The blossom of the Florida Anise Tree (Illicium floridanum). A small tree or large shrub that seems to like the quiet margins of a marsh or swamp.

Feeling Welcome at Gateway Trails RV Park

Upon departing St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, I decided to spend a few days near my new hometown of Crestview, Florida. I should put hometown in quotes, as Virginia will always be my home. But stopping in Crestview would give me the opportunity to pick up hardcopies of my mail from my mail service and visit a couple natural areas a little further west on the Panhandle before heading on to Texas. 

Through Hipcamp I found a delightful, small and private RV park, Gateway Trails RV Park, tucked into the countryside and owned by Jay and Suzette. Their 12-acre property, located about 12 miles west of Crestview, had a total of 5 RV spots (3 full hook-ups & 2 boondocking) plus 3 tent sites sequestered back in the woods. 

For $10/night (I believe it is now $12/night) I could boondock with access to their dump station ($10 fee), a clean and tidy shower/bath house (no extra fee) and laundry facilities (reasonably priced). The laundry area had a bookshelf with several John Grisham novels neatly lined up. Below were modest offerings of snacks and laundry supplies paid for via the honor system. 

I found the bathhouse clean and tidy with thoughtful amenities that made one feel more at home. A clean and homey shower was a treat for this boondocker.
 

Staying in their open field gave me plenty of sunlight for my solar panels to power my needs. For security, their entrance was gated with an automated key code, though I never felt security would be an issue. My site was next to a quiet country lane where The laundry facilities.
traffic was light. I awoke to the neighbor's rooster crowing in the distance. From time to time, I'd hear their donkey add his braying to the pleasant air. The ambience was delightful. 

This was my first time boondocking on private land, so I was pleased to see Jay arrive in his gator soon after I had opened their gate. He showed me their field, my home for the next few days. He was not particular about how I set up. I oriented my trailer to enjoy morning and afternoon sun with the tall trees to the southwest giving me late afternoon shade to cool my trailer down for a pleasant night's rest. 

My first evening, I took a stroll to the bathhouse and on my return found Jay and Suzette in a common area by a picnic table where they and three of their guests were enjoying an evening fire, pitching horseshoes and chatting away. I did something I'm not accustomed to doing and decided to stop by and join the conversation. Being outgoing is not my norm - though it does seem that the more I do this nomadic thing, the more I'm open to conversations with strangers, subtly vetted strangers perhaps, but strangers nonetheless.

The normal introductory conversations took place. I think it was talking about my forestry background that got us into conversation about adventures in the woods. Jay regaled us with his adventures catching some of the neighborhood rattlesnakes. Having had a rattlesnake adventure or two myself over the years, I asked him more about the snakes in this area. Perhaps my genuine interest and apparent lack of squeamishness emboldened him. He got quite excited, excused himself and jumped into his gator saying he would be back in a minute. Which prompted Suzette to hold her head in her hands and say something like, "Oh no, here we go." Jay shows off the 6' long (if it had the head!) rattlesnake skin.

A couple minutes later Jay returned with a long board in the back of the gator. He brought it out and stood it next to himself. On it was the skin of the fattest and longest rattlesnake I'd ever seen. 

Jay had spotted it by the roadside while out in his truck with his buddy. Getting out, he grabbed it by its tail and drove back to his house holding it out his driver-side window as it tried to curl up and bite him. His buddy wasn't enthused about this method of transportation. When they got back to the house his buddy got out of the truck, immediately pulled the pistol he had on him and shot the snake in the head to Jay's dismay as he was hoping the head would be attached in the display. Even headless it was impressive. 15 buttons on the rattle. 

As planned, I used my time to explore Blackwater River State Park and State Forest (more on these places coming up). Gateway Trails is also a 45 minute drive to the white sand beaches of the Florida's Emerald Coast, though I stuck to the forests. An unexpected pleasure was discovering a small park just down the road from my campsite: Bone Creek Recreation Area. I enjoyed the area so much I signed up for 3 additional days at Gateway Trails just to keep exploring.

Bone Creek Recreation Area is a small park with a pavilion for picnicking, a man-made impoundment with a swimming area and a loop trail that goes through wetlands, a stream and lowland hardwood and Longleaf Pine forests. I stuck to the 1 mile loop trail and discovered two new wetland plant species: Florida Anise Tree (Illicium floridanum), a shrub with exotic looking red flowers and Clearwater Butterwort (Pinguicula primuliflora), a carnivorous plant that uses a sticky substance on its basal leaves to entrap and then digest its prey. Golden Club (Orontium aquaticum), a more broadly ranging emergent wetland plant was in bloom too.  

Clearwater Butterwort (Pinguicula primuliflora), looking inviting to the eye, but beware if you are a gnat or mosquito. It will entrap you in its basal leaves and digest you for a meal! The curious flower stalk of Golden Club (Orontium aquaticum), an emergent wetland plant.

One upland plant new to me had bristle-hairs Spurge Nettle (Cnidoscolus stimulosus) is covered in fine bristles that can cause a painful rash when it contacts your skin. that made me hesitate to touch it and I'm glad I hesitated. It is known as Spurge Nettle or Tread Softly (Cnidoscolus stimulosus). Beware! Those pretty white flowers hover just above numerous stinging hairs that can cause a painful rash if touched. 

On the more familiar side, Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) brightened the path with its long slender blossoms in full bloom. And there was a patch of Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris) that helped solidify its identifying features in my mind. For such a small park, Bone Creek was chock full of diverse habitat niches and interesting plants.

A day or two later, I had a delightful conversation with Suzette that included finding out she is the John Grisham fan. I enjoy his works too. Having just finished "Where the Crawdads Sing", by Delia Owens I asked if I could exchange it for a Grisham book. Suzette was again easy going, "Sure".  So, I left my time at Gateway Trails with a copy of "The Last Juror", and enjoyed it thoroughly.
 

Coral Honeysuckle seems quite happy in the semi-open Longleaf Pine forest at Bone Creek Recreation Area.

One of my favorite native vines, Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens). It seemed much more prevalent in the low woodlands of Florida than in my forests in the piedmont and coastal plains of Northern Virginia.
 

Up Next: The Longleaf Pine Ecosystem

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