Tall Woods

This photo essay is a collection of pictures I made as I walked the nature trails at the University of North Florida, Jacksonville. It was a privileged moment in my life as I was on my own and as I ambled with my camera I had no one else to please, no Rusty, no friends, no wife no nobody.

I dawdled as I liked and took my time, alone in the woods. It was a bright sunny day for a change and I had the opportunity to watch the sunlight come and go and create shadows and dappled woods.

These woods were a chance for me to practice playing with my camera among tall trees:

Light and shadows have a different appeal away from the mangroves that are so familiar to me.

A helpful student at the main office advised me to check out Gopher Ridge which he said might afford me to spot some land tortoises, the creatures that burrow, not the ones that swim as. helpful sign pointed out. Helpful people apparently take them to the ponds in the woods there to drown them.

A ridge in Florida might be a feature that stands out if it rises twenty feet above surrounding land and this trail became unique in that it was sandy and soft underfoot, ideal for creatures that dig burrows.

I did not see any tortoises hanging out alongside the trail though squirrels scuttled in the dry leaves reminding me for all the world of land crabs in the Keys undergrowth.

Tortoise?  No, pine cone.

This grumpy looking tortoise gave me the stink eye from his porch where he (or she) was resting watching the world. I watched back for a couple of minutes then I went on my way not having actually observed any movement on the resident's part.

That was pretty much that for wildlife. I saw a few squirrels in trees who made a point of running up tree trunks on the opposite side to me so as I walked round to look they scuttled round the tree keeping the trunk between me and them.

I abandoned the bedroom farce of trying to catch the squirrel in my exertions round the trees and contented myself with some rather wan flowers growing in the sand. Any excuse to sit and look around.

The trail meandered and I followed the Gopher Trail alongside a lake to the very end.  Other than these signs at junctions there was no other sign of life.

The stream meandered and became I supposed Sawmill Slough though I wondered how anyone might have used such a gentle thing to power a sawmill. It seemed unlikely.

I'm not sure a thistle is a flower but I made it so and made the picture to please myself.

People! The trail, now called the Goldenrod Trail swung by a golf course of all things and there were humans suddenly in sight. I felt like I was a million miles from anywhere so to spot the tee and a neon green golfer just paces away came as a bit of a surprise.

As I wasn't actually in the Gobi Desert I did have cell service and could find myself on an electronic map. I had strolled from the Parking Services Building around the top of the nearest lake then back towards the "295" sign on the freeway and turned south along the ridge to the lake with two islands, which trail then curved around the bottom of the woods and came up to where I was, the blue dot, at the golf course.  All was explained.

The trail looked less than maintained in the marshy area where I was now strolling.

Disneyland this was not.

I came upon this disaster and had an idea what the sign facing away from me might say. I teetered along the trunks and planks to dry land without slipping...

No surprise there, then. I was actually rather glad they hadn't closed the trail from the direction I walked as I would have missed out the curve by the golf course.

I was on the other side of the wooden walkway when I walked along the distant loop  off to the golf course. I had no idea the looped trails came so close at this point. 

I was not alone after all.

Back on the main loop, this time a brown trail labelled Big Cypress, I was glad to see the chain saws had yet to be deployed. It gave the manicured trail a slight wilderness feel to have such an obstacle.

No dogs. But they do allow young people and students. Hmm.

A few black and white pictures to end the walk.

Then the word came the van was ready and I stepped out to civilization and hailed a cab. 

Return Home

I had to stop by Trader Joe's of course even though my wife pretended I could come straight home...In the parking lot when I was alone I got to walk around Gannet 2 and secretly admire this new front end arrangement. Very discreet, and with no front license plate  it is perfectly placed to cause minimal disruption. FreedomVanGo did a brilliant job and I highly recommend them for their patience and organization and attention to detail. I hope I'll be going back to have them install a bash plate under the engine if they can get the right to install the only such accessory made for a Promaster. The thing is built in Livermore California and I'd rather drive to Jacksonville to get it installed before going to Alaska.

