He's there!

The beach at St Augustine - says it all really!

I posted the image above at midnight but the rest follows at a more respectable hour on a Sunday morning.....

Yesterday's route started on a campsite in the Ocala National Forest and ended on the Atlantic coast at St Augustine. The Ocala National Forest occupies about 600 square miles in central Florida to the east of Ocala. It is the oldest national forest east of the Mississippi and is a mix of pine forest, scrubland, swamp and freshwater habitats associated with the myriad of 'prairie lakes' described in previous postings. Like most state and national forests in the US, it is managed to balance the demands of forestry, conservation and recreation.

The largest concentration of black bears in Florida inhabit these woods and the advice on the forest web site is ...


"Be Bear Aware! You are in Bear Country.
Bears are naturally shy of people. If you see a bear, enjoy it from a safe distance. Keeps dogs and children close to you. Loose dogs may agitate bears. NEVER approach a bear! Make noise so the bear knows you are there. If a bear approaches, DO NOT RUN. Back away SLOWLY"

And as if that's not enough ....

"Alligators are present in this forest. They are an important part of Florida’s ecology and may be found wherever there is a body of water. They have a natural fear of man, but may lose that fear by being around people especially if they are fed. When this happens alligators can be dangerous. For this reason alligators should not be fed or molested in any way."


Reading the web diary this morning, it is interesting to note that Mark commented on burning in the forest. Very close to his campsite there is clear evidence of how the forest is managed and this will include periodic, controlled burning. On this image you can see stands of trees at all stages of management - newly cleared, newly planted and maturing. An explanation and rationale for burning forests is given here. (Scroll down to the section on Ocala and you can read about wild fires and prescribed burning).



The largest of the lakes in the region is Lake George - location of the last alligator fatality in Florida as described here on the BBC news website! Mark's nearest location to lake George was at Salt Springs which, as its name suggests, produces mineral richwater for Lake George, raising its salinity. The waters of Lake George are sufficiently brackish for salt water species e.g. blue crab to migrate up the St John's river in sufficient numbers to support a local fishery on the lake. The image below, 'borrowed' from Fickr, shows sunrise over the lake...
From Lake George Mark cycled north to the river crossing on the St John's river at Palatka. ...



With a length of 310 miles and a difference in altitude of only 10 metres between source and mouth, the St John's river is one of the world's 'laziest' and most languid rivers. Once navigable by paddleboat steamers, there is a nice video of a journey up the river available here. Just west of Palatka is an industrial enterprise which we've become quite familiar with in the 'South' - another huge pulp and papermill...This one is the Georgia Pacific paper mill - an operation which employs some 1200 people. It uses 1.5 million tons of locally sourced pine to produce about half a million tons of paper products annually. Effluent from the mill receives a high level of treatment, first in a 360-foot-diameter primary clarifier and then during a 40-day journey through a 1,000-acre biological treatment pond system that comprises the mill’s secondary treatment process. (visible top left in the first image).

Between Palatka and the coast on the drier, sandy soils of old dune ridges, there is a chequerboard of intensive cultivation of vegetable and salad crops... and close to St Augustine a golf resort ....













Until a friend who is a keen historian told me, I had no idea of the historical significance of St Augustine - the eastern terminus of the American leg of Mark's journey. Founded in 1565 by the Spanish, St Augustine is the oldest port and oldest continuously occupied European settlement in North America...

Although founded by the Spaniards in the 17th century, St Augustine passed to British control for a while before coming under Spanish control again in the 18th century. At that time the Castillo de San Marcos (right and below)was built to protect Spanish interests in the area. It is testimony to over 300 years of history - a long time in American terms!

St Augustine also has several claims to notoriety associated with rather inglorious events during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s which you can read about here.


However, not wishing to end the American leg on a negative note, I thought we should have a final 'big picture' of the 3575 miles across the USA - it's been quite a learning journey!