Pam Jennelle | My Exquisite Florida

Signpost near 88Store This is a message from my brother. Love my hiking groups! Doesn’t get much more beautiful!

An update here is long overdue, but I’m looking forward to getting back to a regular schedule after January 1. I’ll return to a text post every Monday and a photo post every Wednesday. Thanks for your patience!

2022 has been a hard year for many people, including me. I’ve filled my weeks with lots of fun and have spent so many hours on the Florida Trail in the Ocala National Forest, but I also had COVID, which was a tough recovery; my brother got cancer and while I was still wrapping my head around that, he died (to be honest, I am still in denial about his diagnosis so coping with his death is really hard); my dogs are aging; and Steve’s health is not the best. I am very aware that there is more of my life in the rearview mirror than ahead of me, but my eyes are firmly on the future. In 2023 I intend to pack as much goodness as I can find around any hard thing that may cross my path.

The rest of this month will be full of travel to visit friends and family in a whirlwind. Won’t be spending a lot of time in any one place, but my brother’s death and reuniting with my nephews and my sister has convinced me that it’s really important to make the effort to actually be with the people I love. Actual hugs have greater value to me now than they ever have before, and I’m going to share as many as I can!

January will be spent training under my full pack weight so that when Judy and I step off at Clearwater Lake in February, we will be confident that we won’t turn back until we reach Rodman Dam 67 miles later. We have now hiked every inch of the trail we will follow, and have a solid plan in place. It’s just a matter of packing wisely and building strength for the long days on the trail. When it gets too hot to hike this summer, I’ll start planning some Everglades hikes. I hope to camp a great deal this fall.

And while that’s happening, I’ll be faithful with updates! There may be some news about non-outdoorsy stuff, we’ll see. In the meantime, may you find comfort in the changing of the seasons and peace in the longest night of the year.

We’re making a habit of meeting in the parking lot of the Umatilla Ace Hardware and then carpooling up into the Ocala National Forest. Getting closer to completing my goal of hiking the Florida National Scenic Trail through the Forest, the stretch from Pat’s Island to Hopkins Prairie is the latest section my hiking friends and I have covered. This is a very short section, less than 5 miles out and back, but worth a visit!

First Thing to Love: Shade

Nearly the entire section is shaded! During the August heat, this is an important quality, and we thoroughly enjoyed the shade.

Second Thing to Love: Sinkholes

Heading north from Pat’s Island Trailhead, and just past an unnamed sinkhole on the left, we crossed Forest Road 50. Big Sink is on the right just past Forest Road 50. It is large and deep, and always has water in the bottom. The far side appears to have steps leading to the water, but we were not able to find the spur trail. We’ll go back to look again, because there’s no public water supply at the Hopkins Prairie Campground.

Third Thing to Love: Sand Live Oak Canopy

After Big Sink, the trail runs right along Hopkins Prairie under lovely sand live oaks. It is difficult to describe how beautiful this is. The oaks grow as if they have no desire other than to shade hikers. The troubles of the “real” world fall away as you walk beneath these branches. Looking to the left, the Prairie stretches to the north and west, offering opportunities for bird watching and like Payne’s Prairie, this is a habitat that gets more interesting the longer you look.

Fourth Thing to Love: The Prospect of Bats

Just before we reached the campground, we stumbled upon a bathouse. It is currently unoccupied, but maybe the bats will move in or return soon. If I were a bat, I’d love to live here.

Fifth Thing to Love: Campsites

As soon as the night temperatures drop below 75, I hope to solo camp here for a couple of nights. The Hopkins Prairie campground is primitive, meaning no electricity and no public water supply. There are vault toilets but no showers. However, you can drive in to your campsite! So bring all the water you’ll need and don’t worry about finding a bear canister because there are bear-safe food vaults on every campsite. Campsites also have picnic tables and fire rings with grill grates. There’s a camp host at this campground.

