Rock Springs Run Preserve Associated with Florida State Parks: February 17 - March 1, 2022

The Rock Springs Run Preserve is part of the Florida State Parks system as opposed to the Flying Eagle Preserve which was affiliated with the Southwest Florida Water Management District. We undocked the camper from the truck for the Rock Springs stay. Like Flying Eagle it was a group style camping area instead of specific sites. Rock Spring has flush toilets and showers but no potable water. I was somewhat surprised the water was nonpotable since it was used for showering. My surprise is an indication I am learning things along the way. Here is the rig at Rock Spring:

If you look to the left of the rig in the first picture you will see our screen house. It appeared as though as the temperatures increased the biting insects did as well. So we set the screen house up but since we were packing up at the time of the picture the screen house is partially collapsed and upside down.

Although Jane said she wouldn't mind coming back to Rock Spring to camp, I'm not so sure. Along with the biting insects which I believe are biting midges or sand flies, Jane got a tick bite and I got a bee sting. I have to say I did an excellent job of removing the tick, but there is still the period of uncertainty after removal whether the tick transmitted a disease such as Lyme's. Thankfully that did not turn out to be the case. Although the preserve boasts miles of bike trails I avoided them. We also got introduced to something called stinging nettle. We were walking to the trash bin one evening and Jane had her shower shoes on so her feet were exposed. Unknowingly we walked through the stinging nettle which basically gives a chemical based sting to skin it contacts (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_Rphw1NXIs). Since the trails at Rock Springs are multiuse, they were often stirred up by horses. This produced loose sand that my mountain bike is not built for. Some of the trails were quite wide with shoulders where the horses didn't tread. The shoulders were firm with greenery helping firm up the sand so I started riding on the shoulders until I noticed cacti with thorns were also growing there. After abandoning the trails I ended up staying on the roads even though those also had sections with loose sand.

Our last day at Rock Spring was Tuesday March 1 and on the preceding Saturday we ran out of water in our camper. Luckily there was a supermarket a little over 6 miles away, so I could bike there and get a 2.5 gallon jug of water each day using my bike on mostly paved roads. The unlucky part was the roads were under construction and on one of those water shopping days I ended up with a flat tire. I believe the flat was a pinch flat I got when traversing the multiple sharp transitions between the base coat of black top and cement curbing. Riding in the road wasn't appealing due to road construction barricades lining them. Flats aren't unheard of on my travels, for example I got one while at River Junction due to a small glass shard, this one just added insult to injury.

Enough complaining! The preserve is bounded partly by the Wekiva River but the preserve makes a point of stating there is no access to the river. To access the river, they direct you to the adjacent Wekiwa State Park. In my riding on the preserve's roads I came upon, an old dilapidated touristy site. The site was historic and consisted of mounds of native Indian trash piles. The trash piles consisted mostly of shells from snails, turtles and such that the Indians collected from the river. Since the site description said it was by the river I went off trail a little bit to find the river and take a picture. The following are pictures of the dilapidated site and the river. Needless to say, I didn't end up staying on the boardwalk.

I have mentioned the controlled burns Florida uses as part of their ecosystem management. One day I came upon a burn accidentally (honest). I believe I came upon it since I approached it from the rear of the preserve on one of my bike rides and they didn't have anyone rerouting people coming from that direction. Once I came upon the burn I wanted to take a picture but remembering my recent experience entering the construction zone at Florida's National Cemetery I was a little hesitant. Sure enough as I paused, one of the firemen in a utility vehicle came along to redirect me. I did grab a picture though before I left. Unfortunately, the flames were not as high as they were a few minutes earlier. The second picture was from the next day. You can see it is mostly the ground cover that burns and just the lower sections of bark on the trees show evidence of the fire.

There were turkeys around the campground area. What was special about seeing these turkeys were the toms in addition to the usual hens, possibly because it was mating season? There was one tom who seemed larger and seemed to want a stage all to himself and there was also a small group of toms, four or so, that were content to share the stage.

The group campground was across the dirt road from the stables and pastures for the Rock Springs Run Trail Rides. Visitors to the preserve could sign up for a guided horseback trail ride (https://floridahorseriding.com/rock-springs-run-trail-rides/ ). Below is a picture of some of the horses in the nearby pasture. We wondered if the close proximity to the stables contributed to the need for us to put up our screen house. 

The day after we arrived at Rock Spring we went to Ponce de Leon State Park. The park has a spring area similar to Juniper Springs and also an in-house breakfast establishment called the Old Spanish Sugar Mill ( https://oldspanishsugarmill.com/ ). I didn't go swimming in the springs since the breakfast with members of Jane's family was the reason for our visit. While at the park I noticed a live oak tree that was unusual. Some of its branches actually anchored to the ground and then grew upwards again. For those that don't know, live oaks are common in the south and tend to look like gigantic bushes instead of trees since their trunks are relatively short yet they have plenty of branches. Here is a picture of the tree with the unusually low branches. The greenery to the left of the trees are part of the trees branches not separate bushes or plants. 

By the way, according to the park museum, there is no evidence that Ponce de Leon ever visited the springs at the park that bares his name while he searched for the fountain of youth. Our next stop is Lake Louisa State Park.