Saturday October 7th 2023

Not surprisingly I slept late this morning after an activity full travel day yesterday. Once I was awake and active it was a lazy day focused on settling in at the Ortona Lock South COE Campground. The weather was cooperative most of the day. It was a partly cloudy day with thunderstorms in the area. Only one storm got near enough to drop a few sprinkles of rain, but the area is flat and open enough that the storms on the horizon are very visible. The temperature peaked in the mid to upper eighties.

The campground is not full. For someone that usually visits in the winter months that is very confusing. On previous visits the park has been full with very low turnover. Most people that come during the winter come for the two week max stay and even try to get around the rules and stay longer. This current park visitors are mostly weekenders. The park is probably two thirds full.

The environment is also different from a winter visit. The Caloosahatchee canal is less active. I think there was only one boat passing through the lock today. The fishing areas along the canal had fewer people fishing and most of them were campers rather than people from the area. The water in the drainage channel that empties into the canal in the middle of the campground was also much more active. In the winter the birds wade in the water to find their lunch. Today, the few birds I saw were hugging the bank and being very careful of the strong current.

Friday October 6th 2023

As has been the norm of late it was a very hot and humid travel day. I got underway around 12:30 after completing the travel preparation tasks. The outside tasks left me just a little damp from sweat, but once I was in the air conditioned comfort in the cab of my RV home I dried out quickly.

My journey took me east and south into the center of the state just west of Lake Okeechobee. The trip was on state roads and passed through the large towns of Arcadia, Fort Meyers Shores and LaBelle. The traffic and stop lights in the towns was a major annoyance. I made one stop for gas along the way. I chose the station based on easy access. That was about all it had to offer. The pump was one of the slowest I’ve experienced. It wasn’t much faster than a gallon or two per minute and I put in over 42 gallons. As an added insult the price of gas was fifty cents a gallon more expensive than other stations I passed soon after filling the tank.

I arrived at Ortona South Lock Campground shortly before 3PM. My guess is half an hour of that travel time was at the gas station. I’ve been to this Army Corp of Engineers campground several times before. It is a good thing too. The sign on the highway was missing. The last time was in 2021 before hurricane Ian. I don’t know how badly this park was impacted by the storm. When I walk around the park tomorrow I’ll look for indicators of damage.

I’ll be here for two weeks weather permitting. There are two possible developing tropical systems in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. If they decide to head this way I’ll have to move. This area is very open to the wind and subject to flooding. Just one more concern during hurricane season in Florida.

Thursday October 5th 2023

Today was my last full day at Myakka River State Park. As I have each day of my stay, I made the rounds of the various parking lots and trail heads in search of wildlife. Perhaps because the water level was high once again, the wildlife was in short supply today. I saw a couple of deer along the park road, but they were keeping their distance from the actual road. The birds were not plentiful near the points of easy access. I managed to see a couple of egrets and herons flying along the river, but they didn’t land anywhere near my viewing point.

When I walked over to the river near the water level gauge I was surprised to see how high the water level had reached. One area of the path that had been dry since I arrived was in danger of being under water shortly. When I got to the actual gauge I saw that the level was a 0.1 of a foot higher than it was the day I arrived. Last weekend it was much lower at 0.25 of a foot below the level when I arrived. So the water level has fluctuated over four inches while I’ve been here.

When I wasn’t in search of wildlife I was preparing for travel tomorrow. I have a little less clutter inside to worry about this time. Since I am using my water tank for fresh water, while the parks water is consider non potable, I have been cleaning my dishes quickly and efficiently. The result is no accumulation of dirty dishes to deal with. It is rarely a big issue, but even a few less things to deal with is a help. Sunset beat me to the outside tasks. I hadn’t really noticed how early the sun is now disappearing from the sky. Fall seems to really be here.

I have a little over a hundred miles to travel tomorrow. My destination is a Army Corp of Engineers Park east of LaBelle Florida. Thankfully, the government didn’t shutdown so I have a valid reservation. Checkout time here is 1PM, so I don’t have to worry about rushing in the morning. I will try to leave around noon for two hour or so drive. This will be a trip on Florida state roads rather than interstate highways.

Wednesday October 4th 2023

Yesterday’s smoke induced haze was gone today. The sky was back to deep blues with white fluffy clouds. There was still a strong wind out of the northeast keeping the almost ninth degree temperature in the comfortable range. Late in the afternoon a rude weather surprise occurred. A cloud burst overhead dropped a lot of rain over a five minute time frame. It soaked the ground and filled the puddles making my second walk of the day a bust.

My attempts to hike the trails this morning were once again impacted by the standing water. The wind pushing the water inland from the lake and river has made it impossible to walk some of the trails that were passable earlier in the week. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that river level an inch or two higher than it was over the weekend, but the gauge is in an area of the river that the rain prevented me from walking by.

