“What nature provides is scale and context, ways to figure out who and how big we are and what we want. It provides silence, solitude, darkness: the rarest commodities we know.”
-Bill Mckibben
A few days ago…
Riding a bike on a cold day is never easy when you factor in wind chill. Today I dressed in a number of layers as I prepared myself for the 14.5 mile bike ride along the Upper Tampa By Trail. The trail is paved so riding my two year old commuter bike was easy. This bike has been every where. It has laid rubber on a number of paved bike trails across Florida. When I lived in Gainesville this bike was my primary means of transportation.
Peterson Road Park
I am very familiar with trails like the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail. Trails like the one that runs from Gainesville to Hawthorne have a less urban feel compared to the Upper Tampa Bay Trail.
I have quickly learned that Tampa-Clearwater and Pinellas county in general are not comparable to north Florida. PInellas county is one of the densest populated counties in Florida. Condos and waterfront properties are more popular here than hiking trails. I often find the outdoors though. Sometimes it is at Brooker Creek Preserve. One only needs to look on an aerial photo to see the lack of green space in this county. I hunt for nature here and on rare occasions I find it.
I started my ride near a rural portion of Citrus Park. The park where I gain access to the trail is called Peterson Road Park. The surrounding area seems rural, yet on my drive into town I notice urban sprawl starting to take root. The setting here feels like Florida 50 years ago, the sound of roosters can be heard off in the distance. Sometimes peacocks march around in these parts.
I start my journey south and to my suprise I see a bobcat dash across the trail. Five minutes into the trail this monster of a cat jumps into the middle of trail, glances at me briefly with little interest, and exits promptly back into the wooded cover bordering both sides of the trail. I am delighted by my encounter and consider myself very lucky to see a creature that makes domestic short hair cats look so tame. I fumble with my camera shortly after the encounter, my clumsy fingers trying to work the camera, but my good luck stops there for the bobcat has completely evacuated the scene.
A few moments after peddling through Citrus Park I come close to Veteran’s Expressway. This busy toll road has plenty of commuters cruising along its southerly stretch towards Tampa. As I ride parellel to the expressway I can’t help but wonder to myself where these poor souls are going. A number of them are probably heading to Tampa on their daily commute, some dreading what the day has in store, others questioning how much longer they will have a job. The trail continues to wind to the south and at this point I start to come across pedestrians. I say hello to a few, occasionally a small number nod their head. These walkers are bundled up due to the cold weather. The animals and plants seem content on this chilly day. After a while I shed a number of layers due to my exercise and the spring sun making its presence known.
From the trail it is hard to ignore the water channels that follow the pathway for what seems like miles. Informative signs posted along the trail detail the fact that these channels were dug as flood control. These channels were essentially created to drain the surrounding wetlands, making the area more inhabitable for condos and houses. The cypress domes and Pileated Woodpeckers who called this place home have moved on, while more terrestrial creatures like humans have continued to inhabit this region.
Old Channels
I continue past a few more trailheads and before arriving at Alfonso High School I notice a beautiful plant to the side of the trail. Sitting all alone in a open patch of sugar sand is a bunch of Lupines. This fuzzy green plant has its showy purple flowers on display. These plants are more common in scrub and sandhill ecosystems. On a number of rare occasions I will see them in cow fields or along the roadside. Stopping to examine a flower I feel like William Bartram for just a second. His interest in flowers earned him the name Puc Puggy. Puc Puggy translates into “flower hunter”. At Payne’s Prairie state park there is a road called “Puggy”( this is where I got the idea for this blog name) I stop to take a few photos of this plant and manage in this botanical experience to get cactus burs in my leg. I always make time for hunting flowers on outdoor excursions, sometimes they fight back.
Lupine
Nature sometimes causes pain as I can testify by trying to pick burs out of my leg, but the rewards of nature far exceed my expectations today. On a simple day in nature there is always room for surprises, even if you are only minutes from a metropolis like Tampa.
Curious Avian
Towards the end of my trip I spot a hawk and he quickly looks at me as if curious to see what my next move is. I get off my bike and walk past the bird so I will create the least amount of stress for the bird. The hawk for some reason allows me to proceed right past him, watching me with piercing eyes as if he is rating my character. Leaving the hawk I now continue north back towards my truck. The ride back seems to end too soon.
Puc Puggy's Florida Nature Blog 