Withlacoochee Citrus Tract Holder Mine

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.