Some of the sites have clearly not been used in quite some time, as evidenced by the small fungus growing on the table where we stopped before heading back to the car.

Small fungus growing on picnic table

We enjoyed this hike so much that we’ve just made plans to drive to the campsites and continue hiking north for an hour or so just to see if the next few miles are as gorgeous as the short jaunt from Pat’s Island to the campground. I would be surprised if there’s not just as much to love as we proceed north!

After our visit to the seagrass beds off Key Largo, we delved into the ecology of mangroves. A thicket of mangrove always reminds me of a fortress. Red mangroves lining a shoreline or roadside look impenetrable! From the water, the roots look forbidding and mysterious, and from land, the thought of trying to balance on those roots feels like a recipe for broken limbs.

There are three types of mangroves in Florida, Red, Black, and White. Mangroves use a variety of strategies to thrive in what can be a harsh environment — salt water, strong sunlight, storms, and sediment that contains no oxygen. All three varieties can grow in fresh or salt water (technically, they are facultative halophytes, meaning they do not need saltwater to grow). Mangroves have various processes through which they can regulate how the salt from the water is treated.

Mangroves also use an interesting reproduction strategy – they are vivaporous (born live, not a seed or egg), which means that the “seeds” that drop from these trees are not truly seeds – they germinate and grow into seedlings while still attached to the tree. What we think of as seeds are more properly called propagules.

Propagules

Red Mangroves

Red mangroves (Rhizophora mangle) have both branching prop roots and drooping drop roots. You may hear this plant referred to as the Walking Mangrove because of the appearance that they are walking on the surface of the water. Their roots prevent salt from entering the plant, making red mangrove a salt excluder. Their propagules are able to float on the surface for a year before sinking and taking root.

You’ll find red mangroves on the outermost fringe of land, in water, or even in water with no visible land. Because of the root structure, red mangroves will catch sediment and create small islands. The wider the fringe of red mangroves, the more protection those roots can provide, stopping the wake from passing boats and mitigating storms. Fish can hide among the roots and feed on the algae growing there.

Here’s a great example of red mangrove with prop roots (left side of photo) and black mangroves with pneumatophores (right side of photo). The right side of the photo is slightly drier than the creek where the red mangrove are thriving. Thanks to Joanna Davis for leading me to this spot along Whiskey Creek in Dania Beach, FL.

Black Mangroves

Black mangroves (Avicennia germinans) are generally found behind the red mangroves where there may be dry soil, or slightly less wet soil. It has horizontal roots and structures called pneumatophores, which project up from the ground or water as tides change. Pneumatophores are not as robust as prop roots, extending only several inches high. Black mangrove leaves have glands to eliminate salt, making them salt excreters. They excrete enough salt that you can taste it on the leaves! In fact, these plants are capable of eliminating over 90% of the salt that enters their systems.

White Mangroves

White mangroves (Laguncularia racemosa) are the most upland of the three common Florida mangroves and grow on earth, not water. It can survive flooding. Like the black mangroves, white mangroves are salt excreters. At the base of each leaf where the stem begins, two small glands produce sugar. These glands are nectaries, and provide food for ants, which repel other insects which would try to eat the mangrove.

Those small bumps where the stem meets the leaf are the nectaries.

Mangroves provide habitat for fish, crustaceans, snails, jellyfish, tunicates, and other animals. These creatures both hide and feed in the mangroves. Even young corals can grow among mangrove roots, and mangrove islands often serve as rookeries for birds. Acting as huge carbon sinks, mangroves store signigicantly more carbon than land-based forests. Their roots prevent erosion and stabilize shorelines as well as filter pollutants from the water.

While the range of mangrove habitat is increasing to the north, south Florida mangroves are threatened by unsustainable coastal development, water management issues upstream of the Everglades, and irresponsible dredging and filling. Rising sea level caused by climate change is another threat. The damage done to mangrove habitat reaches to the seagrass beds and coral reefs. When environmentalists cry out about the destruction of our coastlines, this is an important part of the story . . . the precious fringe of mangrove swamps surrounding the southern half of our state provides protection reaching far beyond the reach of the mangrove roots.