I took this photo from the Compass Van website which shows the way the winch is installed on a hidden tray behind the plastic bumper. The whole thing is bolted to the frame of the van ensuring the van moves forward intact when pulled by the winch. We shall see!

Naturally this is very Modern and comes not with a pirate hook but this closed ring to which you attach a strap which in turn you attach to an anchor, a tree rock or buried object to allow the 12,000 lb winch to haul the van out of the bog I have driven it into... I will know more after I get lessons. I wanted to install the winch first so I can learn on my own vehicle and not practice on some borrowed wildly suitable jeep or four wheel drive vehicle. Driving my home into a bog will take some nerve.

I also bought a padded bag which looks weird but folds easily and can stand in as a quickly deployed doormat, or as a mat to lie on under the vehicle should the mechanical need overtake me. Something as simple as lowering the spare tire requires some dirt groveling unfortunately. $80- Ka Ching!  Van Life. 

This is the rather intimidating front end of the FreedomVanGo demo Sprinter. Same discreet winch is what matters to me. Its a four wheel drive Sprinter with lifted suspension and bumpers and bars everywhere. Were I to drive this monster I'd feel a total fraud, not least because I'd need a stool to climb in... Naturally on my day off it rained a fair bit as evidenced by the droplets in the photo, so I kept my umbrella close when I went for a stroll.

The van was done by 2pm and I got a quick tutorial on using the remote control to deploy the winch and wrap it up. 12,000 lb pull is enough to sever your hand if you are stupid so I plan not to be stupid.

After Trader Joe's I lunched in the van on a freshly purchased barbecue chicken salad: lettuce and barbecue sauce- who knew? and pointed the winch south. At about 5pm.

I took these pictures previously as I didn't have time inclination or the wit to take pictures of me alone, on I-95, in rest areas between sessions behind the wheel. The drive from Jacksonville to Cudjoe Key is about eight hours and though I stick to 65mph in the van I don't have to faff around looking for toilets and food and we make surprisingly good time when we are forced onto freeways in our home. Layne is really good at keeping the driver supplied with hot fresh tea as we go and our portapotty works for her even at 65 mph.

It got dark north of Palm Beach but the Turnpike was pretty empty and I made good time to Homestead with one stop to fill up and one stop to snack and get a short walk in to refresh me along the way.

Highway One was totally empty through the Keys at one am. I set the cruise control seven mph above the speed limit and cruised along on an empty roadway as though there had been an evacuation order. 

A dark shadow came out from the car port as I backed into the drive and there was much mewing and tail wagging after I got the side door slid open. My wife says Rusty had a hard three days of it and we have been inseparable since I got back. Tomorrow I return to work with two dispatchers gone to new lives out of state and one dispatcher in training to replace them eventually. I might have a very work-heavy summer ahead. A Maine van vacation does not seem on the cards any more this year. Roll on retirement!

University Of North Florida

I admit I felt a little lost handing over the bag of overnight stuff my wife had prepared when checking in for the room reservation she had made for me. I walked out to the van, my home away from home and drove ten minutes across I-295 to Freedom VanGo where they were ready willing and able to install a front winch on my Promaster.

I am one of those people who thinks that being late for an appointment is not polite so I showed up early and stretched out on the bed with my book for twenty minutes as I waited for opening hour.

Freedom VanGo is a combination of two van builders in North Florida who have combined to build custom van interiors and supply accessories. They mostly do 4 wheel drive Sprinters which are fashionable  and much desired at the moment and they turn them into camper vans with bumpers, winches lights and huge boxes and spare wheel carriers of the gnarly sort. FreedomVanGo .They also install accessories by Van Compass. As far as I know Van Compass has the only front winch installation for a Ram Promaster van. The technicians got to work, I averted my eyes as they dismantled Gannet 2.

The Van Compass website includes winch installation instructions for the home mechanic (!!).  The winch fits in a steel cradle that is bolted onto the frame of the van and the plastic bumper is then re-attached hiding all but the exit point of the rope cable and hook. They very kindly pointed me in the direction of  OEX, a North Carolina company that will teach imbeciles like me how to use this $3,000 installation to best effect. I plan to sign up before we go to Alaska next year.

