wfooshee
O, Woe is me!!
Since becoming single, I've discovered a certain enjoyment in photographing nature-type thingies. Critters like birds, alligators, dragonflies, and the places they live. Some may recall this thread from back in April. Some of you who are FB friends have seen a lot of this stuff from me.
I have a pass to Florida's state parks, so I can get into any park in the state for a year. I've been wandering around visiting a lot of the nearby parks as a result. Today I went to Falling Waters State Park just south of Chipley, about 45 miles north of here.
This is a ride report because I rode there. Duh. Weather was great, sunny, high 60s / low 70s, gas cheapest it's been for weeks. (Election coming up, you know....) Hey! No political crap!!!
This is Florida's tallest waterfall. It's a bit of a cheat because the creek falls into a sinkhole, but it's 73 feet from the edge to the bottom of the hole, so it counts!
The creek is pretty dry right now, but there is a little trickle dribbling over the ledge:
This fish-eye view was taken on the overlook seen at the bottom left of the previous picture.
Climbing the stairs out of the hole, the trail then winds through the woods for a ways. Here is what passes for fall color down here:
Ooh! Ahh! Color!
Falling Waters Lake. Clever name, that! Oh, and look! One tree with leaves changing! Ah, fall....
Am I looking at forest or trees??!?!?!?! I can't tell!!!!!
I did not sample these. I have absolutely no understanding of what's available food-wise in the woods. Is it good? Is it poison? I have no clue.
Fence lizard trying to be invisible
Grasshopper, cricket, whatever. I'm actually not enough of a nature freak to care.....
Other sinkholes near the waterfall
I lit the flash for this one, looking for treasure..... None there.
After the waterfall I found some lunch and sat at a table with an electrical outlet so I could plug in my camera's battery charger, having seen the low battery warning several times before leaving Falling Waters. After a slow lunch, allowing some charge time, I got onto US 90 and headed west for almost 30 miles, to Ponce de Leon Springs State Park. I'd never been to either of these parks before, so this was all new to me today.
This is not a pool. They've built a deck around the natural spring. That's sand on the bottom, and trees growing out of it. The far side is a natural shore.
And oh, yeah: turtles swimming around!
Looking back towards the parking lot
The natural side of the "pool"
This is where the water flows out of the pool and forms a short creek through the woods, before it joins another creek. 1.6-second exposure.
A view of the spring's creek, showing the clear water
This is where it joins Sandy Creek, with a definite difference in water color
Another view of the join
Back at the spring, here are some folks "enjoying" the year-round 68-degree water temperature. I think a bet was involved, because they had to bring suitcases down from the cars to the bathrooms to have dry clothes afterward
One last shot of the trees growing from the spring
It was 55 miles home from Ponce de Leon, so the day's ride wasn't exactly an SS1000, but I walked for hours through the trails, and being the reference specimen for human physical fitness (for the "before" picture,) my legs are killing me!
I have a pass to Florida's state parks, so I can get into any park in the state for a year. I've been wandering around visiting a lot of the nearby parks as a result. Today I went to Falling Waters State Park just south of Chipley, about 45 miles north of here.
This is a ride report because I rode there. Duh. Weather was great, sunny, high 60s / low 70s, gas cheapest it's been for weeks. (Election coming up, you know....) Hey! No political crap!!!
This is Florida's tallest waterfall. It's a bit of a cheat because the creek falls into a sinkhole, but it's 73 feet from the edge to the bottom of the hole, so it counts!
The creek is pretty dry right now, but there is a little trickle dribbling over the ledge:
This fish-eye view was taken on the overlook seen at the bottom left of the previous picture.
Climbing the stairs out of the hole, the trail then winds through the woods for a ways. Here is what passes for fall color down here:
Ooh! Ahh! Color!
Falling Waters Lake. Clever name, that! Oh, and look! One tree with leaves changing! Ah, fall....
Am I looking at forest or trees??!?!?!?! I can't tell!!!!!
I did not sample these. I have absolutely no understanding of what's available food-wise in the woods. Is it good? Is it poison? I have no clue.
Fence lizard trying to be invisible
Grasshopper, cricket, whatever. I'm actually not enough of a nature freak to care.....
Other sinkholes near the waterfall
I lit the flash for this one, looking for treasure..... None there.
After the waterfall I found some lunch and sat at a table with an electrical outlet so I could plug in my camera's battery charger, having seen the low battery warning several times before leaving Falling Waters. After a slow lunch, allowing some charge time, I got onto US 90 and headed west for almost 30 miles, to Ponce de Leon Springs State Park. I'd never been to either of these parks before, so this was all new to me today.
This is not a pool. They've built a deck around the natural spring. That's sand on the bottom, and trees growing out of it. The far side is a natural shore.
And oh, yeah: turtles swimming around!
Looking back towards the parking lot
The natural side of the "pool"
This is where the water flows out of the pool and forms a short creek through the woods, before it joins another creek. 1.6-second exposure.
A view of the spring's creek, showing the clear water
This is where it joins Sandy Creek, with a definite difference in water color
Another view of the join
Back at the spring, here are some folks "enjoying" the year-round 68-degree water temperature. I think a bet was involved, because they had to bring suitcases down from the cars to the bathrooms to have dry clothes afterward
One last shot of the trees growing from the spring
It was 55 miles home from Ponce de Leon, so the day's ride wasn't exactly an SS1000, but I walked for hours through the trails, and being the reference specimen for human physical fitness (for the "before" picture,) my legs are killing me!
