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Withlacoochee Citrus Tract Holder Mine

Birding / Hiking / Adventuring Roadtrip Info

ROUGH DRAFT

Aug 2018
 Typical view [?]
Photo Galleries
Typical View (11)
GRADES: Click each for info, * = Note
How Big Not Rated
Importance Not Rated
Revisit? B *
Birding D *
Wildlife C *
Summer Heat D
Terrain C *
Fun Hike C *
Maintained C *
Mosquitos B
Biting Files C *
Ticks C
NOTE: Go back when cool out.
NOTE: Should be C+ but we saw D
NOTE: Shoul dbe A but we saw C
NOTE: C- you had to watch terrain changes more than most area trails. Not grassy.
NOTE: Nice - big forest - but was still kind of dull.
NOTE: Trailhead is like a practical joke
NOTE: Didn't see a lot but they like the shade we were not in
 LOCATION: Accuracy: Read me
Map On Big Map: Click map (or on google maps). Address: Big Further Up Road, 4399 Trail 10, Inverness, FL, Citrus, USA, 34452
5 CLOSEST (Map)
Miles Location
0.1Citrus Tract, Withlacoochee
4.2Cooter Pond Park
4.3Paige's Rootbeer - Inverness, FL
5.3Withlacoochee Citrus Tract Tillis Hill
5.4Fort Cooper SP

1) What It's Like

It's a lot of pines, dry, kind of a lot of exposure to the sun. We didn't have a great time because we visited midday midsummer and the heat plus lack of wildlife and birds made it not so great.

2) Kinds of Birds

Saw none - but middle of summer day.

3) Wildlife

Saw none - but middle of summer day.

4) Amenities

Just the trailhead sign. There may have been bathrooms in the camping area but didn't explore that. Also a monumental pile of rocks if that does anything for you.

5) Directions

Warning - you might get on the wrong trail.

From CR581 (the west border of this forest) you take a long somewhat hilly (for Florida) dirt/shell/rock road (Trail 10) to where there is a camping area (RVs etc) but the area is otherwise remote-seeming forest. The trail head sign is bizarre - it's a nice big sign but it's next to a jeep trail / wide hiking trail(?) when it means to point to the actual trail like 100 ft(?) further up the road on the right - which is barely marked. Secret trail! We walked a quarter mile up the jeep trail before deciding it was way too boring and hot. We only considered that we might have missed something after looking at the sign again.

When driving further in than this trail - might want more than a small car.

6) Time Requirements

You could easily spend several days in this forest in general. It takes about half an hour to get from the road blue blaze connector to the actual Florida trail loop - not that the trail suddenly changes at that point.

Experience

As mentioned in the directions section we drove in and there's an RV camping area though otherwise it seems like a nice remote forest. The sign pointed us down the jeep trail immediately to the left - which is very exposed and kind of boring. Wouldn't suggest doing that in the hot months at the least. Further up the road a bit on the right is the Florida Trail - look close. Our experience was that it started out nice. Pines, kind of dry, not too exposed (this was full on summer), some species of pines etc that were different than you see everywhere else (small pine cones for example) so it had some interest. No animal tracks but there have to be lots of deer etc in here. As time went on there were less shorter oaks etc and with tall pines you lose some shade. So - it started to get kind of unpleasant a quarter of a mile in. We did about a mile of the trail and the heat was getting to us. So it is a nice forest but this particular section it seemed kind of uniform and without much in the way of birds and wildlife though mid day summer is the worst time to judge this.


Comparing this to the Dames cave area - the sw part of the forest: trees are taller and older there, terrain has more altittude change and interest there, scrub etc seems more diverse there, there are more bugs (spiders etc - interesting ones to look at), there many more birds there. And we visited that mid-day as well. Croom tract the pines aren't as big and old in most spots as Dames cave but it's less sparse vegetation there and more birds and wildlife (when we have gone). So - I want to give this section a chance but it doesn't compare well so far.

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