On the Florida Trail

It was a beautiful day for another hike along the Florida Trail. On the second Friday of every month until hot weather arrives, the Florida Trail Association sponsors a hike and the public is welcome.


How could such a lovely flower be called Spiderwort? I was happy to stumble across this one along the trail.


Skeltons of old trees, probably coastal scrub oak, still stand among the dunes.

Joe Concannon, was our 'sweeper' today. That means he stayed at the back of our group and swept up all the stranglers -- like me and Polly Crongeyer, the two photographers in the group. Take time to check out Polly's truly incredible photos by clicking HERE.

Ed Walker is going to shoot me for posting this photo of him. He really wasn't sticking his tongue out at me. I simply caught him at the wrong time. But he does such a great job for the Florida Trail Association that I wanted to recognize him -- though not exactly with a bad photo. Sorry, Ed.

Seriously though, thank you for the work you do through the Florida Trail Association and sponsoring free hikes to the public. Those interested in joining the Florida Trail Association may click HERE for more information.

Now this must be one big raccoon. I placed my 7.5 size tennis shoe next to the tracks just to give you some perspective. He's obviously eating well, wouldn't you say?

Click on this photo to enlarge and venture a guess on what type of track this is. If you guessed snake, you'd be correct. Don't worry, they get out of the way if they hear us coming. Or I get out of the way -- very fast -- if I see one coming.


When we made it to the Sound, we noticed a few stingrays here and there.

I generally stay out of the water unless I'm wading around to get photos, but I always remember to do the stingray shuffle.

Beautiful Santa Rosa Sound, with Portofino towers in the distance. The water, a light shade of aquamarine today, was calm with only a few wind ruffles across the surface.