We save our hikes into the diggings for the winter months.
You go deep into the canal diggings with the land rising on both sides, so very little air moves on the trail. In the summer months it's just too hot and buggy and poison ivy crisscrosses the trail. But in the winter months, it's perfect.
The tall pine trees create a thick bed of pine needles to walk on and the air is hushed. I started to say it was quiet but hushed is a better description. You don't hear any sounds unless an airplane flies overhead.
There are a lot of really good articles (and books) written about the canal diggings but my sweet hubby helped me with some of the pertinent information.
"When I talk about the "canal diggings" I'm referring to a canal
that was proposed in 1935 as a 30-foot deep, 150-foot bottom
width, Ship Canal for commercial traffic to have a shortcut from
the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico across Florida from
Jacksonville to Yankeetown.
Concerns about salt water intrusion into the fresh water aquifer caused proponents to adjust the canal to a 12-foot depth thus allowing only barge traffic and the name changed to the Cross Florida Barge Canal.
After many starts and stops, construction resumed in 1964 only to be stopped for good in 1971 due to efforts led by environmental activist, Marjorie Harris Carr.
About one third of the canal did get completed, some at each terminus, but the remainder includes long stretches of earth having been dug out and piled up along the sides. Over the ensuing decades the forest has reclaimed this ground.
Today, the 110-mile long, 70,000 acre Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway (renamed in 1998) is a state park that provides over 300 miles of hiking and biking trails on the remnants of the Cross Florida Barge Canal."
Concerns about salt water intrusion into the fresh water aquifer caused proponents to adjust the canal to a 12-foot depth thus allowing only barge traffic and the name changed to the Cross Florida Barge Canal.
After many starts and stops, construction resumed in 1964 only to be stopped for good in 1971 due to efforts led by environmental activist, Marjorie Harris Carr.
About one third of the canal did get completed, some at each terminus, but the remainder includes long stretches of earth having been dug out and piled up along the sides. Over the ensuing decades the forest has reclaimed this ground.
Today, the 110-mile long, 70,000 acre Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway (renamed in 1998) is a state park that provides over 300 miles of hiking and biking trails on the remnants of the Cross Florida Barge Canal."
Above written by sweet hubby
We walked in the diggings for over 2 hours and only saw one other person.
I want to share photos of the limestone boulders we saw.
It would be fun to play 'what do you see?'
This was a favorite!
There are so many interesting shapes and just think how few people ever get to see them.
Would you want to hike this trail at night?
Maybe when the moon is full?
It would probably be a little spooky!
But I love it and I think you would too!
Have you seen anything unusual this week?
Hike into the DEEP woods and GO WILD!
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