Walking on water--hiking across the Apalachicola

If you're through-hiking the Florida National Scenic Trail or you have some other reason to be walking across the Florida panhandle, you're eventually going to have to cross the Apalachicola River. Some river crossings on the Florida Trail are a bit iffy. At St Marks, for instance, the trail simply stops at the banks of the St Marks River, where a small signs advises you to "Hail Boat to Cross." Crossings of the Aucilla and Suwanee rivers are on highway bridges. The crossing of the Apalachicola is also on a highway bridge, the eastbound span of the Trammell Bridge, which carries traffic on SR 20 from Blountstown to Bristol. But you don't have to worry about sociopaths in motor vehicles trying to knock you into the river because the bridge has a dedicated lane for pedestrians and bicycles.


The hiker/biker lane was included when the eastbound span was built in the late 1990s. Before that, the Trammell Bridge was an old two-lanes-with-no-shoulder span that dated back to the 1930s. I remember riding to track meets in Panama City on a school bus back in the 1970s; going across the old bridge could be thrilling. The old bridge is now the westbound span of the bridge, with no room for pedestrians or cyclists who want a long and healthy life. The hiker/biker lane on the eastbound span, though, is a model of safety.


For one thing, the lane is separated from motor traffic by a low concrete wall. This isn't a typical highway bike lane, with only a four-inch painted line between fragile bicycles and hurtling tractor-trailers. A breakdown lane and a wall divides the human beings from speeding tons of steel. Your protection from motor traffic assured, you can turn your worries to the river, 55 feet below. Another low wall separates you from the drop into the Apalachicola, but this is topped by a high railing. You could still fall into the river if you heaved yourself up onto the wall and then climbed to the top of the railing, but I don't think that you could call it an accident.


The exact length depends on how you want to measure it, but the biker/hiker lane across the Apalachicola is about 1.6 miles long. This distance will probably inspire someone to think of staging an out-and-back 5K across the river, but forget it. The lane is quite narrow--"ordinary sidewalk width," the signs say--and eastbound runners would be sure to interfere with westbound runners. Because the Apalachicola River marks the boundary between the Eastern and Central Time Zones, it might be interesting to do a "Time Warp 3K," where the runners start on the east side of the bridge and finish before they started (according to local clocks) on the west side of the bridge. Or at least it would be interesting if there weren't a possibility of eastbound cyclists needing the lane at the same time as the westbound runners. Then it would be too interesting.

Best just to leave the biker/hiker lane as a safe way for the non-motorized to cross the Apalachicola River. For Florida Trail hikers, it's not much of a wilderness experience. But even the Appalachian Trail crosses the Little Tennessee River on the spine of Fontana Dam, which, as one of the largest concrete structures in the world, is hardly a woodland.

Links:

• Florida Department of Transportation page about the SR 20 Apalachicola River bridge project
  http://www.dot.state.fl.us/Structures/botm/sr20/sr20.htm
  
  
• Photos of the old Trammell Bridge in the Florida Photographic Archives
  http://ibistro.dos.state.fl.us/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/x/0/5?library=PHOTO&item_type=PHOTOGRAPH&searchdata1=Blountstown%20Bridge
  
  
  

Walking to Port Leon

Almost two years ago on 28 January 2007 Judi and I made a hike to Port Leon and back. I hadn't visited the site for around twenty years, while Judi had never been there.

Port Leon had been a boom town on the Saint Marks River back around 1840. In the late 1830s, the terminus of the Tallahassee - St Marks Railroad was on the Saint Marks River in the town of Saint Marks. The cotton output of the Red Hills region was hauled by mules down the tracks from Tallahassee to Saint Marks, where it was loaded on seagoing ships in Apalachee Bay. Railroad officials asked the town of Saint Marks for more land for warehouses. Quite reasonably, the people of Saint Marks wanted to be paid for the land, which was not part of the railroad's expansion plans. Undaunted, the railroad put a bridge across the Saint Marks River and extended the track two miles downriver where they founded Port Leon. Sited on deeper water than Saint Marks, the new port was soon handling most of the cotton exports of the area, was incorporated, acquired a post office, a hotel, a newspaper, and a reputation as a refuge of the wicked. By 1843 Port Leon was slated to become the county seat of newly-formed Wakulla County, but then the town was destroyed by a hurricane.

The town was never rebuilt, but Port Leon never quite dropped out of history. During the Civil War Confederate pickets stationed at Port Leon fought off United States military personnel heading up the river to raid Saint Marks. The Saint Marks National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1931, and in 1936 the first headquarters of the Refuge was established at Port Leon. The "Federal Dock" pilings in the Saint Marks River probably date from this period. One of the Refuge's three forest ranger towers was built at Port Leon in the 1930s. Later, though, the headquarters was moved and the watch towers were abandoned, and Port Leon fell back into slumber.