After an afternoon and evening of orienting ourselves to Marine Lab, Tuesday morning started with breakfast and a short class on seagrass ecology. Florida has three predominant species of seagrass: turtle grass (Thalassia testudinum), shoal grass (Halodule wrightii), and manatee grass (Syringodium filiforme). Turtle grass has a broad, flat blade that is rounded at the top. Shoal grass, the first grass to grow in an area that has been disturbed, has a narrower blade with a flat or notched top. Manatee grass is cylindrical and has very shallow roots.

“Syringodium filiforme (manatee grass) & Thalassia testudinum (turtle grass) (southeastern Graham’s Harbour, San Salvador Island, Bahamas) 1” by James St. John is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Healthy seagrass beds facilitate the coral reefs by filtering water coming from the mainland and providing habitat for reef fish and other life. The trapping of sediments and nutrients benefits the reef because healthy coral reefs require very low nutrient levels in the water. The grasses also serve as a food source for many marine animals, including my favorites, the lettuce sea slug (or sea lettuce) and seahorses. Sea life in an astonishing variety is able to hide, feed, and grow among the seagrass. Much of this life would not survive on the open reef. It would quickly be eaten by larger fish or pounded to death in the reef surf.

Here’s an interesting tidbit — efforts to restore damaged seagrass beds can be surprisingly low-tech! When a boat’s propeller scars the beds, PVC posts with wooden blocks can be put into the scars. Birds then sit on these blocks and poop in the water, giving the grass a nice fertilizer boost to repair the scar left in the grassbed.

Instructor Erin shows us how prop scars can be remediated.

Then the nine members of our class and Erin O’Neal, our Instructor, joined a captain on the Jumbi. Off we went into the gorgeous waters surrounding Key Largo. Just today I learned how the boat Jumbi got her name. Jumbi is a West Indian term for ghost or spirit and is also part of the name Moko Jumbi, the stilt walkers/dancers seen in Carnival celebrations.   How cool is that!

My favorite. . .a Brittle Star If you look closely, you can see a Mermaid’s Wineglass on my nose.

The seagrass bed that Erin selected for us was located just off of John Pennekamp State Park. There was a channel between us and the park, but I believe it would be easy to kayak to the site from Pennekamp. Perhaps I’ll find out someday soon! At any rate, we enjoyed floating over the seagrasses. We identified turtle grass and shoal grass, and then crossed over the channel. At the edge of the channel, the depth suddenly increases and we saw lobsters! We also scoped out the mangrove roots before gathering back on Jumbi to take a look at the specimens collected in the seagrass.

We spent about 30 minutes enjoying the sea stars, brittle stars, Mermaid Wineglasses, and other treasures in the bucket. Eventually, though, we had to return to Marine Lab — snorkeling really works up an appetite! So the specimens were returned to their home and we headed back to Largo Sound and Marine Lab. But not for long! After lunch, we rejoined Erin and our captain and headed off to the mangroves. You can read about that adventure here.

It’s too hot to be out on the trail, but it’s almost never too hot to be on the water, and I was recently fortunate enough to attend a week-long class at Marine Lab Key Largo. The class, Coastal Marine Ecology, was marketed to teachers. Since I consider myself an informal educator, I signed up way back in February. Focusing on the basics of the marine ecology of the Upper Keys, the class was an in-depth exploration of the interaction among seagrass beds, mangroves, and coral reefs.

Because so much of the class took place on and IN the water, the very first activity we completed was a swimming test. This was very low-key and just made sure that we would be safe snorkeling through both the shallow seagrass beds and in the open water of the reefs.

