FL Part 4: Sarasota to Panama City (The Nice Part of FL)

North-central FL, the northwest coast, and the panhandle are a completely different world from the east and SW coasts. Somehow these areas have been spared relentless development, even along the beaches, and beautiful natural areas dominate the landscape. The ride north of Tampa and west along the gulf coast were a much welcomed change in scenery.

My cousins from NY recently moved to the boondocks in Dade City, so rather than continue up the coast from Sarasota I rode inland.  Once I got north of Tampa a wonderful thing happened: I looked up and saw countryside, and a hill that wasn't part of a bridge.  Horses, cows,  pasture, and orange groves were everywhere.   I saw share the road bike signs and even crossed paths with a group of cyclists.  After a 90+ mile day, I got a hearty meal of soup, a ping pong tournament and a comfy bed.  I am so glad they gave me a reason to ride to that part of FL.

Riding north the next morning two cyclists, Vinny and Jim, rode with me for a bit and took me out to breakfast.  One of them founded the San Antonio FL bike shop.  The area is apparently a cycling destination in FL.  There is even a nice country bike path, which I followed north through Floral City, home to a recumbent specialist bike shop.  I camped at Ft. Cooper State Park just off the path.  More nice country riding to Gainesville and along the way I stopped at Rainbow Springs State Park for a swim.  What a good decision!  The clearest water I have ever seen (120' of visibility I was told) and 72 degrees year round.  I would take this over the beach any day.

Rainbow Springs swimming area

My friend from UConn, Nick, is at University of FL in Gainesville doing a post-doc in chemical engineering.  I arrived just in time to get a tour of his lab, where they are working on a device to use solar thermal energy to produce hydrogen, and to check out the campus bat houses just as the bats emerged at sunset.  Gainesville is a great college town, very bicycle friendly,  and has a pretty lively downtown.  There area lots of nice natural areas just outside town too.  If you want to see some big gators in big numbers up close, all you need to do is take an easy 4-5 mile bike ride down the bike path to Paynes Prairie Preserve.  There are also wild bison, horses and birds galore.

The prairie part of Paynes Prairie

Wildlife is abudnant and not very skittish.  Big gators were within 20'.

In route to Tallahassee I stopped at Lafayette Blue Springs State Park to camp.  The swimming was not as paradise-like as Rainbow Springs, but still pretty good.  I got a chilly swim in just before dark.  The camp area was quiet, and the only other camper was another guy on a bike, Curtis Hollerback.  The host told me I could share Curtis' site if that was OK with him.  Curtis didn't seem to mind as a church had given him a voucher for the site.  Curtis was from Colorado Springs, where he had worked at a King Soopers grocery store before quitting in 2010.  Now he rides his bike around and doesn't seem to  be in any hurry or have a particular destination.  He carries a whole lot of stuff including a pressure cooker, stove, and French press.  Curtis and the host made a campfire, with the help of some gasoline, and we had a nice evening telling stories.

Curtis showing off his rig.

My Tallahassee WS host wasn't more than a half mile off the very nice bike path that borders the Apalachicola National Forest 10-15 miles into the city from the south.  I knocked on the door and a young woman, Marina, answered with a surprised look.  Her boyfriend, Justin, who I had contacted, was stuck at the JFK airport and forgot to tell her I was coming.  Marina shrugged like it was no big deal, welcomed me in, offered me a shower and food, and said I could sleep in their kitchen or the condo complex community room.  The complex was funky and unique.  Apparently a group got together and purchased an abandoned city housing project and  then refurbished it into an affordable hip condo complex.

Southwest of Tallahassee is the very large Apalachicola National Forest, which has number of other parks in and around it.  Riding south back toward the coast I stopped at Leon Sinks Park for a hike. Along the trails there are dozens of sinkholes, some of which access underwater cave networks that connects to Wakulla Springs 10+miles away.   I rode to Wakulla Springs and I took  a swim in the crystal clear water despite the dropping temperature and wind.  All the sudden the temps were in the low 50s.   If you are wondering why there are so many sinkholes and springs in FL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karst

Wakulla Springs vegetation being pulled by the current near the headwaters.  Anybody know what plant that is?

Riding south on the Sopchoppy Highway, a Honda Element passed me going as far left  as possible before driving off the road, and then pulled over in the shoulder ahead.  A most friendly guy, Stephen MacIntyre from FT Lauderdale, got out and waved me down.  Stephen, a cycling enthusiast, had done a tour himself and was camping down the road at Ochlockonee River State Park.  He offered to share his campsite so I had a great night at a beautiful park, good conversation, and with temps in the 30s, a much appreciated hot shower.

The Ochlockonee River at sunset

Me and Stephen at the campsite

The next day I rode along the Gulf coast to Saint George Island State Park, a barrier island recommend by Justin and Marina.  The $5 primitive camping sites were a 2 mile hike on a sandy trail, so the park ranger let me camp at the youth camping area, accessible by paved road.  The ranger followed me out and told me the best RV campsite to sneak into for a hot shower.  After setting up camp I rode the 10 mile dirt road to the tip of the island.  I have not see a more beautiful place in FL: white sand beach, dunes, scrub, grassland, marsh, and a wildlife haven.  It was just me and a Northern Harrier riding/flying into the sunset on the way back to camp.  

The road back to the eastern tip of St. George Island.  A bit sandy in spots.

Dozens of oyster fisherman were out on the water in the early morning as I rode over the bridge in route to St Joe Peninsula State Park via Apalachicola. They use a post-hole digger like device, called an oyster rake, to reach down and pull up mud and oysters.  Despite a strong wind and temps in the upper 30s many of them were in t-shirts.  Looks like very hard work.

Apalachicola is a small fishing/tourist town with lots of bed and breakfast type places and little shops.  St Joe Peninsula has one main road with some beach houses and the State Park at the north end, but not much else.  A great area if you like beautiful beaches, oysters , and low key vacationing. The primitive camping at the park was a long hike on sandy trails, so the ranger set me up with a road accessible spot again, but no luck with a hot shower.  I arrived late and didn't get to explore much, but saw one of the nicest sunsets of my trip overlooking a beautiful white sand beach and dunes.

Enjoying a cold but beautiful sunset at St Joe Peninsula

On my way to Panama City I saw a touring cyclist, another, but very different, Curtis at a park in Port St Joe. This Curtis, from Calgary, works in the oil fields of north Alberta during the winter to fund his biking trips, which he has been doing since 2005 all over the world, including Alaska to Tierra Del Fuego twice, currently in route to Miami and then to Cuba. He told me the NW territories, Yukon, and Alaska were some of his favorite places. I asked about the bears, and he said they are everywhere, but he never had any trouble.  A bear may have been scratching at his tent once,  but he wasn't sure if that actually happened or if he dreamt it.  As we chatted Curtis slapped 5 heaping tablespoons of PB and 5 heaping tablespoons of Nutella into a large tortilla, rolled it up like a burrito, and dipped it into a huge jar of honey before each bite.  I rode on to Panama City feeling inspired.