Flatwoods Wilderness, Hillsborough County Florida

[Mistwalker]

The wife, daughter, and myself drove down to Tampa Florida for the week to see my father. A couple of times I really needed a distraction to take my mind off of things so I drove up to northern Hillsborough County and walked around in some of the Flatwoods Wilderness Park a couple of times. It is a large park and I only had a couple of hours to spare the first time and a few hours to spare the second so I didn't get to see as much of it as I would like to see, but I thought I'd share a few pics. There is a lot of wildlife in the woods there, The bush was so dense I didn't get any pics of the deer or the boar but I did see a few at a distance, unfortunately they also saw me. Maybe next time I will have an entire day or two to check it out a little better.

It was a nice change actually having a canopy.

The first day I found a little trail and followed it out, it didn't go far.

I kept getting the feeling I was being watched...

The trail ended at one of the small creeks that winds through the woods. I saw the first sign of what I think is boar here, looks like they've been rooting around.

There are a lot of parasitic plants in the coastal areas of Florida.

The majority of the gear for the hike was my walking stick, a little ESEE Izula II in a Godspeed Tactical sheath on my belt, so as to not traumatize any sheeple, an Exotac nanostriker around my neck, an ESEE-6 in my pack along with a Suunto MC2G compass and a few other items in my pack, and a klean canteen water bottle. This palm tree, running for the most part horizontally, worked well to sit the camera on for a shot of me.

Some random shots of different areas off the trail.

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[Mistwalker]

Palm trees are fibrous, lots of fire starting materials. I didn't start any fires, just played around a little. There were plenty of dead leaves, wish I had time to try a bow drill.

Definitely a healthy insect population down there.

There were several of these little guys skittering about.

One of the high points was watching a ring tail hawk stalk his prey, like a dummy I had the camera on macro when he dove so that pic is blurry. Was still cool to watch though.

Like I said, I didn't have near as much time to spend there as I wished, but I definitely want to go back again when I can.



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[pitdog]

You always take amazing pics buddy, those of the squirrell and Insects are awesome !

I love seeing terrain such as that as it's totally different to what I encounter around here !!!!

 

[dialton]

Nice pics. Looks like spider, gator, and nake kuntry to me!

 

[Hawkeye5]

Cool pictures Mist. Did you see any snakes ? Thanks for the post .always some good pictures from you.

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Great pictures, as usual, mistwalker. BTW, how do you like the Izzy II? It's my favourite little knife.

Doc

 

[Les Snyder]

I live in Pasco county just north of Hillsborough....thanks for the photo op of my neck of the woods...warning..don't ever use Spanish moss for toilet paper .. the hogs can make a mess when rooting for acorns...almost ran into an osprey with my Yamaha one day...his eyes were bigger than his ability to generate lift...had a 4' snake in his talons, and crossed US301 at about 6' altitude

 

[chickenplucker]

Awesome pics....

 

[Mistwalker]

You always take amazing pics buddy, those of the squirrell and Insects are awesome !

I love seeing terrain such as that as it's totally different to what I encounter around here !!!!

Thanks bro, glad you enjoyed the post. I always say that same thing when I look at your pics and some from a few others here in areas different from my own.

Nice pics. Looks like spider, gator, and nake kuntry to me!

Thanks, I was really surprised that I saw no snakes there.

Cool pictures Mist. Did you see any snakes ? Thanks for the post .always some good pictures from you.

Thanks Hawkeye. The only snakes I saw were on the side of the road on the trip down and back, didn't see any while I was out wandering around.

Great pictures, as usual, mistwalker. BTW, how do you like the Izzy II? It's my favourite little knife.

Doc

Thanks Doc. I like it a lot, it's the second one I've bought. Gave the first to a friend then bought this one with the intentions of giving it to my oldest daughter to carry when we go hiking...I generally prefer a somewhat larger knife...but I am thinking since I spend so much time in sheeple infested areas that I'm going to hang on to this one and get her another one, or just loan her this one when we head out.

