Friday, July 25, 2014

Bicycling a Missing Link

Volusia County recently completed a 2.5 mile, mostly sidewalk connection between the Spring to Spring Trail and the East Central Florida Regional Rail Trail.  This short section connects Gemini Springs with Green Springs, and gives bicyclists about a 20 mile out and back ride to where the Osteen Bridge is currently under construction over highway 415.
A trail bicyclist used to have to ride in sometimes heavy traffic with no bike lanes to pedal this busy section, so the sidewalk is very welcome!  This road is named Dirksen Avenue west of the Interstate and is called Debary Avenue on the east side.  Building a trail along this missing link is awesome!
Trailhead, just off 17/92
I bicycled this new section today, and despite the heat, it was a pleasant bike ride.  I parked at the gravel trailhead just off highway 17/92 in the shade.  The first section along Gemini Springs Park is well shaded.  The path splits directions around rocks a couple of times and it curves a bit, keeping your speed low around park entrance and exit crossings.
Beware the mileage markers along the trail may be confusing.  I never saw the 0 mile, and somehow gained half a mile between both trails.  The miles count down from 4 out of Gemini Springs and then count up from Green Springs.
Trail splits in Gemini Springs
Where the trail previously dead-ended and turned left to climb to historic Debary Hall, the new section continues ahead, built as a wide sidewalk along the busy street.  There are some restaurants and convenience stores located across the street.  It soon comes to where the Interstate bridge crossed the road and the railroad line.  The sidewalk is paved under here, just a little away from the traffic.  It then passes by a Park-and-Ride lot, and continues along, next to the street for about a mile and a half, until the trail turns into the trees.
Where the trail used to end, new trail continues ahead

Under the I-4 bridge where the railroad used to run
About a block after the trees, Green Springs is on the right.  The trail then climbs a bit and continues along until it dead ends in about 5 miles.  I have written about this trail here before, so I won't repeat all of that.  It does dead end at the base of the new bridge construction which will cross the recently widened highway 415 in Osteen, just north of the almost famous Osteen Diner.  From there it will continue to the next stop about 5 miles away.  Plans call for the next 50 miles of this trail to become a major portion of the cross Florida bicycle trail.  I understand funding is approved and construction on that section will begin next year.
Where I used to begin the trail
While hot, today's ride was pleasant because of the clouds and light breezes.  I saw an eagle in its nest and a turtle crossed the trail in front of me.  Where the trail has shade it was nice, but the last couple of miles near Osteen are wide open and the heat was increasing.  It is also very hot when crossing the boardwalks along the trail.
In total the trail ride was 19.72 miles long.  The trail gained 482 feet (surprising) riding out and back.  I didn't ride very fast and stopped every 10 minutes or so for a drink or to take a photo, so it took me over a couple hours to complete it on my mountain bike.  I used an app called MapMyHike on my iPhone for the first time, and I liked how it worked.
To get here, take I-4 East from Orlando.  Cross the St. John River and take the next exit, 108.  At Debary Drive turn right (west) and drive just under 4 miles.  Turn left into the trailhead just before you reach the stoplight at 17/92.
When the Osteen bridge is finished in August, I'll bicycle over that part of the trail (on a cloudy day).
Osteen Bridge construction, maybe finished in August

Friday, July 18, 2014

Bicycling For A Cause

Dan Zimmerman on Trike
I read about Dan Zimmerman's plan to bicycle across America and it really struck me.  It wasn't that Dan was bicycling 5000+ miles, many people make the trip annually using Bike Centennial's (now the Adventure Cycling Association) established trails along backroads and highways.  It wasn't that Dan was raising money for another capital letter disease, the HHT Foundation.  It was that Dan was a stroke survivor.
Strokes are insidious in that they strike each individual differently.  They are cruel because they may take away the simple things we used to do every day, like walking, and talking, or playing guitar.  There is a stigma attached to them, that once you have a stroke that you are expected to be a drain to society and may not even be a player in your own life.  I know because I suffered a stroke in 2012.
Yes, me.  The distance bicyclist, the avid hiker and outdoorsman, and considered to be healthy by current medical standards was crippled by one of our nation's most deadly diseases.
With much help from others, I have learned to use my leg again to walk and even to backpack.  I have learned to use my hand and arm again and have begun playing guitar.  (Something I did very well for decades now had me starting at the beginning.)  I recovered by walking with my wife daily using a cane on paved trails and by going to endless physical therapy sessions with hands-on care from excellent, helpful professionals.  I proved I could drive a car in Interstate traffic and that I still thought "normally" through passing many tests.
Unlike Dan, I experienced the most-common type of a Lacunar Stroke, where I primarily lost motor skills. In my recovery, I fell while bicycling, breaking my hip which in many ways has been as bad as the stroke. Today, you may not notice that I ever had a stroke.
In my blogs and on my Facebook page Lite Packer Lifestyle, I will follow Dan's journey as he bicycles across America and will ask you to help him raise money for HHT and for his trip.  Lets all give a little so this man can continue to talk publicly about stroke and be a beacon for stroke survivors.  Let's also give thanks to those caring medical and therapy professionals, who struggle with us daily, never really knowing how, or if, we will succeed.
And yes, I have learned from the stroke.  I have learned about the triumph of the human spirit, overcoming adversity and the wisdom of simplifying my life.
And that is why this coming November, I will bicycle with Dan during his ride for a day when he passes through Central Florida on the final leg of his trip across America.  For me it will be a celebration that there is life after a stroke, that it is OK to talk about it, and to own it just like all those other accomplishments in our lives.  Thank you, Dan.  I just hope I can keep up!

