Well I am back from a couple nights of camping at the Seminole Ranch Conservation Area. ( East Side )
It was nice an quiet , the owls did sound off at night and the buzz of the mosquitoes was very relaxing when laying in the hammock listing to them trying to get in with me for a snack.
If you take a close look at the below map you can see where Mac and I camped. It is a shelter on the St.Johns River owned by the St Johns Water Management District and is there for a person wanting to camp or a boater caught in a bad storm and needing a refuge and safe place to go to.
Where you see the arrow on State Road 46 follow Hat Bill Road down to Hatbill Park. Now back up just a bit to the Seminole County , Orange County line from the west ( left ) side of the map. Where that line intersects Hatbill Road is where the shelter is. The funny thing is that the Volusia county and Brevard county line from the north ( top ) coming down meets up in the area of the shelter or cabin. That makes it a little confusing to which county you are actually in but Brevard answers the calls out there since they are the closest Sheriffs Office and medical help service.
There is a gate at Hatbill road and the path leading to the shelter , you get the gate combination when you reserve the campsite. It can be reserved for 7 days at a time. To reserve the area you do that by computer on the St Johns River Water Management Web Site. Then about 2 weeks before the date you listed you get a email from them ( Karen Davis ) with the combination of the gate and the permission letter to camp there , just print it off and take it with you as verification/permission to be there. There is No Charge by the state to be there.
Unlock the gate and drive down to the shelter area , locking the gate behind you.
I put my hammock up on the right side of the shelter and Mac put his tent up in the grassy area between the palms and the river. The St Johns River (East Channel and bay ) comes by the campsite and a light weight boat can be launched there for exploring , hunting or fishing.
Behind the shelter /cabin there is a small open ,out , building with a BBQ Pit and off to the right a fire pit. The restroom which is a porta potty set in a more of less permanent manner is off to the left of everything in a secluded area. It is really clean and was cleaned out while we were there.
We had a full moon but we also had temperatures in the high 80's during the day with it getting to the lower 70's the one night and just a little lower the other night. As normal with me , it rained off and on during the time we were there but not a heavy rain or a long time rain.
We did have one unusual sighting at about the same time each evening , around 7:30 just about 30 degrees above the West woods line there was a bright object , ( No , not a plane or a star ) it was as bright or brighter then the full moon in the East. As far as we could figure is that it was the "Comet of the Century " Comet ISON they said would be in the night sky and as bright as the moon.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/1 ... 76897.html
Only one critter and that was late on the 2nd night. Mac left the window down in his truck and had a partial box of Krispy Kreem Doughnuts on the seat. A coon got into them and when Mac went to his truck the coon went out the drivers side leaving the doughnut stuck to the partly open drivers window.
It's a great place to go just to lay back , camp and enjoy life by not doing a darn thing except watching the world go by , the flocks of water birds and the feeding fish along the weed bank down river. Or you could go for a week long fishing exploring trip , there are a lot of foot trails in the are ( The broken lines on the map ) . It has 4.3 miles of the Florida National Scenic Trail in it and has a total land area of 29,223 acres.
For the Florida Trail section... West side off of State Road 50.
The 4.3 miles of the Florida National Scenic Trail. This orange-blazed foot trail starts just north of SR 50 near the Christmas RV Park and St. Nicholas Road and ends at the fence crossing to Charles H. Bronson State Forest. There's also a 2.8 mile white-blazed trail that intersects with the FNST in several locations making it possible to do a 5.2 mile figure-eight loop hike. Both trails can be accessed by following a 0.8 mile blue-blazed trail from the main parking lot at the end of Wheeler Road.
It was nice an quiet , the owls did sound off at night and the buzz of the mosquitoes was very relaxing when laying in the hammock listing to them trying to get in with me for a snack.
If you take a close look at the below map you can see where Mac and I camped. It is a shelter on the St.Johns River owned by the St Johns Water Management District and is there for a person wanting to camp or a boater caught in a bad storm and needing a refuge and safe place to go to.
Where you see the arrow on State Road 46 follow Hat Bill Road down to Hatbill Park. Now back up just a bit to the Seminole County , Orange County line from the west ( left ) side of the map. Where that line intersects Hatbill Road is where the shelter is. The funny thing is that the Volusia county and Brevard county line from the north ( top ) coming down meets up in the area of the shelter or cabin. That makes it a little confusing to which county you are actually in but Brevard answers the calls out there since they are the closest Sheriffs Office and medical help service.
There is a gate at Hatbill road and the path leading to the shelter , you get the gate combination when you reserve the campsite. It can be reserved for 7 days at a time. To reserve the area you do that by computer on the St Johns River Water Management Web Site. Then about 2 weeks before the date you listed you get a email from them ( Karen Davis ) with the combination of the gate and the permission letter to camp there , just print it off and take it with you as verification/permission to be there. There is No Charge by the state to be there.
Unlock the gate and drive down to the shelter area , locking the gate behind you.
I put my hammock up on the right side of the shelter and Mac put his tent up in the grassy area between the palms and the river. The St Johns River (East Channel and bay ) comes by the campsite and a light weight boat can be launched there for exploring , hunting or fishing.
Behind the shelter /cabin there is a small open ,out , building with a BBQ Pit and off to the right a fire pit. The restroom which is a porta potty set in a more of less permanent manner is off to the left of everything in a secluded area. It is really clean and was cleaned out while we were there.
We had a full moon but we also had temperatures in the high 80's during the day with it getting to the lower 70's the one night and just a little lower the other night. As normal with me , it rained off and on during the time we were there but not a heavy rain or a long time rain.
We did have one unusual sighting at about the same time each evening , around 7:30 just about 30 degrees above the West woods line there was a bright object , ( No , not a plane or a star ) it was as bright or brighter then the full moon in the East. As far as we could figure is that it was the "Comet of the Century " Comet ISON they said would be in the night sky and as bright as the moon.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/1 ... 76897.html
Only one critter and that was late on the 2nd night. Mac left the window down in his truck and had a partial box of Krispy Kreem Doughnuts on the seat. A coon got into them and when Mac went to his truck the coon went out the drivers side leaving the doughnut stuck to the partly open drivers window.
It's a great place to go just to lay back , camp and enjoy life by not doing a darn thing except watching the world go by , the flocks of water birds and the feeding fish along the weed bank down river. Or you could go for a week long fishing exploring trip , there are a lot of foot trails in the are ( The broken lines on the map ) . It has 4.3 miles of the Florida National Scenic Trail in it and has a total land area of 29,223 acres.
For the Florida Trail section... West side off of State Road 50.
The 4.3 miles of the Florida National Scenic Trail. This orange-blazed foot trail starts just north of SR 50 near the Christmas RV Park and St. Nicholas Road and ends at the fence crossing to Charles H. Bronson State Forest. There's also a 2.8 mile white-blazed trail that intersects with the FNST in several locations making it possible to do a 5.2 mile figure-eight loop hike. Both trails can be accessed by following a 0.8 mile blue-blazed trail from the main parking lot at the end of Wheeler Road.
