Highlands Hammock State Park Part 2

This is part 2 of our camping trip to Highlands Hammock State Park. If you missed part 1 you can click on the link on the right side under "Campgrounds That I Have Visited".

I hope you enjoy these photos...





Road through the park. The road is one way it is around a 3 1/2 mile loop through the park. It is mostly shaded and a great ride after the park has closed to cars for the night. We even saw lightning bugs (sorry no pictures of them), it is the first time I have seen them in Florida for 20+ years. The road is never really busy, the reason is the parking area at the trail heads is limited and the only picnic area is next to the CCC museum at the entrance to the park.







The park offers a tram ride that takes you way back into the park that is not open to the public. It makes it's way through five different habitats.

It costs $4.00 per adult and $2.00 per child. However, it is well worth the money. I almost guarantee that you will see wildlife.









Can you see the baby gator? Look close.....
















Here is another baby gator we saw along the ride. They are really cute when they are young... Notice the yellow stripes..

Beware though... whenever you see baby gators.. Momma is.......








CLOSE BY!!!!!!!! Watch Out........


We also saw a deer getting a drink of water.. But I was tooo sloooow on getting the camera up... dang it....







Beautiful Blue Herron searching for its next meal... The ranger told us that they will eat the baby gators....


But they better be fast or momma gator will eat them.... Isn't nature crazy....


Well this is end of the tram pictures.






Next we rode our bikes to the trail that had "The Big Oak" tree.














This is one big old oak tree....

Pretty lumpy... I guess even trees get lumpy as they get old....









Way back in the 40's or 50's the park saved 2 or 3 of these old oak trees by filling up the rotted out centers with concrete... The trees have grown around the concrete.

Here you can see a patch of the concrete..

I wonder what today's tree surgeons would think about this method? But the trees are still alive and growing...









Here is another trail boardwalk.











You see all kinds of creatures along these trails..


I think this is some kind of moth!










This spider web looks almost like a CD... I hope the moth does not get caught up in the deadly music...













This bird was going crazy eating the berries back in the woods. They must be some awesome berries......









Like I promised from part 1....

We came across 3 wild boars grubbing for some food. They ran way so I had to zoom in for these shots. Sorry they are a little blurry.












Here is a closer shot of one of the boar.

They were orange with black spots.









Good Morning....

Still smokey from the controlled burn. The ranger later told me they call it "prescribed burns". I guess it is more politically correct.... :)











Pretty smokey... Luckily it dissolved pretty quickly once the sun came up.....












Even 4 days after the burn there was still hot spots burning in the woods.

The ranger said they do burns year round and you can call ahead of time to see if they are doing any burns. This is important if you have medical issues.







The park has a large recreation room that the public can rent. Believe it is $100 per day.










There is a large playground by the rec room. This area is right off the main camping area and if you have children I would make sure you find this area to let the kids play. It is a nicer playground than the one right in the campground.


Well this is enough for now... There will be one more part of my Highlands Hammock stay, it will show more details of the campgrounds.

Have a great time camping......