Posted By auntie on January 21, 2013

2.85 miles   2.3 mph

this is a gorgeous, pristine peninsula in florida’s central panhandle. there were not a lot of walking trails, but what there were were beautiful. i saw a lot of birds, including brown-headed nuthatches, red-bellied woodpeckers, great blue herons, egrets, snowy plovers, several kinds of seagulls, and even saw a deer, who just calmly watched me while i fumbled with the camera to take her picture. the weather was gorgeous—mostly sunny and in the mid-70s, and the park was essentially deserted.

beach rosemary

this was the only thing in bloom, and it was lovely. it’s a wild rosemary that grows only here in the panhandle and southern alabama. it blooms year-round, but mostly in spring.

the trail

this is the trail. it was a pretty tame nature trail, and not especially long. i stretched the mileage out by walking on the beach, too. i don’t get the impression hiking is a big thing in florida. can’t seem to find too many decent length trails.

obligatory fungus shot

now here’s something i never expected to find! a mushroom popping out of the sand. no idea what it is, but i thought it was pretty cool.

a not especially camera-shy deer

here is my friendly deer subject. she allowed me to even carefully frame her. then went right back to browsing on whatever she was eating.

you can find out more about this lovely state park on the florida state parks website.

Categories: Florida, Walks and Hikes
Tags: 2–5 miles, FL, Port St. Joe FL