While I left the experts to do their work I decided the best thing I could do is take a walk as soon as the rain, scheduled for my day off naturally, eased up.  I am slightly embarrassed by this winch installation as I view it merely as a Hail Mary pass when all else fails and I get the van stuck due to my over enthusiastic back road ambitions. I am not an off roader or a rock hopper but I want the confidence to seek out lonely beaches and dirt trails when we finally head south after heading north. I don't want the complexity of four wheel drive and I don't want to have to climb feet in the air to get into my home so I am resisting lifting the van or seeking more ground clearance. 

The University of North Florida, familiar to you of course as home to the Ospreys (never heard of the place) happens to be home to a nature preserve. It so happens if you draw a vee between Freedom VanGo and Homewood Suites the apex of the vee sits on a patch of green right next to the university's Parking Services offices. Hmm, thank you Google satellite.

Naturally the day developed into a gray overcast sky and I wondered if it would be worth taking a camera for a walk, bu I determined to make the most of it.

Bear in mind I had to walk half an hour across campus to get the far distant entrance to the nature trails and I passed ponds and boardwalks and some weird piece of unlabeled sculpture that I could not locate any information about. Google you suck.

The drizzle stopped as I reached a boardwalk overlooking a pond inhabited not by fierce alligators but a bunch of turtles.

I watched them for a while until a bunch of them ganged up on one of their number and chased it out of sight under the boardwalk. I'm not actually a turtle behaviorist you may be surprised to learn, so I don't know what the chase was about but probably the usual one way or another.

After I took an aesthetic photo of a bright blue outflow pipe (I think) I had no excuse not to resume the forced march.

The campus is actually quite pretty and expansive with illuminated trails all carefully marked with blue emergency beacons. Press a button and someone rather resembling me when I'm at work will answer the direct line. Each post is marked with a number which should make locating the student in need way easy. We should plunk these around Key West and make my job that simple. Tourists have a tendency, especially in a a crisis, to view every street as "Duval Street," the only street they think they know. Makes it complicated to get the ambulance to the right place.

Geese, not a bird you see much of in the Keys. It didn't think much of me, though I found it quite attractive. 

More reflections as I closed in on my goal.

No dogs no bikes no other things that I can't remember. You have to pay to park if you arrive by car and aren't a student or employe of UNF, but walk-ins, even sweaty ones like me, can walk around for free as long as there is daylight. I came onto the campus from the right hand side and I entered the trails where the red blue and yellow trails meet at the parking areas.  I followed the red trail and walked around the lake to the yellow trail that exited at the road where I turned left to cross the freeway and walk back to my hotel. 

Students and volunteers helped build a 1600 foot wheelchair accessible boardwalk along the lake. It actually goes round in a loop though I only walked one side of it.

Once again I was all alone and could dawdle and spend time without anyone around me. The University requires masks everywhere but I confess when I was alone and in the open air a mask seemed not too important.  I did meet a couple of unmasked joggers and I stepped off the trail to let them by properly distanced.

It was a very pleasant walk as the rain receded and I meandered around the lake.

A green heron which was very patient with me. I really enjoyed the opportunity to get up close with my telephoto and have a chance to embrace the photograph. Usually wild birds in the Keys are very skittish if anything less than a long way away! This guy let me watch her/him for several minutes before I strolled on.

The sort of standards embraced by this university says this boardwalk isn't wheelchair accessible and it would take a steady hand not to slip off...but you could roll down it with nerves of steel...

Beauty everywhere.

Even when the boardwalk ran out completely the trail had a few roots but it was an easy walk. Properly not wheelchair accessible though.

Naturally a mere walk is not enough for everybody. It is for me though. An exercise stop that doesn't double as a bench to sit on...??

Reflections of course.

The kayaks are for the use of students and employees who can paddle around the lake. I walked as that is always my preferred means of locomotion.

Remember this is a university trail so there is information to keep your mind active. I liked this one, and coming from the Keys I thought this information might benefit others who come to the Keys and get eaten alive...

