This past weekend - eco/history trip

S

shawndavid

Are you wanting making fuck berserker?
Jun 14, 2005
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In either a book or a Word doc on my couch in St.
Marklar
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Note: Any included pics I googled. I didn't bring a camera, but I will have some from the other people who came and will post them.

I hopped on a van at 7am Sunday morning with 9 other people in the Florida Studies program and one professor for a trek that would put faces to names. We left USFSP and headed north. We spent an average of 20 minutes at each location before hopping back on the van to get to the next. We were all assigned various spots to research so we could explain them upon arrival.

We stopped at Emily's in Homosassa for breakfast. After that we headed to Crystal River to see the Crystal River Indian Mounds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_River_Archaeological_State_Park
From the top of the ceremonial mound we saw that there was still evidence on the local plant life of the 12 foot wall of water that rolled in from the gulf during the no name storm of 1993.

Then we took US19/27 north to the Suwanee River and pulled in to take a look. The water level is really high right now. Those of you from Georgia, it's high as it has a different source than, say, the Apalachicola, for which we're all fighting for water rights. The high levels bring with it increased turbidity and all sorts of floating undergrowth debris: logs, branches, etc. So the water was really dark and was going at a pretty decent clip.

Next we headed north to Perry to check out the Buckeye pulp mill. This fucking beast was scary. Proctor and Gamble used to own it. They grind down a shit ton of pine to bleach for paper purposes. It smells like hell. The Alafia River originates right near the plant. They have been in and out of scrutiny for turning the Alafia into a filthy mess (the most polluted in the US at one point). Species of fish have been changing sex and shit. Right now the flow is down to a crawl and it's covered with a nice film. The facility itself is huge and smoky. It makes this insanely loud grinding noise. Every 5 mins or so it lets out a moan that sounds like a semi truck's air horn is getting a titty twister.
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We head back up 19/27 then head west for the coast on US98 towards Wakulla. First we stop at Cherokee sink: a natural swimming pool of sorts. It's tucked bakc in the woods wbout 2 miles down a dirt road. The hole itself is about the size of 10 backyard pools. It's so low that it's basically a representation of the water table, there's just no ground so the table is exposed. There were some rednecks hanging out on the rocks and swimming.
05_Cherokee_Sink.jpg


After a few we head over to Wakulla Springs park for a guided boat ride in the river. We saw anhinga (snake birds), a cormorant, wood ducks, blue heron, snowy egrets, mullet, bass, 4 gators, including a 12 footer, and 3 or 4 manatees, among other things. This park is where some old Tarzan flicks were shot. They have a big ass lodge from the early 1900s where you can stay for the night right on the grounds. It reminds me of The Shining.
WAKULLA2-15.JPG

lodge
lodge_patio.jpg


We take off in the hopes of getting to Natural Bridge Park. This is where the St Mark's River goes underground into a sinkhole for 1/4 mile or so and then reemerges. It is also the site of a Civil War Battle. By this time, though, it's about 6:30pm and parks all close around dusk. We arrive just in time to see some Civil War reenactors loading up their shiny SUVs and sending text messages. I wish I had a fucking camera for that.

Realizing we are out of time and hungry, we take a dirt road to find a restauarant called Outz's Too Oyster Bar. We pass a group of rednecks on this long-ass dirt road. They have a fire going on teh side of the road and are sitting on a couch with various bottles of liquor around.

We arrive at Outz's. The two people working are surprised to see other human beings. This place is really beat down. The water in the bathroom sink reeks of sulfur. The menus offer very little in the way of variety, unless you order oysters; in that case you can get them nacho style, pizza style, whatever. My burger was good. I washed it down with some Natural Light. (They offer cans there to boot!) They also gave us some complimentary smoked mullet spread. The parking lot is covered by a layer of oyster shells. Those from our group were added as well.

We leave Outz's for Tallahassee around 8pm then take I10 west to the KOA in Chattahoochee.

~~

I have to go get my haircut. To be continued...
 
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Freaking adventure. I bet that felt like a mini vacation from it all. I didn't know Florida had that much... history that wasn't already built over.
 
That sounds like it would be a fun time man, congrats! Is this the trip you were talking about last time or was that a different one?

We saw anhinga (snake birds), a cormorant, wood ducks, blue heron, snowy egrets, mullet, bass, 4 gators, including a 12 footer, and 3 or 4 manatees, among other things.
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hehe, I am guessing this line was for non-Florida residents cause it had me thinking "hey I saw all those too, in my parents back yard" lolz
 
the manatees are a joke, right?

i'm curious how the river disappears underground then reappears. the ground is just higher there, right? like it's flowing through a big hill or something?
 
BeerAd said:
Is this the trip you were talking about last time or was that a different one?
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I just got back late last night.

Jonny_B said:
the manatees are a joke, right?
Click to expand...

Um..no...

Jonny_B said:
i'm curious how the river disappears underground then reappears. the ground is just higher there, right? like it's flowing through a big hill or something?
Click to expand...

Florida is made from limestone deposits. The entire peninsula - except a small nipple from the mainland that dips down a hundred miles or so - was created from the skeletons of marine mammal deposits. There are pockets in them like swiss cheese, but the holes are elongated and flat. Calcium carbonate is soft, so if there is a drought it collapses easily creating sinkholes. This is one such occurrence. The bottom fell out and the river chose a new course. It reemerges down the line as it most likely ran out off holes to push through and found it's way back to its original route.
 
