Glamping

                                      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. 😅 

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

In the main section, the creek came up about thirty feet, but caused no damage as it quickly receded.

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.

This river is more than 300 miles long and 3 miles at its widest point. It is the longest river in Florida. It also flows in a northerly direction.

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? 😡

 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

 Memories

Bridge to Jacksonville