Sunday November 13th 2016

The weather today was similar to yesterday. It was cloudy and cool in the low 70s here, but warmer and partly sunny to the south. I went south to Palm Coast to hike along the Inter-coastal Waterway and checkout the storm damage. I took a similar hike back in August that I documented in the blog entry Walking in Palm Coast FL.

Marina on the far side of the Matanzas River in Palm Coast FL

Boat getting ready to enter the Marina. The guy hanging over the rail is preparing bumpers not falling overboard.

After breakfast and an overdose of Sunday morning news shows I headed down Interstate 95 to the planned community of Palm Coast. They have built a nice set of parks and walking trails along the Inter-coastal waterway. In this area the waterway is narrow as it follows the Matanzas River. The boat traffic passes by close enough to see the faces of the passengers. The paths are on the mainland shore of the Inter-coastal. The opposite bank has single family homes and a marina.

A pile of debris ready to be removed.

The Palm Coast area is heavy with trees. During the storm the winds took down many limbs, palm fronds and whole trees. Over the last several weeks the damaged trees have been removed to clear the roads and pathways. There are still some piles of debris along the roads and paths that haven’t been removed. They were working today, a Sunday, to pick up some of the debris piles along the roads.

Stump of tree that came down in the storm winds.

I walked about 2 miles north along the river from the Waterfront Park then returned to the car. The 4 mile round trip with stops for wildlife, boat pictures and general contemplation of nature took about and hour and a half. There were many others enjoying the walkway on a true Florida fall day. It wasn’t to hot or to cold.

Great Egret along the side of the Mantanzas River.

The wildlife highlight of the day was a great egret on the bank of the river that seemed to pose for my camera. I was about 20 feet away, but I think I could have walked up closer. I hung around hoping to see the egret in flight, but it decided to wade up the river.

After my walk along the Inter-coastal, I returned to my RV home and the TV. The NFL games were actually pretty good contests for a change. As I’m finishing typing this the Patriots have taken an initial lead over the Seahawks in the Sunday Night Game. Time to watch some more football.