OK

So we head through Tallahassee and to teh KOA in Chattahoochee.

We have 4 cabins. There is a regular style bed and a set of bunks in each room. There is also a porch swing out front. They're pretty sweet. We get there around 9 or 10pm, have a couple Heinekens and talk shit until about 11.

We get up at 7am and head to breakfast at another hole in the wall joint. The food is fantastic. I grab a copy of the local paper - The Twin City News - and find an ad which states, verbatim:
"~Coke Party~ A "Coke Party" is planned for contestants in the Miss, Junior Miss & Little Miss Grabd Ridge Pageant...."
Priceless.

We leave breakfast and swing by the Florida State Hospital, a state mental institution. It's creepy. It's not like Wallbrook in Rainman. It's more like something from a horror movie. Lots of unsavory things happened here in the 50s and 60s. The complex itself is huge. It was built, I believe, in the late 1800s.
chattahoochee_hospital.jpg


The van heads to the Woodruff Dam. This is where the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers combine at Lake Seminole. They proceed through teh damn to create the Apalachicola River. This is the source of litigation between Florida, Alabama, and Georgia since the early 90s.

This was, by far, the coolest part of the trip. A guy from the COE lets us in and we were able to not only get a tour, but we got all sorts of cool access. First, he brought us to the edge of one of the intakes. Grass has been choking the turbines out at the grates so they have to scrape them with this huge-ass claw on a crane, then pick the claw clean with pitch forks. The accumulation is so thick that they left the previous night with 12 megawatts of power generated by each of the three turbines and, when they returned in the morning, it was down to 9 or 10. They spend 8 hours per day, 3 or so days per week with 2 men cleaning out the grass. It smells like hell too.

Next we walked the entire length of the spillway. There are grates on certain sections so you can stand on them and look down at the torrent like you're hovering in midair. I was the first to find this. A few people couldn't stomach it. The power of the water rushing over is incomprehensible.

We went down into the lock to see how it works. Then we went down inside to the generators and then the control room. It's amazingly simple how this whole process is. They have breakers just like in your house. It's easy to see now how that incident occurred last week in south Florida. The controller told us that they sell power to Progress Energy and some company in GA.

We come out and look at the generators. We walk down more stairs underneath them to see these spinning, metal rods that are about 3 feet in diameter. The turbines are below and the generators are above. They spin at 75rpm to make the juice.

We leave there to go even further down into the belly of the dam. We walk down this creepy, cold, dark, damp, narrow spiral staircase into a very narrow hallway. There are three doors on the left about 30 feet apart. Our COE guy, John, tells us that the actual turbines are right behind the doors. They have clearance of less than a tenth of an inch between them and the walls. The whole hall vibrates and it's pretty loud. After this we head up an elevator and take off.

800px-USACE_Jim_Woodruff_Lock_and_Dam.jpg

woodruff_dam_pic.jpg


Next stop: Lake Jackson Mounds in Tallahassee. The ceremonial mound here is something to behold. It's the youngest one we've seen at just over 500 years old. It's really tall too. I would say almost 40' high.

We leave to spot a small, destroyed creek in Tally at Koucky Park, then check out Southwood, a poor example of the new philosophy in urban planning. Afetr that we grab lunch and head home.

What a great time. This coming weekend we're heading to Cabbage Key on a 37' sailboat from Friday to Monday. I'll be sure and bring my own camera this time.
 
shawndavid said:
I just got back late last night.



Um..no...



Florida is made from limestone deposits. The entire peninsula - except a small nipple from the mainland that dips down a hundred miles or so - was created from the skeletons of marine mammal deposits. There are pockets in them like swiss cheese, but the holes are elongated and flat. Calcium carbonate is soft, so if there is a drought it collapses easily creating sinkholes. This is one such occurrence. The bottom fell out and the river chose a new course. It reemerges down the line as it most likely ran out off holes to push through and found it's way back to its original route.
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does the river, at any point, flow upwards our of holes?

and manatees. i had no idea.
 
Florida has a ton of underground rivers. Most rivers here are a product of springs or the confluence of other rivers that are products of springs. Thus, most do bubble up from underground.

**edit

Any Florida people interested in canoe trips please don't hesitate to ask. I would love to paddle around and point shit out to you guys. It's a lot of fun. We're looking at doing a paddle/clean up trip here soon.
 
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That sounds like a very cool trip. I would be all for a canoe trip as long as we bring a big gun to shoot any alligators that try to attack. Maybe after the kids are old enough to leave behind I can talk Knyte into it (I'll tell him he gets to hold the gun, that will probably be the only way he'd say okay).
 
shawndavid said:
Oh if you think I wasn't singing "Sorry Lake Jackson..wooooooooooooo....I am for reeeeeeeeeeeeal" you're damned wrong.
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*fixt



and it's, of course, the first thing that went thru my mind.

then janet and a certain wardrobe malfunction.

then the fact that i work with an older black lady named Miss Jackson and I say it to her all the time.






anywho... got family up outside lake city and we usually tube down the itchetucknee river once a summer.. good times. .. i'm in.
 
canoe trip sounds fun. they do them at the nature center here in fort worth (huge city owned nature preserve) with guides who point out the wildlife.
 
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