Bikes and Gophers 02/09/18

O’Leno State Park, High Springs, Florida

 

Time to break out the bikes!  It’s been awhile since we’ve been at a place where we could ride – emphasis on me.  It’s gotta pretty flat, otherwise, I consider it too much of a chore and it’s no longer enjoyable.  😊

I will tell you, for better or worse, there are only nine pictures in this post, plus two from the internet.  I didn’t have my phone with me because I had no place to keep it.   So now you know who’s mostly responsible for all these pictures!

 

We rode through the Park on the road, then crossed the street and alongside the road for a short distance on an asphalt bike/hike path until we came to that Florida Bible Camp road we drove down in the Jeep the other day.  It’s mostly flat, firm, little (if any) traffic, and wide enough we could ride side-by-side.

See! There really is a Bible Camp!

Remember how much water there was when we were in the Jeep?  It’s receded some, but not entirely.

Blaine opted to take the picture on our return.

 

Here at the deepest part, it’s paved, so it seems like it should go somewhere.  We had no way to traverse it, though we definitely would have if we’d had the Jeep!  So we have no idea where it goes.  Hopefully not to someone’s home, unless they have another way out?

This is on the left side.
We didn’t go in there. It’s a lot more stern than the other “Posted” signs we tend to ignore. : )

 

We stopped at the nature center in the Park and talked to two rangers.

 

We’re pretty sure the one was retired (quite a while ago, I’m thinking! 😊) and still wearing the uniform, but now a volunteer.  Quite probably, this was “Bob”.  Bob was mentioned to us as knowing a lot about the critters and other things.

Anyway, we first wanted to ask about the cranes.  Yes, I know, I jumped the gun the other day telling you about the Sandhills before we’d actually learned what they were, but we saw them that day, so I decided to put them in anyway.  One of the few perks of being behind in my posts.

Then we asked about the large mounds of sand we’ve been seeing in recent weeks.  Remember the picture I put in from when we were driving the RV and they were alongside the road?

Turns out, they’re not ant hills.  Personally, I was glad to hear that.  The thought of that many ants, making that many homes that large was kinda creeping me out.  Guess what they are?  No?  They’re made by Pocket Gophers!  Here’s what we were told:  Pocket, because they keep things in their cheeks.  The Florida “crackers” (old-timers who were cattlemen, so called because they cracked their whips), called them ‘sand mounders’ which eventually transitioned into ‘salamanders’ which just confused a lot of  ‘new’ Floridians, including “Bob’s” neighbor who thought he had lizards in his yard making a mess of things. 😊

I don’t know about gopher.
To me, it looks more like a cross between a rat, a mole and a hamster.

Fat cheeks

Anyway, we clocked about 6 bike miles today.  We also walked down the bridge and back, so we got in about half a mile or so walking.

Look what the “Male Gathering” is fixin’ to cook up!

 

TOTAL HIKING MILES:  .5 (I’ve decided to clarify)

Year to Date:  131

Daily Average:  3.27

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