Highlands Hammock State Park, Sebring, Florida
We have neighbors across from us who’ve been working on their wooden kayaks the entire time we’ve been in this campground.
Yesterday, we talked to them about kayaking in the area – while Blaine talked to him, I enjoyed a pleasant conversation with his wife. When I asked how long they’d been full-timing, she replied with radiating joy, “Not long enough.” (It’s been about 3 years)
Anyway, he gave Blaine a couple of places to check out. Today we’re headed to Arbuckle Creek, about 30 minutes away.
Everyone’s plants are blooming around here. I’m guessing it’s the hot temperatures, but not being from here, I’m not sure. They sure are beautiful though! But they don’t photograph well from the Jeep. None of the pictures turned out. ☹
And then there were the orange groves!
I desperately wish I could put scent into this blog! We wondered why every time we passed the groves they smelled so heavenly – a mixture of jasmine and honey (as someone else so aptly described it) – when there were oranges on the trees. Then we passed some where we could actually see the orange blossoms along with the fruit! It’s one of those smells where you just want to keep inhaling and never exhale! I’ve never been so in love with a smell before!
I did not take this picture. I took a picture of a picture. : )
But this is what they looked like.
Many groves later (Ahhhhhh . . . . ) we arrived at Arbuckle Creek boat launch on Arbuckle Road. It’s a tiny place and had our neighbor not told us about it, we would never have known it was there.
Across the street was a portion of a cattle ranch, that also included a cypress wooded area. There’s no picture, but we watched a black cow running – yes running – through the woods! We’ve never seen that before!
This creek is actually a total of about 25 miles and runs between two lakes. Our adventure today was on “the most scenic” portion – with a goal about 3 miles upstream from the road to Arbuckle Lake.
From the first dip of the paddle, we knew this would be a beautiful ride! It’s a very curvy creek with new scenery at every turn!
But one of the first things we noticed were the bombing sounds we heard. We discovered later that it was coming from the Avon Park Bombing Range – a government military establishment. It was a pretty consistent sound. They must have been having a great time blowing things up over there! 😊
Our first clue as to what was to come. . . .
Back to the scenery!
One of the few places to take a break.
There was a large turtle sunning here, but as soon as I moved to take a picture, he dove into the water. Darn!
Same spot. Different creatures.
It’s really mucky here, so we couldn’t get out and stretch our legs.
As we approached a very large alligator left that bare patch and slid into the water. YIKES!
Everyone says it’s crocodiles you have to watch out for, but . . . .
Then, when we got closer –
there were young ones! The big one must have been a mama.
There are at least 2 babies in this picture.
Lunch!
We were lucky to find this small sand bar!
Still, when we were pulling the boat up, our feet sank into the sand.
Hitchhiker!
That’s a brown bird.
We think it may be a young ibis – – before they get their white feathers.
But we’re not sure.
Another sunning gator
A swimming gator! It’s just a small one though.
And osprey nest! With at least one young one in it!
This was as we passed under it.
On the way back, we watched as the mom brought food, then took off right away.
We had seen her fishing at the lake, but didn’t realize what we were watching until we saw her make her delivery!
There’s a road that crosses over the Creek, just as you’re entering the Lake.
See the dock? And the two guys?
There were two guys there fishing from a dock. (you can see it in the picture) They were kind enough to point out a gator in the water and engaged us in a conversation about it being an 8-footer and 850 pounds, but that we shouldn’t worry about it.
When I mentioned I didn’t want to inadvertently whack said gator on the head, the one guy told me, “Go ahead and whack it on the head for me! I tried to get him during gator season, but he eluded me!” (now be sure to read that with a deep southern accent to get the full experience.) : )
I wasn’t aware there was a ‘gator season’. Turns out it’s August 15th – the morning of November 1st from 5pm-10am. That means they have to hunt at night. Ugh! shiver! No thank you very much!! Oh. By the way. If you’re not a Florida resident, it’ll cost you about $1,200 to hunt a gator here. I think you’re allowed two though. Still. That’s some pretty expensive boots/shoes/bags if you ask me!
