Biking around the Prairie

Thursday April 2, 2015
Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park
Micanopy, Florida

 

 

 

Today is our final day here at Paynes Prairie and we’re staying close to home.  First thing is to bike over to the Observation Tower to see if any of the big three are out this morning.  We’ve already seen the buffalo so that leaves the cracker cattle and the wild horses.

The park roads are wonderful for biking.  There is little traffic.   We mosey along at a leisurely pace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We park the bikes at the bike stand just off the VC parking lot and head down the trail to the Tower.

 

 

It’s our lucky day, a small group of the horses is out on the prairie.  They are those little brown dots but with binoculars and the camera, we can see them.  I do hope they come and clean up the trenches made up next to the platform when they were rebuilding it.   The horses often came up this close to graze when we were here last time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From here we continue on down the lovely Wachoota Trail back to the parking lot.  This trail has some BIG trees with great roots.

 

 

 

On our last visit, we saw the Eagles nest high up in a tree, visible from the path to the restroom.  We know the eaglets have surely flown by now but we check the nest just to be sure.   Those nests are HUGE.   Looks like the size of a Volkswagen beetle from here.

 

 

 

We pick up our bikes and head on down the Cones Dike Trail to see the Prairie up close.  The ranger at the VC has told us that it is bikeable.  There are quite a lot of roots on this section of the trail.  We have hybrid bikes but really need wider tires for trails like this.

 

 

What she did not tell us is that there is a gate and the only way to bike it is to lift your bike over the fence.

 

Not only that, but the lift over spot is inconveniently placed in the trees.

 

This would be pretty tricky for a single person to do.  I took this picture and then rushed over to accept the bike on the other side of the fence.

 

 

One down, one to go.

 

No horses, cattle or buffalo would be able to get through here.  Even some of the folks on the first episode of The Biggest Loser would not fit.

 

 

From here the trail is hard packed sand with some lose spots, also difficult for thinner tires.

 

 

I wasn’t expecting to see small marshy ponds here but this is the first wildlife we spot.

 

 

 

And this is the second.

 

 

And this, in another pond, is the last.  One pond to an Alligator I guess.

 

 

 

We ride on and get some good looks at the prairie but after nearly 2 miles, it isn’t so very interesting in the heat of the early afternoon so we head back.  As we round the corner for the last stretch before the fence gate I spy the Observation Tower there among the trees.  If any of the big three were out here we’d be pretty close to them.  Maybe later in the afternoon when it’s cooler.

 

 

Observation tower from the other side.

 

We get the bikes over the fence with less trouble the second time, bike UP the hill and David checks the map for the Jackson Trail

 

 

The Jackson Trail has even more roots and is less flat.  David is tiring so we cut it short and later find out that had we just gone a little further, we  would have seen the Jackson Honeymoon Cottage.  Darn.   Well next time we’ll know where it is and we will probably hike.

 

We do enjoy the wetlands on our way back home.   They are all along the roads.

 

 

After dinner, we bike over to Lake Wauberg for our last sunset this time from the board walk.  I still find it interesting that the darkest pictures are before the sun has set or just before night fall.  I know why this is but still …..  The clouds put on quite a beautiful show tonight as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the waters reflected the colors I see this watcher below me.

 

 

Sun down and the colors are muting.

 

 

Every one is heading home.  We are too.   What a great sunset send off from Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park.  Hope we will be able to have a 3rd visit here.   Tomorrow we are on the road again.