Today was laundry day. Each restroom building has a washer and dryer at this state park. The low mid week occupancy makes it easy to find a set available. These machines are even thrifty in their thirst for quarters. It is an only a $1.50 per load. If they were only thrifty with their use of time. It takes about 40 minutes per wash cycle and 50 minutes per drying cycle. Overall the laundry consumed a good chunk of my afternoon. It needed to be done. I don’t know what is available at my next stop. Last time I was there the laundry was still closed because of COVID.

Tomorrow is my last full day here. I move further south on Friday.

Tuesday October 3rd 2023

The clear blue sky and fluffy clouds of the last few days was missing today. It turns out that the northeast wind was bring smoke from Canada south all the way to Florida. It was a very hazy day. The temperature remained in the mid eighties.

Today was a particularly active day. Most of the day was dedicated to chores around my RV home. I did drive up to Upper Myakka lake in search of wildlife, but it wasn’t the most productive trip. The northeast wind blowing across the lake has pushed the water level up along the shore and in the river. Areas that I was able to access yesterday were blocked by standing water today. The higher water must have made finding food for the birds more difficult. There were less birds around today.

Late in the afternoon I made a walk to the Myakka River area in the front of the park. It hasn’t been a very good viewing area for birds or alligators during this trip, but it is the area where most of the deer I’ve seen were located. Today I saw one alligator swimming in the river and one deer. When combined with the exercise value of the walk, the sightings made for a productive walk.

Monday October 2nd 2023

Today is the start of a new weather pattern for this area. It was sunny with a few clouds all day. A medium to strong wind blew out of the northeast most of the day. Overall it was a less humid day than the last week. The temperature peaked in the upper eighties.

During my stay here I’ve been seeing and taking pictures of the multitude of purple water flower blossoms. I thought they were Water Hyacinths, but wasn’t sure so they remained nameless in my blog entries. Today I decided to verify my thoughts using our old friend Google. Sure enough they are Water Hyacinths, but some of the other information I discovered was surprising. They are considered an invasive species that grow very fast and thick. Often they get so thick that they chock out the light and oxygen for other bottom growing plant life. The plant is native to South America, the only continent where natural predators keep it at bay. Perhaps the most surprising thing I discovered is that it is illegal to posses them in Florida without a special permit. The bottom line is their beauty is offset by the danger they represent to the natural balance of things.

The wind kept the water birds in more sheltered areas. Along the side of Upper Myakka Lake there were waves breaking. The birds can’t forage for food in the churned up water. I saw several Egrets back in the woods and up in the branches of trees. The herons were not in any of the places I looked.

During my last walk of the day I spotted two deer again. I suspect it is the same pair I saw yesterday. Today they were in the middle of the road in one of the older campground loops. Earlier in the day, when I was returning to camp in my car, I saw a buck near the same area. It kept moving away from my car, but I tried to get a picture out the window.

Sunday October 1st 2023

Where did September go? I keep hearing that this thing called Fall is happening in the northern part of the country. With the exception of a couple of days it is still pretty summer like around here. It doesn’t help that I keep moving south in Florida. The northern band of the state near Interstate 10 from the panhandle to Jacksonville is experiencing some cooler temperatures, but I keep getting deeper into the Florida peninsular. My next move on Friday takes me deeper still.

Today’s weather continued the pattern set over the last few days. It was overcast near foggy in the morning. During the middle of the day there was some sun and lots of clouds. It looked like a storm could form at any minute. While I was out of the park today I stopped at Siesta Key beach. This is a beautiful beach with lots of very white fine sand. The beach is often named the best in the country. Looking out over the Gulf of Mexico there were several heavy dark cloud formations. If they moved on shore we would be subject to heavy rain and wind. I didn’t hang around to see that come to pass. Inland at the state park it didn’t rain all day.

The thunderstorm with accompanying downpour that passed through here yesterday afternoon into evening made hiking difficult again. The puddles that had dried up enough to get around were once again blocking the trails today. I didn’t have any luck getting back away from the park roads. With all the traffic and weekend visitors, there weren’t a lot of wildlife viewing opportunities today. I got lucky late in the afternoon along the river near the front of the park. A couple of deer, probably the same ones I saw a few days ago, were blocking my path as I attempted to return to my RV home. I was able to stand less than fifty feet away taking pictures and waiting for them to move along. After about five minutes of watching them I decided to go around them via the picnic area between the deer and the road. My goal was not to spook them into bolting toward the road. If I walked straight toward them, that was their only real escape route. It sort of worked. I didn’t spook them, but something else did. Just after I got out of the empty picnic area the deer bolted out of the wooded area separating their original location from the picnic area. Luckily they decided the open ground of the picnic area was safe for a little grazing rather than continuing on into the road.

The weekend is over and there are many empty sites in the campground. I am used to the winter months that are booked solid every night. All of the empty sites are hard to adjust to seeing. Even so, getting a long stay is difficult. Every site seems to be booked at least one night over the weekend. If you only want to stay Sunday to Friday, it is possible this time of year. The fact that I was able to book a Monday to Friday of the next week including the weekend in the middle was obviously the result of a lucky (for me) cancellation.

