From Wekiwa to Louisa

Wednesday April 6- Thursday April 7, 2016                              Most Recent Posts:
Lake Louisa Campground                                                           The Entire Rock Spring Run – It’s Great but Then….
Clermont, Florida                                                                      Last Paddle on Wekiva River                                                                   

 

WEDNESDAY

 

This morning we go into the nearby town of Altamont Springs for David’s treatment at Florida Cancer Specialists.  We also stock up at the Whole Foods there since this will probably be our last Whole Foods possibility until we are back in Virginia.  To reward ourselves for all these life chores, we stop at Bruster’s, also in Altamont Springs, where they sadly do not have JMC.  We get 1 scoop of German Chocolate Cake, which does not appear to be anything but a version of non coconut tasting chocolate and one scoop of Chocolate Peanut Butter Buckeye which was terrific.  Love the sign in their parking lot.

 

David checks out the menu.
No Jamica Me Crazy

 

Pretty certain this is the end of our Bruster’s ice cream for quite a long time.

 

 

After lunch, we head over to the spring for our final swim.  I’m sorry to leave Wekiwa Springs, it has lots of things going for it in our heirarchy of importance.  A spring you can paddle each morning, a variety of hikes,  a variety of other put ins on the river,  the rock spring run for tubing or kayaking, near by treatment center, nearby Whole Foods, nearby Bruster’s.  Lots to like here.  I do think the river is too crowded for me in April.  I’d try March next time and imagine that May and later in the year might not be much better than April.  Perhaps September and October might also be good times. 

The water is wonderful
I love to just lay back and close my eyes.

 

David agrees, he gives it two thumbs up.

After the swim and dinner we fiddle the rest of the evening away.  Our two weeks is over, we move tomorrow.

 

 

THURSDAY

 

Today we move to Lake Louisa State Park which was chosen for a 3 night stay because it is only 20 miles from Disney World which will be our last stop in Florida before heading North.

We’re not in any hurry to arrive and the drive is only 33 miles so we fiddle around at Wekiwa Springs in the morning lazily packing up and in mid afternoon pull into nice long pull through right along the campground road.  It’s easy but not private.

Lake Louisa State Park consists of 4500 acres south of Clermont Florida on the southwestern shore of Lake Louisa and the northeast corner of the Green Swamp.  Lake Louisa is the largest in a chain of 13 lakes within the park. There is lots of potential for lake paddling here in the cypress fringed lakes.    

There is a beach on Lake Louisa as well as a canoe/kayak launch, 16 miles of equestrian trails and a primitive equestrian campground.  They have 20 miles of hiking trails, a short half mile nature trail, a fishing pier and two picnic areas.   There are 7 miles of paved roads in the park and 20 miles of unpaved.  Mountain bikes are recommended for those.  We haven’t done any hiking so I’m not sure if the 20 miles of hiking and the 20 miles of biking are the same 20 miles.  I hope not.  The park rents road bikes.   The park does not have a boat ramp for motorized boats, only a kayak/canoe launch.  The park does rent 3 person canoes and single kayaks on the Dixie Lake.  The swimming area is and playground are at the Lake Louisa Day use area.  Lake Louisa is the only lake permitting swimming.

 

There are 17 cabins and 60 campsites with water and electric.  The campground has two bath houses and a dump site.  As you can see from the picture of our site above,  the sites are mostly open.  We do not have “lake front” but it is not far behind us and access via a viewing boardwalk is only a couple of sites up from us.

After dinner we go out to walk around the campground and check out Dixie Lake which is the one both the cabins and the campground face on adjacent sides.  Coming in Lake Louisa Drive you would go off to the left for the cabins and to the right for the campground.  Our site is marked with the red arrow.

 

The viewing boardwalk as the sun goes down.

 

Shooting into the sunset of course darkens everything around it.   Still a lovely view.

 

The cypress lined shores take a while before the colors in the sky reflect on them.

 

 

Once the sun is down the pink is mirrored in the still lake waters

 

 

 

 

One last look before heading back to turn in for the night.  We have a big day of exploring to do tomorrow.