I live in Pasco county just north of Hillsborough....thanks for the photo op of my neck of the woods...warning..don't ever use Spanish moss for toilet paper .. the hogs can make a mess when rooting for acorns...almost ran into an osprey with my Yamaha one day...his eyes were bigger than his ability to generate lift...had a 4' snake in his talons, and crossed US301 at about 6' altitude

Thanks for the warning, but dad taught me that years ago when I lived down there I've had the same sort of thing happen down there when hawks and myself got our timing off and they'd be trying to get airborne with rabbits in their talons, I've had to lock the brakes up over that a couple of times out by the airport where the rabbits like to much on the freshly cut grass.

Awesome pics....

Thanks man, glad you enjoyed them.

 

[Mattohn]

Pinellas County over here! Brown Anoles really are every where... Always fun to see to big guys duel it out

 

[TheGame]

Great pics, bro. My brother stayed in FL for about a month a couple years ago, and told me I wouldn't be able to stand the heat or the rain that came down there. (As in too mild for winter, and the summer would kill me)

 

[Mistwalker]

Pinellas County over here! Brown Anoles really are every where... Always fun to see to big guys duel it out

There really were a lot of them, I bet it is fun to watch them battle it out!

Great pics, bro. My brother stayed in FL for about a month a couple years ago, and told me I wouldn't be able to stand the heat or the rain that came down there. (As in too mild for winter, and the summer would kill me)

I don't mind the rain, I live in a rain forest now...but the summer heat sure can suck!

 

[Rockywolf]

Gorgeous pics! Thanks for sharing.

 

[The Warrior]

Awesome stuff, thanks for sharing. You have some of the coolest threads around.

 

[WILLIAM.M]

You always take amazing pics buddy, those of the squirrell and Insects are awesome !

I love seeing terrain such as that as it's totally different to what I encounter around here !!!!

My thoughts exactly Pit!!!

Thanks Mist

 

[Mannlicher]

pretty typical Florida scenery. Many of the places I hike look just like that. This is a good time of year to hike in Florida. In another month, two at the most, it will be way too hot and humid for anyone but a native to be afield.

 

[Mistwalker]

Gorgeous pics! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Rocky, glad you enjoyed the post!

Awesome stuff, thanks for sharing. You have some of the coolest threads around.

Thanks man I appreciate that, I'm glad you enjoy them.

My thoughts exactly Pit!!!

Thanks Mist

Thanks Bill, glad you enjoyed the post, I always look forward to your posts from the western part of the country.

pretty typical Florida scenery. Many of the places I hike look just like that. This is a good time of year to hike in Florida. In another month, two at the most, it will be way too hot and humid for anyone but a native to be afield.

Well it's been a few years since I lived there so I'm sure it would require some re-acclimation, but with us routinely having 114F heat indexes and 100% humidity here that isn't the part that bothers me about Florida, it's the fact that you guys have even more mosquitoes than we do!

 

[gregorio]

Thanks for the photos, that's not like my neck of the woods.

 

[not2sharp]

..., it's the fact that you guys have even more mosquitoes than we do!

We sure do. I have been caught in swarms where they seem to block out the light and leave you covered. The last time that it happened I was wearing shorts and ended up with about 400 bites to the lower legs in under 5 minutes.

This image is off the internet, but it will give you some idea of what to expect during a swarm.

n2s

 

[crossada]

Great photos Mist. Thanks for taking the time to share them.

We sure do. I have been caught in swarms where they seem to block out the light and leave you covered. The last time that it happened I was wearing shorts and ended up with about 400 bites to the lower legs in under 5 minutes.

400 bites would make me tap out. LOL My worst experience with insects was walking through tall grass and picked up chiggers on my legs around my socks. I spent the next week itching myself to death at night causing infection. I didn't even have on shorts.