Then we got down to the business of learning about the various habitats in the Keys. The focus of this first night was a general overview to provide the foundation for the rest of our classroom work. After this class, our first lab involved trying to identify zooplankton under a microscope. Just before the lab, our instructor had collected living samples for us to look at, and WOW! It is one thing to look at a drawing of a copepod, and quite another to watch one skip about the slide.

Copepods are lively critters

Over the next several days, we would learn about and then visit seagrass beds, mangrove islands, and coral reefs. Upcoming posts will share information about those classes and field experiences. Marine Lab did an excellent job preparing us to learn about the interaction among these three ecosystems, and how the health of each supports the health of the other two. The synergy of these relationships provides greater protection for Florida’s shoreline than any one ecosystem on its own.

Marine Lab’s campus is located on Key Largo, about an hour south of Miami. The property sits on Largo Sound near Adams Cut. This provides great access to both the coral reefs of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and Florida Bay in Everglades National Park. The main building comprises dorm rooms and labs for the education program, offices, restrooms, maintenance shop and gift shop. Other buildings on campus house a cafeteria, a floating conference center, and storage for equipment. The campus offers wireless internet access, which can be spotty. The cafeteria provides delicious meals and snacks with excellent availability.

Marine Lab offers one-day and short residential field trips for students. Programs are highly customizable to meet the varying needs of students and schools. Day camps are available for local students. Scout troops and family groups will also find useful programming. There’s a wealth of information available to help you plan your exxperience on the Marine Lab website, including free learning resources for elementary, middle, and high schoolers. You’ll find the entire Marine Lab staff to be supportive, encouraging, and genuinely excited about the work they’re doing.

Summer temperatures have arrived, and neither of us wanted to spend a sweaty afternoon trying to stay hydrated in blazing sun. We got an early start and chose a short trail. Even though Salt Springs Observation Trail is a short two miles, we still found ourselves exhausted and soaked with sweat as we left the trail. But we agreed that we’d do it again!

Continue reading “Suddenly Sweltering: Salt Springs Observation Trail”

Best Laid Plans II (See Best Laid Plans I)

We are making progress with our plans to hike northbound through the Ocala National Forest! We’ve recently completed our first backpack camping trip and spent two nights sleeping in our hammocks, and we have learned a lot.

First, the Ocala National Forest continues to surprise us in unexpected ways. It is simply beautiful. It is complexly beautiful. You can visit the same area many times and see it in a new way each time. Sometimes the scenery does not change, but all of a sudden you turn a corner or reach the top of a hill and voila — an entirely new landscape opens up.

Continue reading “Learn Something New Every Day”

Steve dropped Judy and me off at Juniper Springs right on the dot of 7 AM on Easter Saturday. Our goal was to hike in to a primitive campsite 12 miles from Juniper, prepare our evening meal, sleep well, and hike out the next morning. Destination: Alexander Springs, 18 miles from the starting point. This trip was a major milestone in our preparations to hike the sections of the Florida Trail that pass through the Ocala National Forest.

This was an ambitious undertaking for us. We have covered 12 miles in a day before several times. We have hiked under full pack weight several times. But we’ve never before hiked 12 miles under full pack weight!

Continue reading “Buck Lake For Full Moon and Easter”

Just a quick little post in honor of National Walking Day. Last Sunday, some of us needed a day in the Forest, so we hiked from a trailhead on SR 19 back to Buck Lake. Along the way, we stopped at Dora’s Pond.

This is a beautiful route, suitable for beginners. The trail is well-marked and easy to follow.

Continue reading “Easy Hike to Dora’s Pond and Buck Lake”

This is the first in a series of articles about planning a multi-day hike through the Ocala National Forest, following the gorgeous Florida National Scenic Trail from south to north. In this first installment, I’ll just describe our planning process. Subsequent installments will update plans, describe our equipment, share what we’ve learned, and explain some of the decisions we’ve made.

Continue reading “Best Laid Plans for a Successful Multi-Day Hike”