Fern Forest Nature Center

Jennifer, David, and myself visited the Fern Forest Nature Center this morning. The weather was perfect for this outing and I was happy that we only encountered a few mosquitoes. It was 67 degrees, humidity of 43%, and a wind of 8 mph. Portions of the trails were muddy from last week's heavy rains versus the paths being shaded. I wish I could bike this terrain because a lot of the paths are riddled with roots, rocks, fallen limbs, cypress knees, and mud; however, bikes are not permitted. This is an awesome park that I plan on visiting often. We walked the entire park in approximately 3 hours. Next time, we will pack a picnic, as there are several tables in the parking lot that re shaded. Afterwards, we settled for 5 Guy's for burgers and fries.

Seabranch Preserve State Park

This afternoon, we visited the Seabranch Preserve State Park. The weather was gorgeous, as the high was 69, the humidity was 50%, and the wind was 6 mph. We walked approximately 6 miles of the preserve. This was a good workout because a lot of the path was sugar sand. The first portion of the trail was littered with fallen trees. I assume that this phenomenon is the aftermath of the hurricanes from a few years ago. New growth a visible, as we saw lots of young pine trees as we walked further into the preserve. We also observed the palmetto heads recovering from a recent burn/fire. I am glad that we did not attempt to bike this, as the suger sand would have made it very unpleasant.