Where's Wendy? Hillsboro River!!

© Spellbound Images by Wendy - All Rights Reserved

On Monday we took a ride in search of a place to have our next camping extravaganza! After some online research we found ourselves heading north to the Hillsboro River State Park! We are looking for in state places where we can enjoy some camping during this beautiful season in Florida... before it gets too cold! I know you northerners are laughing right now, thinking we don't know what cold is in Florida, but believe me... it does get cold for us... especially when our bodies are so used to the tropical climate! So... this is the time of year when we can really get out and enjoy ourselves!

Of course we had to stop at the front gate and pay our entrance fee (all state parks are like that, I assume), so we inquired about camping and received a map with prices and attributes. We drove into the park with it's native Florida landscape, reading signs and searching the map while deciding our best course of action. We looked at the slow hiking trail, and the fast (shorter) hiking trail to see which one would suit us for the afternoon... we decided on the shorter one for time reasons. I wanted to see the rapids (class 2), and I wanted to check out the bridges. Hillboro River State Park has 2 bridges, and one is a suspension bridge... even though I hate height's and get ill from motion very easily, I wanted to see what this was all about. It wasn't at all what I expected. I thought it would be a bridge that was suspended across the river by ropes and would be very scary... as it turned out this bridge was suspended from cables and wasn't very bouncy at all.

Unexpectedly our fast hike turned into a long one! We found both bridges and decided to make our way across the suspension bridge. On the other side there was a definite hiking trail but that wasn't the one I wanted to take. Along side of the river there was another primitive trail that looked as though it wasn't traveled by many, but I'm sure the ones who did take it, and probably helped make it had a camera in their hands. We tracked through the brush, stepping over tree roots, climbing the bank at points and pushed palm fronds out of our way. I stopped and looked at every clearing finding the best places to shoot the river, the bridges, and the rapids. I think we actually walked 3 or 4 miles by the time we made it back to the van.

We saw turtles, fish, and birds... and even though there were signs about gators we never came across any, even walking the trail closest to the water. When our hike was done we sat and observed the beauty of the river, took more photo's of the water scape, and each other. I'm sure we've found the spot for our next camping journey! The kids are going to love it! We plan to take our peddle boat, and canoe. The park has canoe rentals also, as well as bike rentals, and life jacket rentals. It offers a concession stand, that serves breakfast and lunch, and has a store for essentials you may have forgotten to take with you (such as food, sweatshirts, soaps, firewood etc.). We drove through the camp site area and have already picked out the spot where we would like to set up camp (right near the canoe launch, campfire circle, and best of all... over looking the river)!

We also visited the contact station, which was once the place to purchase tickets to enter the park. Now a-days it is a small interpretive center which holds artifacts from the Seminole Indians and the Second Seminole war. Some of the artifacts were quite interesting... a bone toothbrush, what was left of hand made dishes and bowls, and crafted candle holders). There was many more, but I'll leave that for you to check out for yourself! The historic building reminded me of homes from when I was a child in upstate NY, and I couldn't help but get a shot of it from several angles.

So here is another adventure for you... If you haven't been there, and you enjoy camping... check out the Hillsboro River State Park, and take in some relaxation time with canoeing, hiking, fishing, and certainly do some photographing!

Love, Laughs, and Photographs,

Wendy

All images captured with the Olympus E500 on Lexar digital media. Post enhanced in Photoshop CS4 using Onone, and Tapaz adjust plugins.