Wrapping Up Mid-Bay Shores

Sunday, 19 May
Mid-Bay Shores, Maxwell-Gunter Rec Area — Niceville, Florida
Temps: Lo 69F / Hi 82F (20.5C / 28C)

Our time at Mid-Bay Shores is coming to an end.  Tomorrow, we take off for new stomping grounds.  But first, a wrap up of the past several days.

Thursday, 16 May …

We were up and out the door early to hike the nature trails at the Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park — one of the many Florida “gold medal” parks in this vicinity.  It is just 3.8 miles (6 km) from Mid-Bay Shores, so we initially planned to trike over there, but the heavy traffic on Route 20 was a deterrent.  Instead, we drove over, arriving a few minutes before they opened the gate at 8:00a. ($5 day-use fee.)

First on the agenda was a drive through the campground to check it out for a future stay.  Turns out we had to drive through part of it anyway to get to the trailhead.  Nice campsites in a heavily wooded area; private and large; several with glimpses of Rocky Bayou; $16/night for W/E.  Sorry, no photos.

Starting out with a short walk from where we parked the car to get to the trailhead, we had our choice of two loops — the Rocky Bayou Trail (6/10ths of a mile [~1 km]) and the Sandpine Trail (1 mile [1.6 km]).

a polite reminder to enjoy the woods without doing anything to harm them.

Stream restoration is in progress in this area just before the trailhead.
In part, The sign reads: “In the 1950’s this stream was dammed to create what is now called
Puddin’ Head Lake.  This artificial lake is being drained and the steephead stream is being restored.”
(Click the photo on the left for a legible version of the sign.)

I’m not sure I can say that we enjoyed ourselves.  Our displeasure had nothing to do with the lack of critters to be seen.  Rather, despite our early start, it was already hot and humid, and our walk turned into a sticky one that was far from pleasant.  Add to that the flies that kept pestering us when we stopped to read about the plants and trees from the trail guides we had picked up.  In the end, we pretty much quick-stepped our way, taking some comfort in the fact that we were at least getting some exercise.

In the restoration area, pitcher plants are making a comeback.
Located right along the edge of the bridge, the only stand of pitcher plants
we saw were hard to photograph, but I did my best to capture them anyway.

Anticipating a walk to Rocky Bayou, we first did the shorter trail, which winds through “three distinct natural communities: sand pine scrub, coastal flatwoods, and slope forest.”  The only others we came across on this trail were two birders searching high and low for the birds chirping deep in the woods; they were disappointed at the lack of sightings.

A short side trail through the coastal flatwoods leads to the estuary of Rocky Bayou.
So far, we have hiked from 10 feet (3M) above sea level to 1 Foot (30 cm) above sea level!
Wow … was that strenuous or what ;-)))

From the signage: “After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941,
Lt Col James Doolittle spent March 1942 at Eglin Field preparing his B-25 squadron
for the first retaliatory bombing of Japan. This historic 500 pound (227 kg) concrete
bomb from WWII is similar to those dropped by the B-25 bombers for training purposes.”

Sponge-like deer lichen (aka deer moss) is plentiful on the trail.
Lichens have no root system and absorb compounds from the atmosphere
for their nutrients.  Thus, their extensive presence is an indication of
good air quality.  They are also a good sand stabilizer and aid in the formation
of new soil.  The patches in the park have taken 75-100 years to develop.

Each lichen is a combination of a fungus and alga working symbiotically.  The alga
contains chlorophyll and can use the sun’s energy to make sugar, which becomes food
for the fungus.  The fungus absorbs water and nutrients from the soil and air for the alga.
[all deer lichen information from the trail guide]

Next we tackled the Sandpine Trail, which we had entirely to ourselves.  At one point, the trail splits off and one path runs by the stream, while the other one continues through the sandpine forest.  We attempted to walk the stream path, but it quickly became overgrown, so we returned to the main path to finish our walk.

Left: Bullrush gone to seed.
Right: teaberry

Can’t decide if this is a yellow-bellied slider or a Suwannee Cooter.
[park signage mentions the latter, but not the former.]

Hot and sticky after our walk, we welcomed the rush of cold air that came out of the car’s AC as we next made our way to Eglin AFB to fill the larder.  But first we went by Camp Robbins again.  I mentioned in a previous post that based on the description we had of cement pads that we didn’t think we had found the right place.  Turns out we had, and the pads in question were the small ones under the picnic tables.  It’s a rustic campground with FHU sites that didn’t look all that level to us; wi-fi coming this summer.  The real problem is that Eglin is a huge base, so this campground is quite a distance from everything.  We would probably stay here only a night or two just to do our grocery shopping and such on our way to a more conveniently located campground.