Judi and I parked at the current refuge headquarters and started our hike. We followed a blue-blazed trail just north of the parking lot. This trail follows an old unpaved road in a southwesterly direct. It's an absolutely flat, wide, and straight, wide road--extremely straight. There are no turns on this road for 3.1 miles. Judi did not find this enchanting.

At 0.8 miles we came to an intersection with the Florida National Scenic Trail. One branch joined the road we were walking on while another branch headed south to the Refuge dikes. We kept going straight, now following the orange blazes of the Florida Trail. This took us through a refuge gate. By now, the vegetation had changed from a pleasant mix of pines, palms, and hardwoods to a pine-and-palmetto forest. The first turn was still over two miles ahead and you could see the whole way there.

At 3.1 miles, we finally came to the turn. There was a primitive campsite there for Florida Trail though-hikers. To the right, the orange blazes turned north to head for the town of Saint Marks. I had been to that point on the trail once; it's on the opposite side of the Saint Marks River from the town. There is no bridge; a sign instructs you to "hail boat to cross." Today, however, we wouldn't be trying to hail any boats. We followed the blue-blazed trail to the left that led to Port Leon.

Shortly after leaving the Florida Trail we came to where our trail turned in a more westerly direction into some older pines. A sign warned "NO VEHICLES BEYOND THIS POINT." We crossed through this gateway into Port Leon.

The first thing I noticed was that the old fire tower was gone. This had been just south of the terminus of the old rail grade and although the foundation elements were still there the tower itself was missing. Sometime since my last visit in the 1980s it had been removed. We made our way out to the river front. The wharf pilings in the water had aged quite a bit in the last two decades. Elsewhere, the old rail grade and other earthworks were visible, as were wooden culverts and wooden pilings for buildings. Some of these certainly go back to the nineteenth-century origins of Port Leon, but other features clearly date to later periods like the early years of the Wildlife Refuge. The beer cans were even more recent. There is no Port Leon cemetery.

Having seen Port Leon, we returned the way we had come. The road hadn't become any less straight during our stay.

The trail to Port Leon start just north of the Saint Marks National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center, 1255 Lighthouse Road, St Marks, FL (this point appears on maps as Plum Orchard, FL). Lighthouse Road runs south from US 98 outside of Newport, just east of the bridge over the Saint Marks River. The visitor center is a 3.7-miles drive on Lighthouse from US 98 (drive another six miles to visit the Saint Marks Lighthouse). There is a $5.00 per vehicle fee to enter the refuge.

Big Oak Trail (Lazy Man's Version)

The Big Oak Trail is a hike largely in Suwannee River State Park that includes abandoned highway bridges, the ghost town of Ellaville, the Suwannee River, the Withlacoochee River, springs, sinks, and (of course) the Big Oak. It's a bit long, though. The Florida Trail Association lists it at just over eleven miles while Sandra Friend (50 Hikes in North Florida) gives the length as twelve-and-a-half miles. I didn't want to go quite that far, especially because around four miles of that total is trail that you double back on to return to your starting point. However, the heart of the hike is a loop of just over four miles on the peninsula between the Withlacoochee River and the Suwannee River. You can't walk just the loop, but you can park close enough to cut the total distance to just over five miles.

Access is along a gas pipeline on the south side of CR 141 just east of the bridge over the Withlacoochee River (i.e., here). We ended up parking on the shoulder of the highway. From the road, you follow the orange-blazed Florida Trail along a driveway to a gate. There is passage alongside the gate for hikers. This takes you on to a gas pipeline right-of-way which will take you in a southerly direction to the boundary of Suwannee River State Park. The gas line itself is desolate and depressingly straight, so concentrate on the scenery to each side--meadows and rich hardwood forest.

Crossing the park boundary, you're now on the loop. You can continue straight along the gas pipeline and do the loop clockwise, but we chose to turn right and do the loop counter-clockwise. The orange blazes lead you along the park's fenceline before making a sharp left onto an old road. Hikers follow the old road to the rim of a deep sinkhole, at which point the orange blazes lead you toward the Withlacoochee River and away from the road. Don't worry, you'll see the road again. It runs nearly to the southern tip of the peninsula, and the trail follows it on several stretches on the way south.