Friday, July 11, 2014

Bicycling the Lake Apopka Loop Trail


Lake Apopka Trailhead Kiosk
As I listen to the rain tinkle down today, I am reminded of past bicycle loop rides around Lake Apopka, back before the state got serious about water quality and restoring past mistakes.  Those bike rides started from my home then in Apopka, led me on my various road bicycles south along the eastern shore of the lake to the mostly abandoned Winter Garden downtown, with all the vultures perched on the telephone tower.  I would Tour through open country to turn west past Oakland, rolling up and down through the hills of Monte Verde, climbing the wall of Sugarloaf Mountain to turn right to Astatula in the north, and cycle back easterly through the Zellwood area farmlands and Apopka fern fields to return home again.  It was something around a 70 mile ride, crossed a busy highway twice and it took most of the day.  One day it turned cold and rained, but I still rode, a dedicated voyager back then, but not so much now.  I won't ride in the rain anymore unless caught out in it with no where to go.  I like how things have changed.
Lake Apopka, large and looming along your left as you bicycle west.
Crushed cement and gravel trail surface
Today the state of Florida has embraced rail trails and hiking trails and all things outdoors, and have remodeled buildings and opened businesses as the bicyclists and walkers, runners and skaters came and spent a little money on coffee, pizza and antiques.  Whole towns have become great places to live again, and have grown like the downtown area of Winter Garden along the West Orange Trail.  And I noticed the great lake of Apopka is no longer looking 'electric green' and heavily contaminated with nutrients as it did 25 years ago.  Nearly fifteen years into this reclamation and all the work done and all the money spent is beginning to show for the better.
Anhingas resting on poles and posts along the water
Reeds in close and grasses out far along the shoreline
What better way to celebrate area restoration than to bicycle the Lake Apopka Loop trail, along the northern shore of the Lake.  It was supposed to rain, but didn't.  Overcast and windy, it made for a good day outdoors and a challenging ride back into the wind along the open shore.  Now this is not a smooth paved trail, but it is hardened like a gravel road, perfect for wider tires with lower pressures and slower speeds to enjoy the views.  You do start on black pavement at the Magnolia Park trailhead, but after a quarter mile, that changes to crushed cement and gravel.
Old steel supports, well-marked, but be careful bicycling!
Osprey waiting for lunch
The trail follows the top of a dike built around the northern side of the lake in the 1930's-1940's.  This dike allowed the farmers to pump Lake Apopka water onto the muck lands where they truck-farmed for decades, and pump it back out again as the plants matured, creating the fine white Zellwood corn, carrots, lettuce and other farm vegetables for market.  The system was engineered to use labor to cut the produce, toss it up to workers on a shaded platform truck driving slowly behind them who processed and loaded the vegetables into packing cartons, that were conveyor-belted off the back of these slow moving trucks into other refrigerator trucks backing behind them, which then hauled fresh vegetables straight to the freezer warehouse all within 30 minutes of being picked. From there it was distributed directly to stores around the country.  This was American mechanized truck-farm ingenuity at its best.
The problem was that the pesticides and nutrients added to the muck to nourish and protect the food washed back into Lake Apopka with each man-made flood.  Lake Apopka is the head waters for the Ocklawaha River system which feeds into the St. John river and out to the sea at Jacksonville. Contaminates and high levels of nutrients killed the trophy bass fishing businesses on Lake Apopka and ran downstream through the Lake Harris chain to kill fish, birds and wildlife in the St. John river.  This river is also where a lot of Florida's community drinking water comes from, hence the reason for the farmland restoration.
Presently you come to the historic pump house.  It's 3 kerosene pumps are still in place along with huge rusted pipes.  There is a new picnic shelter there with 2 tables, trail brochures and lots to look at both water-side and trail-side.  A raised path has been built around the lake side of the block pump house, and there is a portable toilet on the west side by the ponds and canals.  CLICK HERE for a trail map.
Along the windy lake shore
Historic Pump House

