Friday March 10th 2023

The weather was nice again today, but the forecast is showing signs of change. It was sunny and warm today. The high temperature was in the mid eighties. As night approached so did a line of storms coming in off the Gulf of Mexico. This is the first break in about six weeks. It was only a brief period of rain, but more storms and change are due over the weekend and during the day on Monday. A low temperature in the forties is forecast for the overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.

Today was focused on relaxing, settling in and refreshing my knowledge of the park. It has been more than a year since my last visit. On a positive note they have constructed a new pavilion near the water in the picnic area. On a less positive note there have been a lot of changes to appearance of the park. Some of it was planned and some of it was the result of storm damage. On the planned side is a large area that was subjected to a controlled fire. In that area the brush is gone, some of the bigger trees are burn scared and the grown is black in color. It was long enough in the past that the grown level palms are all green again.

In the campground proper the foliage between the sites has been thinned out. I’m not sure if this was planned or associated with the clean up of the storm damage. There are many trees that are down in the park. Most of them as the result of being uprooted. I presume this is the result of hurricane Ian. There is a lot of new open space. The trees that interfered with guest parts of the park have been removed, but the ones that are out of the way are still on the ground. There are also a few trees that are no longer standing straight, but are still living. I can’t make up my mind if the changes are superficial or result in a change to the over all character of the park. So far I haven’t checked out the other camping loop. Maybe the storm damage isn’t as visible there.