I called them Daleks because they were running all over campus all the time on the sidewalks buzzing hither and yon incessantly. I said good bye to the golf carts, glad to have public sidewalks to myself on the uphill trek to Publix where I shopped for lunch and dinner followed by the blessed relief of my hotel room and a nap.

The Robert W. Loftin Nature Trails

Named for the Distinguished UNF Professor Robert W. Loftin, the trails at UNF continue to foster his memory while protecting over 500 acres of natural habitat. Today three main trails and two loop connector trails are open to the public daily from sunrise to sunset. Encouraged by campus planner Hilton Meadows, the first President of UNF, Thomas G. Carpenter applied to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for campus designation as a state protected Bird Sanctuary to control hunting around campus. This designation continues to protect hundreds of acres and millions of organisms on UNF campus Robert Loftin along with the Sawmill Slough Conservation Club, UNF faculty, staff and community members established our original 12 mile nature trail system on campus. In early 1973 they were opened to the public and by 1977 were recognized as National Recreation Trails, listed by the Department of the Interior. Today the remaining 5 miles of trails are complemented with interpretive education signs and are maintained for environmental education, research and low impact recreation. The University of North Florida has one of the best natural assets of any Florida university. All policies and regulations are designed to protect the integrity of this site.

The Sawmill Slough Preserve

A three-hundred acre natural area on campus was designated as a preserve in May 2006 by UNF President John Delaney. The Sawmill Slough Preserve includes the original Sawmill Slough, a wetland habitat stretching through the western portion of the campus from Central Parkway to J Turner Butler Boulevard. In addition to the wetland, small areas of drier habitat including some longleaf pine-turkey oak woodlands may be found in the Preserve.

 

The stated purpose of the Preserve is to "assure that the Sawmill Slough Preserve will persist in a natural condition." The Preserve will protect the natural water drainage of the slough through campus as well as the native plants and animals associated with this habitat. The Preserve is a great place for a quiet hike or to view wildlife.

 

The curator of the Sawmill Slough Preserve is responsible for overseeing the maintenance of natural habitats in the Preserve and restoration of natural habitats where required. The Curator coordinates activities in the Preserve and represents the Natural Assets Management Plan in the Preserve. The position reports to the UNF Environmental Advisory Council. For more information please contact the Curator at w.smith@unf.edu or (904) 620-4261.

Visitor Information

Leave only your cares, Take only memories

 

Even after 35 years of growth, UNF continues to protect hundreds of acres of Wild Florida. All regulations are designed to protect the integrity of the habitat. Remember you are a visitor here; help us protect this place for future generations of plants, animals and people. Low-impact recreation, education, research and exploration continue as our guiding principles.

  

Visitor Regulations

• Not Permitted: animals (except service animals), bicycles, motor vehicles, alcohol,weapons, camping, fires, plant or animal collection/release/harassment
• Open during daylight hours only, 365 days per year
• Nature Trails & Picnic Areas
  • Groups are welcome but must be registered with rectrail@unf.edu and have a contract prior to their arrival.
  • Picnic areas are first come first serve
  • Enjoy natural areas at your own risk; follow all posted signs
  • For your safety, walk or run in pairs; note red numbered posts
  • Campfires are not allowed on ground; grills for cooking are okay
  • Report interesting visitors or wildlife
   
• Campus Water Bodies
  • Call UNF Police Department at (904) 620-2800 to check-in
  • No swimming or diving
  • No harassing wildlife
  • No plant or animal collection or releasing
   
• Fishing
  • Catch and release only
  • No live fish as bait -- shiners, etc.
  • Dispose of fishing line in trash receptacles appropriately
  • Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission license regulations apply
   
• Boating
  • Vessels available through Gear Checkout may be used on the lake; unauthorized vessels not permitted.
  • Personal flotation device required for every person
  • Be prepared and watch the weather
   

Sponsorship Opportunities

Donations to the Trails Foundation Account are used to maintain and improve our trails as well as address large initiatives like boardwalk repairs. All donations are tax deductible.

 

Leave your legacy at the UNF trails through an endowment, or by sponsoring a bench, lookout area or gazebo in your name.