Why I'm in Florida!

Attached is a photo of my apartment building taken by my landlord in Glens Falls, NY a couple of days ago after an additional 14 inches of snow fell.

So a few chilly nights in Florida ain't a bad thing compared to this pic. I think I'll stay a few more days. :-)

R

Safe in the Woods - This saturday

The attached pic of an immature Cottonmouth was taken last weekend by Chris friesen at a well known wildlife area.

Would you know what to do if you encountered this snake on a Florida trail? How about a feral pig, an alligator or a bear?

We'll discuss these Florida hiking hazards and what to do about them in a special presentation this Saturday, January 31st at the Learning Center at Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge from 9-11 a.m. We will also discuss how to read trail markings and how to prepare for an outing. Safe in the Woods is the theme.

Join us.

Find more information at: http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=roger@rogerfulton.com&mode=MONTH

Ocklawaha Prairie

This photo was taken by Ed Sherman at the end of our 12 mile, off-road bike ride all the way around the Ocklawaha Prairie restoration area, earlier today. I think you will find this location in our CFL biking book as well as our CFL wildlife viewing book.

It took us about 2 1/2 hours to make the circle. Not for you unless you are in fairly good condition, but we saw a fair amount of wildlife along the way.

But you can just take a walk down to the pavilion and view the wildlife from there; or from the .3 mile boardwalk that goes out into the marsh.

Bring a picnic lunch and make a day of it. You are not likely to find a crowd.

R

India and my book

There are 1.1 billion people in India.
And my book, Common Sense Leadership has just been published by Macmillan, India for the “Indian sub-continent” market. The ISBN Number for it is: 978-0230-63679-8.
While overseas editions don’t pay a great deal, I can’t wait for my next royalty check on this one! Thought you might want to share this moment with me.
The American version is still available for another few months if you are interested.
Thanks,
Roger Fulton

Lake Beresford Park

A new park in Deland offers a 2-mile paved circle trail for biking or hiking. It also provides access to one of the most recent Spring-to-Spring trails. This newly paved trail takes you 2.8 miles to Blue Springs State Park. Once there you can ride another mile in to view the Manatees and other fish and wildlife at the springs. (It'll cost you a buck to get into the State Park with your bike.)

It is off of Fatio Road in DeLand.

American Hiking Association presentation

Tonight we presented our program Safe in the Woods to members of the American Hiking Association at their "Vacation" in DeLeon Springs. It was hosted by the Halifax-St. Johns Florida Trail Association chapter.
Originally scheduled as an indoor Powerpoint presentation, we opted to do an informal group presentation around the campfire, after a great outdoor dinner.
It was great. Sorry you missed it, but there are more presentations before I leave Florida on February 7th.
And, new info. Looks like I'll be back around the first week of March to do more presentations, including at the Lake Helen Book Fair on March 7th.
Stay tuned.
Roger

Sunnyhill Restoration Area

This is the dryest we have ever seen Sunnyhill Restoration Area. It is more than 4000 acres of wildlands for you to hike, bike and view wildlife. Walk or bike as far as you want.

But we have warned you in our books to wear boots to explore this area. Yet, yesterday we took a leisurely walk abot a mile down to that 3 story observation tower that ovelooks the area, without getting our feet wet.

Get out there and enjoy it while you can!

Buncombe Hill Interpretive Trail

Hike #9 in our book, 25 Short Hikes and Interesting Walks in Central Florida, highlighted the Buncombe Hill Interpretive Trail between Daytona Beach and DeLand, Florida. It's a two mile trek into the site of an old "turpentine camp."
So we did it again today and here is what we found.
The trail has been re-marked with bright green paint slashes and is much easier to follow than the old dark green slashes. That's the good news.
The bad news is that they are trying to return a part of this area into a habitat for Scrub Jays. To do so they have cut fire trails right across the interpretive trail with heavy equipment. It ain't pretty! The original trail is still quite good though. You will just have to climb over some pushed up debris in a couple of places.
On the interpretive trail, we found interpretive brochures at the trailhead. We didn't see markers for stations 1 and 2, and 6 had been uprooted and is out of place. But the rest of the trail and markers, up to #21, were in place.
So, don't deter from going there and enjoying this trail, even now. A couple of dedicated workers we encountered also assured us that it would be in great shape, with all the prescribed burns done and with a new Scrub Jay habitat by Summer.
Now if someone will only notify the Scrub Jays, we'll all be in great shape!

Beresford Trails

In our book 25 More Short Hikes and Interesting Walks in Central Florida, we covered the Beresford Trails near DeLand, Florida.

Today we revisited those trails expecting that the expansion of Lake Beresford Park had ruined these two miles of trails.

Nope! The directions and the trails are intact. After all that construction and paving, the trails are still there. Today they use small sections (100 ft.) of the newly paved perimeter trail in places, but otherwise the "wilderness" trails are still intact.

Get out and enjoy them! Need a book? www.RogerFulton.com

R

Yes, it's in real time

We've gotten several comments about whether or not the video clip of the Snowy Egret hunting was in quicktime or not. (At least we know someone is tuning in to this Blog).
Nope, that's actually how fast he was moving, which made it a great test for my new camera, the new camera operator, and for a fast 6 seconds on the Blog.
We're having fun and hope you are too.
R

Snowy Egret in motion, hunting - Test

This is our first test of a video on our Blog. I believe that it will appear, but is optional to start and view. Let us know what you think. We can either continue appropriate videos, or dump them altogether. It is up to you. Again, this is our first attempt at this. Please have some patience while it loads. Note the "Golden Slippers" on this Snowy Egret's feet as he/she tromps through the marsh.