Past the sinkhole the trail takes you along the Withlacoochee River in the downstream direction. Depending on the water level in the river, you may hear the water rushing over some limerock shoals. After this first meeting, though, the Withlacoochee flows quietly between its steep limestone banks. Turtles sun themselves near the shores and hawks glide overhead. Not many other hikers shared the trail with us, but boats and kayaks went by on the river below, and families camped and fished on the opposite side of the Withlacoochee.

Very close to the south end of the loop you can look across the river and see the ruins of an old wall that was built to impound the waters of Suwannacoochee Spring, part of Ellaville, a vanished lumbermill town. Straight ahead you'll soon spot the picnic table and fire ring that mark the primitive campground at the southern tip of the peninsula. This is a good spot to stop, rest, and look at the confluence of the Suwannee River and the Withlacoochee River. Looking downstream, you can see three bridges that still exist in this area--the CSX rail bridge, the old US 90 bridge, and the current US 90 bridge. You can also look across the Suwannee at the more active portion of Suwannee River State Park (actually, you'll probably have already heard the noise from all that activity).

From the camping area, the trail heads back north (upstream) along the west bank of the Suwannee River. After about half a mile of following the Suwannee, the trail crosses the barren avenue of the gas pipeline. Huge signs warn boaters not to "anchor or dredge" where the pipeline crosses the river. Once you've walked across the pipeline, start keeping an eye out for the "Big Oak" for which the trail is named. Less than a quarter mile past the pipeline, the "Big Oak" will be on the left side of the trail. It's an old live oak that is significantly larger than the other big live oaks in the area.

Beyond the "Big Oak," the trail and the Suwannee River angle away from each other. There are no more river views, but plenty of woods, occasional sinkholes, and the possibility of wildlife sightings. Before completing the loop, you'll come to an intersection and the only sign (other than mileposts) on the loop. The orange-blazed Florida Trail goes right toward Key West, but you'll want to take the blue-blazed trail to the left that goes back toward your car. From the sign you follow the blue blazes back to the gas pipeline where you turn right. The pipeline takes you to the park boundary, where you complete the loop and rejoin the orange-blazed Florida Trail. Retrace your steps north along the pipeline back to CR 141.

The loop isn't absolutely flat, but it comes close. There were quite a few trees and branches down across the trail the day we hiked the loop (28 December 2008), but one work crew could change that.

More photos of the trail
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2557776&id=5215641&l=3082af97f0

Here are some links I used in planning our walk in the woods.

Grab and Go: Big Oak Trail
http://www.floridatrail.org/Hiking/Grab-and-Go/GGbigoaktrail.html
From the Florida Trail Association. You'll want the trail map.

Florida Hikes! Big Oak Trail
http://www.floridahikes.com/north/big-oak-trail.html
Sandra Friend's excellent take on the trail.

Ellaville Loop, Twin Rivers State Forest

One of my favorite walks in north Florida is the Ellaville loop in the Twin Rivers State Forest. It's not an obscure trail--it's a listed trail in the Florida Division of Forestry's Trailwalker program, and a good bit of the loop is actually part of the Florida Trail. But I've never been there when I had to share the five-mile loop with more than a couple of other groups of hikers, the scenery never disappoints, and there are no strenuous climbs or descents.

The trail head is at the end of a dirt road south of US 90 just west of the Suwannee River. Parking is under some serious-looking power lines. Most often I've done the loop clockwise; to do this you'll toward the river on a small road. At the river, you'll pick up the orange blazes of the Florida Trail. Follow these downstream. You'll soon pass under the serious-looking power lines for the second time; you'll see different sets of these eight times during the loop. You should also be able to see the source of the power lines on the far bank of the Suwanee--Progress Energy's Suwannee River Power Plant. Depending on the water level, you should also soon be able to see and hear some "rapids" as the Suwannee passes over some limerock shoals. At times the river level has been low enough that the Suwannee is nothing but rapids flowing over shoals. I suspect that at other times the river is deep enough that the shoals aren't evident, but the trail might be underwater then. As you head southerly on the trail there are nothing but great views of the Suwannee.

Shortly after you pass under power lines for the fifth time, you'll come to Interstate 10 and the southernmost portion of the loop. The intersection is clearly marked, but make sure that you follow the blue blazes of the trailwalker trail to the north rather than continuing east along the orange-blazed Florida Trail. Most of the northbound trek is along dirt roads through wooded areas. You don't get the views of the river that you do on the journey south, but I have never failed to see groups of feral pigs on this part of the loop. There are also several places where you can see the remains of old farming enclosures back in the trees--shabby wire-and-sheet-metal structures of indeterminate use. Count three sets of power lines on your walk north; the fourth will be the trail head and the end of the loop.