After completing our grocery shopping at the commissary, we made one more stop on base … this one at the FamCamp at Postal Point where Boggy Bayou meets Choctawhatchee Bay.  This campground is little more than haphazardly situated W/E sites in an open field; there is cable, but no wi-fi.  All the sites have expansive water-views, and the marina nearby makes it attractive for boaters and fishermen.  For us, it would make a good chill-out place.

(Sorry, no photos of either campground.)

Back home … quiet afternoon and evening to wrap up the day.

Friday, 17 May …

Hot and humid once again … good for a day at the beach.  After running some errands, we headed over to check out the Eglin Beach Park.  The FamCamp Manager had already alerted us that there was a special army event scheduled there, but we were hoping she had exaggerated the expected attendance of thousands of people.  She had not!  With the parking lot already filled to the gills, cars were parked for miles on either side of US 98.

So, we continued on to the Destin Army Rec Center to check it out for a future stay.

I’m going to have to admit that we were disappointed.  The sites were really closely spaced.  Probably not all that different from a lot of private campgrounds, but we’ve been staying in state parks and military campgrounds with some lovely sites, so this one came as a bit of a shock.  Add to that the fact that the campsites are located behind the cabins, and it didn’t take us long to decide we wouldn’t be taking advantage of the hospitality of this Rec Center.

I did manage a quick snapshot of the mural in the office before we left, so all wasn’t lost ;-)

And so we moved on to the fun part of our day and headed over to Henderson Beach State Park.  We had seen on the Destin beach cam that the gulf was choppy today, but we weren’t expecting the red flag flying at the park’s entrance.  Unwilling to shell out $6 to just sit on the beach, we drove on to one of the public beach access points.  The plan was to just take our chairs to sit and enjoy a late lunch on the beach.  But seeing the yellow flag flying on this segment of the beach, we parked at the Barracuda access path and took all of our paraphernalia with us instead.

Turns out that the public beach in this section is a narrow segment squeezed in between two private resort beaches, which had no-trespassing signs and warnings that the police would be called if someone should dare to occupy the chairs set up for their guests.  No problem; there was enough space in the public section for us to get a front row spot with a view of the rough surf.

What happened to the pond-calm water we enjoyed on Monday?

Not that the surf stopped us from going for frequent dips in the shallows.  In fact, the water was so warm that even I went for a full-dip.  No photos; Mui was in the water to give me an anchor to hang on to ;-)

No photos of us; but here’s one of the beach — beautiful despite the rough surf.

Quiet evening at home after our fun afternoon on the beach.

Saturday, 18 May …

Hot and humid ruled the day.  Disappointing because I was hoping for outside time to enjoy our site here at Mid-Bay Shores.

After chores during the first half of the day, we took off to check out one more campground located about 15 miles (24 km) from Mid-Bay Shores … one that came highly recommended by a lot of people.  Admittedly, we didn’t explore the trails or the beach at Topsail Hill Preserve, so we might have completely missed the attraction of staying here.  Those who have been … do tell what we missed!  We’re open to changing our minds.

All was not lost, however.  On the drive back home, I spotted a Bruster’s shop just a short distance before the turn-off for the Mid-Bay Connector.  Having read quite a bit about “the real ice cream” served there, we stopped to check it out.  Hmmm … hmmm … good.  Sorry no photos; it was too hot to dally with the camera.

Dinner consisted of grilled fresh grouper, which we picked up from a seafood market in Niceville yesterday.  Let me quickly disabuse anyone of the notion that Mui’s toasting a great stay at Mid-Bay Shores with a glass of milk.  Well, some do call it “lion’s milk,” but it’s more commonly known as rakı.  It is an unsweetened, anise-flavored alcoholic drink that is not dissimilar from the Greek ouzo.  I’ll take a  beer, thank you very much.

Back to today …

Dare I say that it was hot and humid … again?  Well, it was.

Today was pre-departure prep day, so we stayed home.  Since our next campground is water/electric only we took care of all the chores that require water.  Mui took advantage of the cooler morning hours to take down the screen shelter, and pack away the trikes and the tripod satellite dish.  After seeking shelter in the Phaeton during the hottest part of the day, we had a light dinner at our picnic table and went for a final walk on the beach.  Not an exciting day.

We’re not going far tomorrow … just a little over 100 miles (160 km), but the drive will take the Phaeton to a new state — the sixth one this year.  See you when we get there!