I had hoped to get to Trout Creek Wilderness Park at 6:30, maybe earlier. Punched out of work at 4:27. 102 miles away. A smooth drive but for one spot. The 417 Toll, I-4, Celebration, merge. That took forever. Or, 20 minutes. I was on the water at 6:40.
New rails at the Trout Creek boardwalk
Paddling up River
The tree with the ibis marks the spot where the River narrows, just past Nature's Classroom
I wanted to paddled until sunset. I forgot, until I saw the sign at the launch that boats have to be off the water 30 minutes before closing. Closing time was 8:30.
This tree made a good spot to turn back. 7:15. The Hillsborough is at summer height. High. Meaning more channels. I could have picked the wrong one.
High, but not nearly as high as I have seen it.
Nature's Classroom. All Hillsborough County sixth graders spend a little time here. Lucky kids.
Osprey nest
Osprey
Trout Creek
Blurry limpkin
Landed at 8:05
Sunset 8:26. Off to base camp for the weekend. Extended Stay America. Near the Tampa airport.
3 comments:
Dave,
Thank you for your great blog, especially Hillsborough River. My wife & I live in Stuart and have just started kayaking. We love quiet, natural places to kayak and you have been a tremendous help in our finding the hidden jewels. We camped last weekend at Hillsborough River SP and kayaked the river twice between Morris Bridge & Trout Creek for the first time. What a great place. Keep up the great blog and photos.
Steve S.
Thanks, Steve. Bet you saw alligators.
Yes, many gators of all sizes. A twelve footer especially got my wife's attention as he loudly hissed when he slid off the bank into the water. The most intriguing thing was the almost constant cacophony of sounds from birds, frogs and Cicadas. It is the best river we have ever kayaked on in FL.
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