A full moon shines brightly through the trees. My initial reason for joining Meet-Up on moving to Florida, is that I love to find out as much as I can about my environment, especially the outdoors, while getting maximum exercise and meeting interesting people. |
Jennifer gets the campfire going |
Sticking with the Boca Raton Outdoor Adventures group led by the knowledgeable Floridian Jennifer Weise, has allowed me to do just that.
Our latest trek was to Camp Chowenwah in Clay County, just outside of Jacksonville, Florida.
On this trip, I dragged a long-time school-mate, Sonia along, only to hear we have now been dubbed Columbus and Vasco de Gama by another. π
Only hope we don’t turn out to
be as wicked as those two were!
As usual, I stray.
It was supposed to be a camping trip, but I am overjoyed that it was instead a glamping affair, with only one person Stephanie, camping in a tent.
And because
she lives in the area, she also proved
to be an invaluable guide.
Stephanie, the authentic trooper. Chowenwah was just up my street, as it has comfortable log cabins with private indoor bathrooms, microwave and fridge. Some even have air condition, but those do not have the other private facilities outlined above. The camp even has a swimming pool and tree houses but both areas were closed due to a little damage caused by hurricane Ian. |
Our comfortable cabin |
The camp is a beautiful 150-acre recreation site on Black Creek, located in Green Cove Springs near its confluence with the St. Johns River.
My only problem with that location is that a housing scheme was allowed to be constructed right beside the beautiful recreation area, so the animals that one would normally see in areas such as this, were nowhere to be found.
Isn't this housing scheme just too close? π‘ |
I did however run into a small water snake near the tree house area but he disappeared quickly into the pond when I tried to video tape him.
Birds however abound and one night, a din sounding somewhat
like a convention of rowdy owls, appeared
to be quite close.
A tree-house |
On our first night as we gathered around the campfire as a bright new moon peeped through the trees. There were loud, frequent sounds of hickory nuts falling from great heights, to the point that some of our campers suggested that if we were struck one, it could cause a lot of damage.
Luckily,
that never happened.
Ian brought water about 30 feet up |
I had never seen hickory nuts before though and was curious as to
why people never ate them, although squirrels
do, so clearly they are not poisonous. That spurred a
fellow camper Chrissy to break one of the nuts to try it. It was no easy task
and the nut crumbled, so that’s clearly one reason why humans do not bother to
eat them. The pieces she gave me to try were tasty though.
With our convenient and comfortable base at Camp Chowenwah, we were able to do quite a few interesting hikes and explorations.
So stay tuned.
Link; https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2022/10/anti-immigrant-crap.html?m=1
Bridge to Jacksonville |
3 comments:
Joan, I greatly am so glad you came and that you loved the experience. I enjoyed having both you and Sonia. I look forward to our next adventure. ~Jennifer
Nice account. Look forward to what’s to come since it will also be a reminder π. SP
Nice pics. They back up your description of the site. Thanks for sharing.
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