February 2021

Little Big Econ State Forest – February 12, 2021

The Little Big Econ State Forest is well-known for its beautiful trails. The forest is 10,279 acres preserved in a suburban area in the middle of the triangle formed by Orlando, Cocoa and Daytona Beach. The forest supports a variety of wildlife such as alligator, Sherman’s fox squirrel, gopher tortoise, gopher frog, bald eagle, sandhill crane, deer, turkey, gray squirrel, roseate spoonbill and wood stork.

You’ll find shady trails along the beautiful wild Econlockhatchee River, a major tributary of the St. Johns River and designated an Outstanding Florida Water. The Econ is a slow-moving tannic-colored river with some bluffs along its banks that add elevation changes to the riverside hike.There are lots of hiking options: There are 16.3 miles of trails, including an eight mile section of the Florida Trail and a straight trail called the Flagler Trail because it follows what was Henry Flagler’s historic railroad line.

We made the Kolokee Trail into a 5.2 mile loop, you need to consult the Kolokee Trail Brochure and use several other marked trails — the Flagler Trail, the White Trail and the Florida National Scenic Trail – to get you back to the trailhead.

Along the way, we admired the many large oak and cypress trees and used one of several benches to watch the river. We’re told it’s a good place for birding and wildlife viewing, but our only sighting was an alligator. Where does the unusual name come from?

The forest’s name comes from combining the names of the Little Econlockhatchee River and the larger Econlockhatchee River, which come together just south of the forest.

The Muskogee word Econlockhatchee translates literally to “earth-mound stream” and means the “river of many mounds.” Long ago, Native Americans named the river for the multitude of man-made earthen mounds along the waterway.

February 26, 2021 3

LAKE HARNEY WILDERNESS AREA – February 15-2021

The Lake Harney Wilderness Area (LHWA) is an approximately 300-acre property that is located along the St. Johns River at the northwest shore of Lake Harney. This site is home to an historic crossing of the Florida East Coast Railway, Native American shell middens, several bald eagle nests, oak hammocks and mixed hardwood swamps. This site also contains extensive floodplain marshes associated with Lake Harney which serve as important feeding grounds for wading birds and as a natural filter improving water quality.

February 24, 2021 2

Lake George Forest and Wildlife Management Area & Haw Creek Preserve – February 8, 2021

The 8,062-acre Lake George Forest and Wildlife Management Area is part of a 35,380-acre wildlife management area that provides more than 20 miles of contiguous habitat for many species of Florida’s wildlife along Lake George and the St. Johns River. The Lake George area has the second largest population of bald eagles in the lower 48 states.The trail along Lake George winds through hardwood hammock dominated by live oak, sweet bay, magnolia, and sabal palm with an understory of palmetto. Wildlife along the trails may include osprey, bald eagle, barred owl, pigmy rattlesnake, black bear, bobcat, river otter, fox, deer and turkey. Too bad the only wildlife I saw were a few crows.

Haw Creek Preserve is a beautiful peaceful place that is a hidden gem near Bunnell. It’s hidden back in the woods behind acres of cabbage farmland. The Haw Creek Preserve is right on the Haw Creek, where you can kayak and launch a boat. The hike is a bit on the shorter side. The whole thing is on a great boardwalk. The total distance round trip is a little less than 1.5 miles. Along the boardwalk there are turnoffs that take you over to the Haw Creek. From the turnoffs you have great views of the creek.

February 16, 2021 4

The 2nd started out as a rainy day so we skipped golf and headed to Winter Park Fl to do some inside activity. Rained while we were at the Morse but cleared so we decided to visit the Polasek of course after a great lunch in downtown.

The Morse Museum houses the world’s most comprehensive collection of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933), including the artist and designer’s jewelry, pottery, paintings, art glass, leaded-glass lamps and windows; his chapel interior from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago; and art and architectural objects from his Long Island country estate, Laurelton Hall. The Museum’s holdings also include American art pottery, late 19th- and early 20th-century American paintings, graphics, and decorative art.

Albin Polasek (1879 – 1965) is heralded as one of America’s foremost sculptors of the twentieth century.

Celebrated in his own lifetime, Polasek created figurative works based upon the true structure of nature. His goal was to show the essential unity of form and the beauty of “movement,” the flow of one form into another. He felt that movement made the difference between a work exuding life and something inanimate. Polasek’s ability to capture the spirit of his subject provided inspiration to successors such as Richmond Barthe, Sylvia Shaw Judson and Ruth Sherwood..

Born in 1879 in Frenstat, Moravia (now Czech Republic), Albin Polasek apprenticed as a woodcarver in Vienna before immigrating to the United States in 1901 at the age of 22. After four years working as a woodcarver in the American Midwest, Polasek began his formal art training at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Under the guidance of sculptor Charles Grafly, Polasek learned the traditional classical techniques of sculpting, while refining his own distinct style. As a student he first created Man Carving His Own Destiny (1907) and Eternal Moment (1909), two of his earliest well-known sculptures. In 1909, while still a student at the Pennsylvania Academy, Polasek became an American citizen.

Coastal Strand Trail – January 30, 2021

The Coastal Strand Trail is a sandy 2.5-mile hike which begins at Smith Creek Landing in Ormond by the Sea, FL.

The first portion of this leisure hike takes place in a shady maritime hammock. It occurs on old coastal dunes that have been stabilized long enough for the growth of a forest which can be found in interrupted patches along much of Florida’s coast. The vegetation is pruned and flattened by the salt spray, angling away from the ocean.

Reaching the powerlines, you will be traversing through sunny coastal strand and looping back. These coastal dunes are vegetated with a dense thicket of salt-tolerant shrubs. It is excellent cover for small mammals, rodents, reptiles and birds. You can even catch a glimpse of the Atlantic Ocean from one of the high points on the trail.

Well-placed, interpretive signs are located along the hiking trail covering local resident species such as the gopher tortoise and Garberia, an increasingly rare plant that lives in dry, scrubby habitats.