Hiking AND Camping! Ross Prairie State Forest

 I went back and looked at my hiking journal from 2013 and found our first dedicated 'hike' in Florida.

It was the Holly Hammock loop at Ross Prairie State Forest.

We had walked some trails and even hiked together in the mountains of NC but I started a hiking journal in November, 2013 to keep track of where we hiked and our sightings here in Florida. 

"Old photo"

We've sure had a lot of fun over the years and average around 150 hikes a year now. 

So how perfect was it to enjoy our first camping adventure at Ross Prairie Campground!

Our little Grand Design Imagine AIM.

We spent a week in the forest and I managed 8 hikes in 5 days! (then I came home and hiked one more, I felt so great and then I had to take a fews days off! hahahaha!)

The trails were all in great shape and the prairie was beautiful as always!

Some of our sightings included this beautiful Hermit Thrush.

Hermit Thrush

We've seen these birds every time we've hiked there so it must be the perfect habitat for these sweet birds.

Some of our sightings included deer, wild turkeys, black racer snake, lizards and other small birds,

The morning we were packing up to leave we watched an Eagle soar overhear. 

Bald Eagle

That really was special.

There were lots of wildflowers blooming so we saw butterflies and bees too.

It was so nice to just walk out the door of the camper and hike a trail! Twice I didn't even intend to hike and didn't take my camera. I started walking and next thing I knew I was on a trail!

It was glorious! I'm ready to go again!

Are you getting out more this Spring? 

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

  and Mosaic Monday HERE !  

Exciting News for 2024!

 

We spent months researching what we wanted to do to expand our nature hikes for this year!

It's been fun to go online and learn so much about camping in the Southeast!

Over the years my husband and I have hiked, backpacked, slept in tents and just about every kind of camper they make. We even owned a motorhome for a few years and really enjoyed traveling in that.

But to go to the State Parks and campgrounds we are interested in, we needed something small!

So we bought the smallest travel trailer we could find that had everything we wanted. 

We wrote down our 'wish list' and the Grand Design 'Adventure in Motion' met all of our needs. 

A special thanks to George and Katie and everyone at Camper's Inn RV that made our dream come true! 

The link HERE shows the AIM floorplan.

Come on in!

A view from the back! It's tiny!

It has a murphy bed that easily folds back into a comfortable sofa for daytime use.

It has a small dinette.

The kitchen has 2 burners, a deep sink, a confection oven/microwave and a refrigerator and freezer.

It has lots of cabinets, wardrobes and storage bins. 

AND...a full bathroom along the back with a shower, toilet and sink.

A pocket door closes the bathroom off...don't worry! lol

Everything we wanted in a little more than 19 feet...that can be pulled by our Chevy Silverado!

We just picked it up a few days ago so we are busy learning the systems and figuring out where everything needs to go. There are things to purchase but we can use our 'extras' from our house. 

So we'll be able to go a little farther away from home to 'discover the real Florida' and when the weather improves we would love to travel to some of the campgrounds in Georgia.

I was going to begin this post with "Someone's been very good this year" because we picked up the trailer just a few days before my birthday! How about a BIG RED BOW for the top!

We are excited to plan some camping trips. Have you ever been camping?