Heading North

12/01 – After leaving Key Largo my next stop was to revisit Highlands Hammock State Park in Sebring FL. Only an easy 3 hour drive it was an ideal way to ease back into the travelling life. I was eager to visit again and hit the trails and onsite Civilian Conservation Corp museum I had missed on my last visit. Many of the state parks in Florida were originally built by the CCC.

I had picked a larger spot this time and settled in for 4 nights. The next few days I really enjoyed biking and hiking all the trails. I can now say I’ve visited all the marked trails in the park!

I made a day trip out to Sebring raceway, I wasn’t able to get into or onto the track but did visit the gift shop and add a new hat to my collection.

The evenings are cooling off enough to enjoy campfires again, so I hit up FB marketplace and found some firewood.

I may be a cheater with the fake logs as starter for the fire but you can’t argue with the results! I’ve really been enjoying having campfires again, nothing better than sitting by the fire in the evening and enjoying an adult beverage or two. 😜

Wanting to check out the area a bit more I packed a picnic lunch and visited nearby Istokpoga park, not a very large park but it has some amazing trees and sits at the edge of Lake Istokpoga, a nearly 28k acre freshwater lake with good fishing and maybe a few alligators as well. I didn’t take the kayak out to find out…

Usually I am not a fan of repeat visits so soon (I was last here in Oct. 2021 on my way down to the Keys) but I have to say this was really a super enjoyable visit and this is one of my favorite Florida parks for sure.

Next I’ll be moving closer to the Gulf coast to Lake Manatee State Park which is near Bradenton and Sarasota Florida.