We
were here one Christmas around 1997 or '98 and remembered it as a
pretty location. We were still tent camping back then and one night
was cold, windy, and wet – the only time up to then that I almost
gave in and suggested we go to a motel for the night. (A number of
years later we did abandon our campsite one night in the Smokies when
45 mph winds were forecast and we weren't comfortable being in our
pop-up in a forest with winds that high.) We'll have to remember to
get a site on the far side of the loop where the sites are about
three times larger than where we were if we go there again.
.jpg)
The
campground is built on a bluff high above the rest of the countryside
and the view from the deck overlooking the vista to the north was
very pretty. Also in the park is the Gregory house, a fully
furnished plantation home from the mid-1800's that is often open for
tours which we had found interesting the previous time we visited but
opted not to repeat the visit.
We
did take a short (1 mile) hike through the forest, but saw nary an
animal, reptile, and only a few birds.
The
most interesting thing we found about the park is the Florida
Torreya, (sometimes called a pine but actually a member of the yew
family) which is nearly extinct in the wild, threatened by a fungal
disease and loss of habitat. It is known locally as “stinking-cedar”
because of the pungent odor given off when the leaves are crushed. It
was first discovered in 1833 near the Aspalaga Crossing on the
Apalachicola River. We were told by a park ranger during our last
visit that the species was brought to Florida by a glacier hundreds
of thousands of years ago, but I couldn't find mention of that in a
brief online search.
We
leave here for another stay at Blackwater State Park.
No comments:
Post a Comment