Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Lake Arbuckle Preserve...

Feeling a lot better these days, so our activities have stepped up as well. We attended the Resort coffee hour this morning to catch up on all the happenings around here, and then decided to head out to Lake Arbuckle area.

It is a Wildlife Preserve area, with some camping, and as we found out... a lot of Hunting!

Above is a Hunting Camp, where we also found a Nature Trail to follow. We checked the schedules, and there was no hunting going on at this time period, so we felt safe! They hunt Deer, Black Bear, lots of different birds, like Ducks, Doves, I guess anything that flutters in the air... There is also the famous Florida Black Panthers in this area, but don't be shooting them with your gun... or they will put you away.

Don't know what I would do if I ran into one of these panthers in the bush... maybe run faster than the other people with me! This is a file picture above... we did not see this guy today.

There is also a lot of fishing going on in Lake Arbuckle. Lots of Bass fishing I think.

Much of this area, including the campground, is very underdeveloped... great for the die hard hunters and fishermen...

The whole area is made up of dirt roads, and many of them are only passed with the use of a good Jeep. Lots of sand and soft ground... we made it out to this smaller lake above on a Jeep road, and enjoyed a nice quite picnic lunch Judy packed up for us.

Judy was looking for gators, but we did not see any... seemed strange with no gators around.

There seemed to be a lot of good places for fishing... but hardly anyone out and about today... only us Canuks looking for adventure...

A high clearance vehicle came in handy, as some of the ruts were big... felt good to have the Jeep in 4 wheel drive again, without there being snow in the way!

At the hunt camp, we found a 1 1/2 mile nature trail to follow. It headed off into the thick bush, and for a bit we were kind of wondering what we had gotten into with this trail... Every now and then we would see a sign to follow... we took a picture of the last known Tourist taking this trail and his picture is right below...

We couldn't get back to the Jeep fast enough!!!!! Come on, just kidding... not sure what type of animal this was above.

Finally the signs stopped and so did the trail and we ended up have to walk back the way we came... we thought it was a loup trail, but maybe not. It was a great day anyways for a walk about...

Right beside the Preserve Land, I noticed a large track of land owned by the Air Force. Many nights I have heard rumbling in the evening here at the Park, thinking it was thunder in the distance...well, turns out to be bombing runs by the Air Force over this land. This year they have been doing a lot of it apparently. Guess we won't be Jeeping out onto that land!

This afternoon I had a bit of time to change out the air filter on my Honda... I bought a new one the other day at the Honda Dealer, and you can see the difference below of a new one and the old one...

The bottom one use to be red too!

The filter fits in that black holder, with a nice chrome cover to go over it.

Tonight Judy and I went down to the Town of Sebring, 20 minute drive south, with 10 other couples from our section of our Park, to enjoy dinner out at a nice Chinese Restaurant. Had a great time, with very reasonable prices. This group goes out for Family Dinner every Wednesday night during season.

Till tomorrow...

 

3 comments:

  1. Glad to hear you are feeling better and able to get out and do something. I would love to see one of those panthers but only from the safety of a closed, strong, sturdy vehicle.

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  2. That pic of the Panther is just a little creepy. Sure wouldn't want to run across that guy in the woods.

    Looked like a nice spot but with hunters around I don't think I'd be up for much hiking....and, then there's those Florida Panthers!

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  3. It is good to read that you are feeling better.

    That Honda filter was die for a change....and you'll be fine for a long time now.

    Send the heat to southern Arizona. We could use some today.

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