Hiking in Wekiwa Springs State Park

Monday, February 14, 2022

Hi Blog!

Happy Valentine's Day! Time for some heart healthy exercise. We met up with our friends Jim Bloom and Lynn Fraser for a hike around Wekiwa Springs State Park. After our paddle up the Wekiva River to the state park, we were curious about the area we all paddled through.  Jim and Lynn know the park well and offered to lead a hike over its trails.

Here is our trailhead selfie:

In 1941, the Apopka Sportsmen’s Club purchased the park property from the Wilson Cypress Company, which had maintained a small turpentine camp, and maintained the area for recreational use. Sportsmens Club member John H. Land, Mayor of Apopka, and co-owner of the Apopka Sportsmen's Club, campaigned the Florida State Legislature for three years to preserve the land as a state park. By 1969, the state of Florida expressed interest in the property, and, starting in 1970, visitors have come for the natural spring, crystal clear water, and the area's wildlife.

The trails through the park pass through several different ecotones. Here we are trekking in the sand hills, as tall long leaf pine tower above us:

All through the park are selfy photo stations. Each station has a QR code that brings up a link describing the ecology of the area at the station. The platform provides a place to set your phone for a timed selfy.

Here Jim is setting the timer on his phone... say cheese!

A fun little rock garden decorates a trail junction -- because everyone knows that Nature Rocks!

Our original plan was to do a 6 mile loop around the park. However, when we passed the entrance to the Youth Camp along the shores of Lake Prevatt, we decided to take a detour.

Lake Prevatt, like many of the small lakes around Florida, suffered from run off pollution causing excess plant and algae growth. Each year, Wekiva Island hosts the Wekiva Paint Out, where dozens of artists paint for a week in “plein air” – out in the open. Many of the artists stay in the Youth Camp cabins along Prevatt Lake. All proceeds from the art sales benefit the Wekiva Wilderness Trust and Keep Seminole Beautiful funds.

We stopped in the camp meeting room for a first lunch before continuing around the park. Billy Johnson, who was instrumental in creating the Wekiwa Youth Camp, is remembered in The Quiet Place along the shore of the lake. 

While most of the lake is within the park boundaries, there is a small section of shore line across the lake that is accessible by the residents of Wekiwa Glen without going through the park.

Jim loves candid action shots. We often found him running ahead to document our journey.

As we hiked back along the lakeshore, we saw a flock of large noisy white birds circle the lake and come in for a landing. After taking out our spy glasses, we were surprised to see American White Pelicans. While gray pelicans dive for their food in the oceans and bays, the White Pelicans prefer shallow lakes where they swim along and scoop up their next meal.

From the lakeshore, we headed back up into the sandhills. After a prescribed burn, the wiregrass grows tall, which enables wildflowers to take root.

Heading downhill, the trail led through a palm hammock. We often had to duck to keep from getting whacked by the palm fronds.

 

After crossing through the palm hammock, we returned to another sandhill area where we found remnants of the old turpentine operations.

Then it was back into another palm hammock. Here we stopped to admire the new bridge over Mill Creek.  In the 1860s and 1870s, a grist mill operated along Mill Creek. Today, the deep and dark tannic water flows slowly under the bridge as it heads towards the Rock Springs Run watershed.

We stopped for second lunch at Sand Lake. In the 1960s, there was massive growth in central Florida and huge demand for construction materials. Sand was excavated from a borrow pit in the center of what is now Sand Lake, but as the diggers dug deeper, they hit an artesian spring and the pit was flooded, becoming the lake we saw today.

From the lake shore, the trail bursts out into sunlight before heading back into the long leaf pine forest.

Just as we approached the trailhead, we were treated to the "tap, tap, tap" of a red-headed woodpecker. The little bird attracted quite a crowd. It seemed unfazed and continued to tap out its one lone song. Birders in the crowd speculated it was using the palm frond to send out a territorial warning to other peckerheads to stay away, but it's also possible that it was tapping to vibrate the frond so that bugs would emerge to be eaten!

With all the side trips, our six mile hike ended up being 9.2 miles. While our feet regretted the extra miles, our spirits did not. We enjoyed our time with Jim and Lynn and hope we can find another opportunity for our paths to cross. Until then, keep exploring, Jim and Lynn!