Monday, February 07, 2011

Colt Creek State Park – Lakeland,Fl

Sweetwater Rv Park – Zephyrhills, Fl

We had light rain off and on a few times yesterday, but we decided to try and get a hike anyway. 

We found a new state park by accident when we went to Lakeland for the luncheon with other bloggers.

So yesterday we headed out to Colt Creek State Park near Lakeland Florida. 

Unfortunately it has been in the news lately as one of the parks that may be closed due to budget cuts.  It sits on over 5000 acres.  There is currently only primitive camping there, but we were told they plan to add campsites, providing their is money in the budget.  It seems such a waste since they have already spent a lot of money on the park.  It is still under construction, but open to the public.

There are horse trails and a day park which has water troughs for the horses and shelters and tables for the riders.

Picnic shelters

IMG_2007

A nice dock on the lake.

IMG_2023

More picnic shelters under construction.

IMG_2031

A nice screened in picnic shelter.

IMG_2027

IMG_2026

Nice hiking trails.

IMG_2014

IMG_2029

I had to zoom in to see exactly what was moving inside hole.

IMG_1993

The park is still under construction and I sure hope Florida will find a way to continue.  It will make a nice addition to the Florida State Parks and another campground will be nice.

We got home in time for Al to watch the Super Bowl and I understand he enjoyed it!  I stayed in “my room” and watched an episode Dateline of  about the climber that got stuck in a rock crevasse and had to amputate his own arm.  Tom Brokaw and climber  Aron Ralston went back to the scene and went over exactly what he endured, including to when he had to amputate his own arm.  It was very interesting.  I understand there is a movie about his story that is coming very soon. 

It was supposed to rain today, but the sun is out now, so we’re not sure what to do today.

7 comments:

  1. Karen, I'm glad you got to see Colt Creek State Park! It's another great park we got to see last year and really enjoyed our time at. The dock is new, as are the screened-in picnic shelters. It's sad that it's being considered for closing. We've got a couple of parks in our area being considered as well. I wish there was something we could do to help save them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Too bad about that park being on the cut list as it looks like a very nice place.

    You must really dislike football to prefer a show about a guy cutting off his arm - wow!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a wonderful little squirrel picture!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ita shame so many states have to make budget cuts and their state parks are on the chopping block. You would think at least the ones that have campgrounds make some money! Forida's state parks are also so very nice, I have enjoyed our stays in them, and look forward to many more.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I hike those slot canyons in Utah often and every time I see a choke stone I think of that guy. Ugh. I said this earlier today about California, and now again about Florida. These state parks are the true legacy of a state, I just wish someone would realize how important they are and fund them over some of the bs that actually gets funded.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yes, we have sadly been reading about park closures in Florida and California too. Let's hope they turn it over to private concessionaires to run them at the least. Don't mind paying a bit more for a profit margin, just so they stay OPEN!

    Don't the government realize that it hurts the economy of all the surrounding businesses too for each location? And if businesses cut workers out, then people move away and things just get worse for that area.
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

Please feel free to leave comments. We love to read them! To contact me directly you can send e-mail to rvtravels2@yahoo.com