many pros and one con - generator use. It is heavy mainly because the folks that stay here are for the most part squatters who sit out in their chairs hanging out. We learned more about one group’s patterns after going just once to their nightly happy hour. You can stay here for 8 days and then you must leave for at least one night and then come back for another 8 and repeat again and again. The popular alternative is Blue Cypress Lake so there is a community of people that travel back and forth. Just as a point of note, our neighbors at Salt Spring were far more interesting.
What is worth the stay is nature - the great horned owl nest w/young in the middle of the campsite and the miles of trails to bike, hike and bird. There is a graded hard packed crushed shell road that is an easy 6 mile bike ride down to a pier. Biking down, there was another owl’s nest w/a barred owl peaking out. Down at the pier while having lunch, we watched at least a 10’ alligator catch and eat a good size fish. And then there were the two guys who were birders that gave me TMI about the local snakes. They also spoke of driving the power lines at Gate 1 (take a left as you come in) for good birding for species such as crested caracara, cranes, etc. Another suggestion was Fox Bound Road just east of Indiantown as a good place for the same type of birds. We won’t have time on this visit because we are off to Long Pine CG in the Everglades tomorrow but good information to store. We would come back.
