Tag Archives: hillsborough river

A quiet morning at Lettuce Lake Park

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Things up in the trees along the boardwalk at Lettuce Lake Park.

You can usually find several night herons in the swamp.

The view from the tower above, taken with my phone. It always makes me feel like I’m somewhere else other than close to downtown Tampa when I’m standing up here.

Looking into the swamp from the boardwalk. There’s gators hiding in there somewhere.

At the end of the boardwalk, the HIllsborough river floats by and turns the corner.

Under the trees along the trail, it was quiet early in the morning. I had the trail all to  myself

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The “rapids” of Tampa

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After several days of rain in late December, we had a break in the weather so I decided to go to the Hillsborough River State Park for a walk. The water was coming through pretty heavy and this is the only place in the Tampa bay area to see “rapids”. Not too bad considering the area is almost completely flat.

 

Fall was just starting to hit. The cypress trees had all turned colors and were starting to lose their leaves.

 

The trees along the trail have a lot of personality.

The bridge over the river. Down at this end the river is calm.

Colors on the ground.

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Rapids in Tampa??

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Yes, if you can call the above rapids, then we do have them in Tampa. At Hillsborough River State Park. According to the Florida State Park website, these are Class II rapids. I visited for the first time in mid-June after several days of heavy rain.

The elevated bridge that crosses the river.

The water in some of the swampier areas of the park looked like tea.

Lots of beautiful old trees along the trails.

The park’s purpose it to preserve the “real Florida”. It was hot, muggy and buggy in June and that’s exactly the real Florida. I had 2 layers of DEET on and still came home with lots of bug bites. I didn’t see a lot of wildlife the morning I was there. Not like all of the other parks I frequent close by. Very few birds but I’m sure there were lots of snakes hiding. It’s about 45 minutes away from my house so not a long drive but I don’t think I’ll go back until winter (which around here means January).

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