So we happily, though warmly reached our goal!! Yeah!!
Here’s Arbuckle Lake!
We made it!
It wasn’t too awfully warm on the creek with all the shade.
Out here, it’s blazing!
This is the lake we watched the osprey fishing.
We needed a break! There was a boat ramp. We parked, pulled the boat out and were thankful to stretch our bodies and walk around a bit. Until . . . .
An armed guard asked us where we came from. Fortunately, she just said “Oh.” And went back into her shack. But that scared Blaine enough to rush us out. I wasn’t so easily intimidated. She didn’t say “Get Out!” or “You’re under arrest!” She just said, “Oh.”
However, we did find out from some other people there that we were on the grounds of a Military Correctional Facility! We don’t know why there were about a half dozen motorhomes parked there.
So we left.
On the way out, we discussed the other information we received from those same people. There was this little (and I mean little) boat floating near the dock with one guy in it. He won a government contract to clear the river of fallen trees and debris. He’s gonna need a bigger boat. . . .
Which is what they were all discussing. Guess he was gonna have to get an air boat.
Time to head back to the Jeep!
We saw several of these.
That’s a cypress tree with another type of tree leaching onto it!
Interesting!
About a third of the way back, we hit something in the water and immediately we heard the air rushing out of the boat!! Talk about a panicked feeling!! Have you ever been sitting in a boat that was sinking? And us out in the middle of nowhere with no one around! We can’t swim, we can’t walk, and the place could have alligators virtually anywhere! What are we gonna do now?!?!?!
Being more knowledgeable in the nature of things, Blaine was more calm. He quickly assessed that the only breach was in the very bottom and not the sides. Since the floor of the kayak holds air, the fact that the bottom was lost only made us sit lower in the water. Whew!! Thank You God, for watching over us!
I was still nervous. And I felt responsible. It’s my job to look for obstacles. There was nothing to see and there were no tell-tale ripples. It must have been a stick pointed toward us and as we passed, we jammed it right into the bottom. Blaine assured me several times that it wasn’t my fault, but it took me a while to accept that.
So instead of the nice leisurely float back downstream we had planned, we (mostly me) paddled. I think my mindset was, I really didn’t want anything worse to happen. I was worried about being marooned.
Paddling meant I didn’t have the opportunity to take pictures I’d skipped on the way up, thinking I’d catch them on the way back. Oh well. Sigh! At least I had paused to take a few on the way.
There was one shallow point on the way up where Blaine had to get out and pulled us across a sand bar, but that was the only issue we’d had previously. Now that we’re sitting a lot lower instead of skimming the top, I had to get out at the sand bar as well and help drag the boat.
The ground was a combination of sand and muck. It was fine. For the first few steps. Then our feet started getting sucked in. So now I’m concerned about loosing water shoes as well. . . .
And then. . . .
I took another step and sank almost up to my knee and it nearly toppled me! And my phone (which we use for a camera) was in my pocket! Granted, it was in a ziplock freezer bag and should have been fine, but you know those things sometimes have little holes in them! That’s all I need is to loose my phone (again!) as well as the kayak!
Fortunately, it was fine. Especially since I didn’t tip over too far.
As more air left the boat, we sank lower and lower and lower until, even though I was sitting on my seat, my arms were resting on the tops of the inflated sides. It’s hard to paddle when the sides of the boat are level with your armpits. . .
If you look at the first paddling picture, you can imagine how low we were sitting!
At any rate, we made it back. We let the air out of the sides, Blaine flipped the boat over and discovered a hole about 1 ½” long. Easily patchable! Thank You!!!
On to less stressful things.
It’s stinkin’ hot here! And our air isn’t running well because of the drain on the Park power, so instead of cooking tonight, we headed to Chili’s and had fajitas!
A drive around the Park Loop road and stop at the Fern Trail again to walk off some dinner. I’ve decided Blaine likes to look for that gator! We found him. By the trail. Crashed for the night.
TOTAL HIKING MILES: .5
Year To Date: 160
Daily Average: 2.90 (day 55)