Weeds & Wildflowers Prompt / Road Trip!

Old Florida

Looking for the wild in our backyard

Gina and I took a mini road trip on Sunday, searching for old Florida. Our destinations were within the county but nestled in the wilder spaces.

First, Newnan’s Lake and State Forest, about 12 miles from my home. The forest consists of more than 1,000 acres of woods and wetlands. Newnan’s Lake is relatively shallow at just under 12-feet but occupies 6,000 acres and is 2 miles wide and 4 miles long. Our summer was very wet so the lake is at its highest level in many years. My guess is that the 12-foot depth no longer applies.

Newnan’s is a favorite fishing spot for locals — on the shore and by boat. But, the fishermen we came across at the lake’s side said the fish weren’t biting that day.

There’s a narrow, lightly-beaten path that meanders along the lake. Not used enough to feel civilized and not overgrown enough to feel wild and scary. Just right.Bald cypress, oaks, sweetgum, red maple, black gum, and a variety of pines were some of the trees we saw. And, of course, the trees are draped in the ever-present Spanish moss.

Fallen trees and limbs lay where they landed. We often had to step over and around logs and branches.

It was easy to imagine a little of what untamed Florida looked like when explorers like Pedro Menendez, Hernando de Soto, and Ponce de Leon cut trails through the piney woods and scrub oaks.

We were amazed at the abundant wildflowers growing along the trail.

And, the wildlife. We saw one Great Blue Heron that went airborne as soon as he spotted us. Unlike the herons in Mount Dora that are used to tourists and townspeople, the ones on Newnan’s lake are wilder, only accustomed to the quiet fishermen that sometimes dot the shoreline.

But, there was a cool banana spider in her web and a Cormorant drying in the breeze.

After Newnan’s, we bumped down a 2-mile, rutted dirt road through a sea of palmettos and scrub to reach Lochloosa, a 5,700-acre lake.

We were disappointed that there wasn’t a trail going around the lake — at least, not one we could find — and the fishing pier was inaccessible due to the lake water being high enough that it covered the first few feet of the pier. We didn’t think it was worth wet feet to go out. Also, blind mosquitos (midges) flew around us in clouds. Fortunately, they don’t bite, suck blood, or carry disease. But, they are very annoying!

Like Newnan’s, Lochloosa is a shallow lake, although all the lakes around here are higher than they’ve been in years thanks to several tropical storms in 2020 and 2021.

Lochloosa has a boat ramp and two airboats pulled up to the shore before we left.

People fish for largemouth bass, black crappie, bluegill, channel catfish, and redear sunfish in Lochloosa and Newnan’s.

There really wasn’t that much to see so we didn’t stay long. On the way out, we found a White Egret and a Great Blue Heron.

The great blue was camouflaged in Spanish moss.

The day could not have been better. No rain. Warm but not too hot.

Two friends enjoying the wilder side of Florida.

Dedicated to former UFer, James Knight, who may remember these places.

© Dennett 2021