Tuesday January 19th 2021

The temperature inside my RV home was in the forties when I turned the heat on this morning. Towns in the area reported lows in the thirties. One town about twenty miles north even reported a low of 28 degrees. The cold start to the day was soon offset by the bright sun. The high temperature for the day broke the seventy degree mark.

Today’s primary hike was along the wetlands trail. The last time I stayed at this campground in January of 2019, the trail was partially under water. This year the water level is lower and the trail is high and dry. It is advertised as a 1.6 mile walk through a reclaimed wetlands area. The trail ends at the park boundary with another trail in a nearby county park. From the map I expected the end to be at the bank of the Hillsborough River. The trail turned out to be primarily through an open managed fire area along a gravel road. The end was not at the river, but separated by about 100 feet of dense woodland. I knew it was there, but couldn’t get to it.

The wetlands trail was three and a half miles of pretty boring walking. I needed to walk along the river later in the day to find something interesting to take pictures of for this blog entry. The trails along the river were empty by comparison to the weekend crowds. A few people were gathered on the bank to watch an alligator take the sun and a few more were walking dogs. Overall only a fraction of the people that were out yesterday were along the trail. The alligators were in short supply too.

The atmosphere in the campground has also quieted down after the weekend. I don’t think the park was full last night. Today the park was very quiet. Compared to the weekend everything is very laid back. The weather is forecast to be improving over the next few days. That may bring more life to the park.