Saturday September 30th 2023

Today’s weather followed the same pattern as the last few days with a little twist at the end. The day began overcast, cleared up to mostly sunny and then clouded over again at the end of the daylight portion of the day. Unlike the last few days the clouds also came with a pretty heavy thunderstorm. The rain echoed off my roof for about half an hour.

After a leisurely paced breakfast I set out to try one of the hikes I couldn’t do earlier in the week. When I tried to hike the trail on Thursday, the path was blocked by big puddles leftover from the flooding earlier in the month . Today I got by the first puddle by stepping carefully from downed branch to grass mound to roots and so on along the side of the puddle. The trail was clear for another hundred yards or so after that. The second big puddle was huge, but it turned out to be easier to get around by going off into the previously flooded palm forest. You still had to be careful exactly where you put your feet. I was able to continue a good distance after that before reaching a much deeper puddle that went way back in the woods. There might have been a way around, but I didn’t see it. Working my way back along the path to the parking area was only a little less challenging.

It was an adventure navigating around the puddles. There were some nice views of the Myakka river straining at its banks. All of the tall grasses on the islands and along the far bank made for colorful views. The one thing I did not see a lot of was wildlife. I’m used to seeing alligators and big water birds all along the stretch of river the trail parallels. Today I found one TriColored Heron in the big puddle at the end of the usable portion of the trail. I startled it causing it to fly to the other side of the puddle. After we both calmed down from the surprise the bird worked its way back toward me. They are pretty birds.

After completing the dry parts of the trail, I drove deeper into the park to the concession area on Upper Lake Myakka. The boat tours and the tram tour are both operating today. I don’t have any real interest in the tours. A few people were on the boat tour that went out while I was there. The parking lot was empty by comparison to the crowds during the winter months. I was there to look for gators, birds and other interesting stuff. There were a couple of photogenic great blue herons and an egret or two to satisfy my search.

I did some other walking in random parts of the state park today, but my last big walk of the day was canceled because of rain. Getting caught out in the rain is bad enough, but I’m not crazy enough to start a walk in the rain.

Friday September 29th 2023

This was another day of unknown weather. The day began cloudy and a little foggy. It looked like it would rain at anytime. During the early afternoon the sun tried to make an appearance, but it was less successful than on previous days. Late in the afternoon a thunderstorm attempted to form overhead. The sky got dark and made a lot of noise, but any rain was probably to the east of here. Overall it was a confusing day with high temperatures in the upper eighties.

I traveled around the park by car and on foot looking for wildlife once again. There was more human activity in the park today which probably contributed to the lower visible animal activity. I didn’t see any deer or turkeys today. The bird activity seemed to be well away from the trails and roads. There were a few alligators visible swimming in the Upper Myakka Lake, but once again none were on land.

There must be fewer alligators in the area at this time than I am used to seeing in the December to April time frame when I usually visit. In those months, there have been days that I’ve seen thirty or more gators all along the river and lake. During this visit on the best day I saw five alligators all swimming. I wonder where they go and how far they travel. What makes this a place to gather in the winter, but not in the summer?

As the weekend approaches the park is getting more active. During the week it has been very quiet. Today I saw people fishing in the river and lots of campers arriving to occupy the empty sites in the campground. I don’t think the campgrounds will be full, but they will be a lot closer than they have been during the week.

Thursday September 28th 2023

Today’s weather was variable. It started with light rain followed by a period of clouds. Just when I thought it was going to rain again the clouds parted and the sun came out for a little while. Then the pattern repeated complete with another short period of light rain. Currently we are in the cloudy period following the third cycle of light rain. Overall the weather is infinitely better than a year ago on this date. This area was subjected to the wrath of hurricane Ian. All of the local TV stations have been reliving the storm, the aftermath and the recovery with almost continuous coverage today.

I attempted to hike a couple of my favorite trails in the park today. The water level still hasn’t retreated enough to make that possible. At the first trail I tried looked promising. I was able to leave the parking area and head into the woods. About 100 yards along the trail I found water. There wasn’t any way around a huge area of three to six inch deep water and I wasn’t going through it. The second trail was worse. I couldn’t leave the parking area without walking on very squishy ground. It became impassable a little ways further along.

The water level is going down. The river level gauge shows about a three inch improvement since Monday. Back in the woods along the road the standing water is also dissipating. Most of that water I assume is sinking into the ground. There is still a lot of flooded ground. The deer continue to be close to the road. I have seen them each day I’ve been here. Some days I’ve seen them more than once. Today I was on foot walking back from the river. A couple of deer came across the road about twenty feet in front of me. One of them clearly saw me, but just continued on her way across the street before starting to forage for food again. As I walked closer to pass by she and her companion moved a little deeper into the woods, but clearly not in a panic.

I saw a lot of the same species of wildlife today. The alligators were all back in the water. I think I was very lucky seeing one on the river bank yesterday. By far the bird I’m seeing the most are egrets. In addition to all the egrets feeding in the grass along the river and lake there was one tree that had dozens of white birds roosting in its branches.