Big pipes!
Farming culture kiosk
Looking east past the new picnic shelter
Today the farms are all silently gone, the land bought by the St. John Water Management group, but the canals, pumps, roads, bridges and dikes, and a lot of rusted steel remain. The first 4 miles of the trail are open to the lake, providing awesome views across the empty water.  The Monte Verde hills loom above the lake's western shore, water towers and radio towers mark Winter Garden to the south.  Fallow fields to the right seem to flatly go on forever, with a network of dirt roads and old bridges over canals.
About 3 miles further west, you turn inland along a canal, then turn left twice quickly to return back to the shoreline, inside of a line of trees.  Another mile brings you to a picnic table at 8.7 miles, which was my lunch stop and turn around for today.  I believe this is my first-ever stop in a 'new' picnic shelter along a trail that had no trash, no grafitti spray painted anywhere, and had nothing broken.  Even the picnic tables have no carvings in them.  Please, let's keep it this way!
It overlooks a couple of canals and miles and miles of flat land.  Ducks paddled about, hawks and buzzards lofted above, and it was very peaceful.  A Bald Eagle perched on an old power line pole along the way back, then took to the sky with a mate.  I saw a Red-tailed Hawk swooping low along the old fields.  A Blue Heron repeatedly flew a few yards in front of me, then flew again to another branch.  Great Egrets flew in the winds above with an occasional Swallow-tailed Kite.
Nice, new covered picnic area, my bicycle, and more canals
Low and flat farmlands, marsh and more canals
A sign at the picnic shelter & others posted along the trail each half mile
And birds are everywhere.  Anhinga's and Comorants dry their wings on trees and perch on sticks along the shore, Turkey Vultures circle on thermals overhead, Great Blue Heron's take to wing as you approach, Red-winged Blackbirds and Ospreys share tree branches together.  That loud and continuous birdsong that sounds like the Everglade's rookeries was heard along the first section of trail.  I counted 12 of the 18 birds listed in the Orange County Loop Trail handout, and those were just the ones I could identify.  There were many small warblers and yellow colored small birds, cardinals and jays that not on the list.  This is truly a bird-watcher's heaven.  Bring your binoculars!
Well signed trail
Note there are 2 Ospreys and one Red-winged Blackbird sharing a tree
Continuing along the trail you pass wildlife, mostly in the forms of alligators.  Signs are posted everywhere to not feed alligators, so please do not dangle your bicycling partner in front of the 80 tooth monsters as they will bite.  I have read online to stay 15 feet or more away from these beasts, as that is their comfort range (IF they are not hungry or mating March through June).  I usually give them 30 feet or more. Unfortunately this trail passes less than that away from many of these wild animals along the route.  This day, 2 ten-foot-plus ones were sunning themselves just 8 feet off the trail.  Also, don't provoke them to move off the trail if they are blocking it, it may be the last we hear of you.
Do Not Feed Alligator signs are everywhere
Alligator eyeing ducks
Look closely, alligator swimming
Beside the trail, keep 15 feet or more away!
There were also hair-infused animal droppings along the trail, suspected the be from Barn Owls, which I did not see.
There is not much, if any at all, shade along this trail, so wear sunscreen and drink lots of water.  Fill up your water bottles at home or at Lake Magnolia Park, there is no drinking water available once you are on the trail.  I drank 2 water bottles on a 3 hour trip in cool, cloudy, windy weather, bring more when it is sunny.
A Bald Eagle waiting for it's mate on an old power pole.
Nearing Magnolia Park on the return ride, and trees are a welcome relief from the wind
Of the entire 14.6 trail miles, I will return to ride the remaining west shore miles along the Apopka-Beauclair canal to the picnic shelter where I lunched on this trip.  Then on another trip I will follow the trails and climb the 4 wildlife viewing towers along the Clay Island loop trails.  The map shows a proposed trail to highway 455 out of Monte Verde, which when finished will make a nice walk (not sure if these trails are to be bicycled or not).  I also want to explore this area and learn more about it before the heat and mosquitoes of summer make it difficult to enjoy being outdoors.
There was really only silence to replace the sounds of farming that once rang out here daily.  I like how things have changed.
To get there, go west on highway 441 from Orlando, through Apopka.  After you pass highway 439 look for a stoplight at an overpass.  Turn left on south Binion Road (437) and follow to Magnolia Park on your right.

Friday, July 4, 2014

Free Rails to Trails guide with donation

I have been involved with the Rails To Trails organization since the early 1990's before we moved from Central Florida to the mountains of Colorado.  In Central Florida I participated in the setup work and a few of the early meetings on what eventually became the West Orange Trail.  I am very pleased with how the rail trails here have expanded here over the years and how well walkers and bicyclists have taken to the linear parks concept in Florida.  I both walk and bicycle some of these trails near my home.
The Rails to Trails folks are currently giving away a trail guide for making a $35 dollar donation to them.  Pick your favorite trail guide from the list on the site at this link.  Instead of a paperback book, you could instead select an E-Book guide for your Kindle or tablet.
These guides cover Rail Trails in the Southeast;  New England; Mid-Atlantic; Midwest; West; and PA,NY & NJ areas.  Pick your favorite area and support this fine organization.

While most rail trails are located in urban areas, some regional rail trails like the General Van Fleet and Withlacoochee State Trails in Florida are located far from towns and follow through woods, forests and farmland along the way.  I like travelling them just to enjoy the outdoors and have created multiple day trips along a few of the longer trails.  Rails to Trails TrailLink mapping system works very well for locating these rail trails in your area and for planning your day.  There are about 25,000 rail trail supporters in the state of Florida, and many have supported the state in creating more rail trails and with expanding connections between existing rail trails.  A lot of energy has been expended to make your rail trail trip more enjoyable.  Please check these trails out as welcome alternatives to just backpacking only in the wilds.