**(Note: I found this in my drafts folder – a never been published trip. So I figured i’d go ahead and put this one up for all to see – enjoy and i have a few more trips up my sleeve. I’ve got to get back on this blogging thing!)
If you leave your house during a torental rainstorm for a camping trip, chances are that you’ll have a pretty damn good time – at least I did. As we made our way down the country back roads of Florida, storm clouds streaked and flew across the night sky. Ever once and a while lightning would eletrify the night with an ambient glow of fierce preportions. It was like a photographer’s flash would go off in a dark room and you could see everything, but only for a split second. This I thought was both eerie and beautiful all at the same time. We arrived at Blackwater State Park late that night. We actually arrived twice. The first time we pulled into the campsite and immediately started the hunt for fire wood. Florida State Parks usually have a firewood cabin of some sorts, however at Blackwater you have to find the camp host and buy the bundles from them. Well we didn’t know this and really didn’t feel the need to knock down the camp host’s RV door for some wood – they are typically an older couple and if they are anything like my grandparents, they are asleep by 7:30. So with a quick trip to Milton (the Tom Thumb sells wood by the bundles) we found ourselves back at camp with wood, hungry bellies, and tired bones. It wasn’t long before our fire was going out and we turned in for the night. I only woke up once that evening to the sound of wind blowing through the tent and the trees above. You could feel the air becoming drier and cooler and I knew that when the sun came up the skys above would have that engaging blue color that only seems to come on crisp autumn days and provides a backdrop that compements the colors of fall.
Blackwater has a multitude of hiking and canoeing trails. Although the more popular way to view this area is by kakaying down the Blackwater River itself – we had decided to bypass this and strickly hike around the forest.
So this is where I stopped for some reason. Time managment has never been my forte.