Friday February 4th 2022

This was the last day of the current string of warm weather days. The temperature got into the mid eighties and it was humid. You knew it was warm today. The wind out of the south didn’t provide any real cooling. A front is forecast to pass through tonight or early tomorrow with a few rain showers. Tomorrow’s high temperature is forecast to be in the sixties.

It seems everyone was taking advantage of the good weather to explore the Silver River. When I was at the kayak launch and walking the river trail I saw the usual clusters of kayaks and today there were a number of power boats as well. A state Aquatic patrol boat was also going up and down the river. Many of the people in the boats were reporting manatee sightings, but from shore they were not visible. I had to settle for watching the birds and the fish in the river. Even one of the monkeys was visible from the river but not by me on shore despite the fact that the people in the river were pointing it out in the trees above my head. I could here it moving, but never saw it.

I spent some of my time during my morning hike doing a little bushwhacking. It wasn’t virgin territory, others had walked along the river in the same area, but it wasn’t a well marked trail. I had to duck around trees and palms while watching out for emerging cypress knees in the ground. There were also a few downed trees I had to climb over. It was only a few hundred yards along the river, but the views of the river were worth the effort.

In the campground the switch from mostly travelers to weekend visitors took place today. There are more kids and more toys present for the weekend. The toys include bicycles, golf carts, canoes and kayaks.