Exploring Ocala

About a week ago I started to suspect a friction injury in my hip.  I should have taken a break from running at that point, but stubbornness among other ridiculosity in my being hindered that proper course of action.  Instead I kept running and predictably made it worse.  Fortunately, I have done a lot of growing up and I decided to take a break this week instead....mostly because I was starting to limp and that tends to draw too much attention.  My hip is feeling much better but not 100%, so when I woke up this Saturday morning with a craving in my soul for running, I needed a plan.  My new home (Ocala) has had very little exploration by me; I set out early to remedy this situation.  Some friends mentioned the Cross Florida Greenway, which has a portion near where I live, so I made this my goal.  After a little research, I found out that the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway was created from land formerly designated for the Cross Florida Ship and later Barge Canal projects (a canal meant to connect the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean through northern Florida).  In short, thank you to Marjorie Harris Carr for being the crazy hippie whose actions lead to the conservation of this land, and later creation of a park for me to explore.  You might anticipate that the remainder of this post is a documentation of my adventures in said park.....false.  When I arrived at the gate to the park, it was locked and although I don't usually allow such trivial barriers as locked gates to stop me from my explorations, I decided to save this one for another day.  Besides, there was another smaller park just a few miles back on the same road that I ALSO have not explored, and that works just as well.

So this adventure is in the smaller, but no less significant, Silver Springs Conservation Area.

Not certain what this symbol is supposed to represent, but I will tell you that Aerosmith did start playing in my head every time I passed one.

 

This was my favorite part of the trail.  It opens up to this clearing and then continued down the corridor of trees in the back.  I love the canopy of craggaly trees.

There is a lot of fungus in Florida. I don't know why I am fascinated with fungus, but I am, so if you don't think it is fun to look at, you can skip this and the next two pictures.

Someday, I will study these organisms, but my mycological research right now needs to be confined to those that have the ability to colonize the human body.  I picked up a few of them, they are dry and soft and fluffy.

This one is doubly interesting because it is a fungus that also looks like a seashell...I can't really ask for better than that.

Alright, enough with the fungi.  This trail was kind of funny to me because although the length was only about 2.5 miles with 0 change in elevation, there were several of these benches along the way.  In reality, it is very nice because they make little trails like this more enjoyable for those that can't go very without taking breaks.....I hope for that never to be my situation, but if it is, I am sure I will be very grateful.

To Tim, I am sorry that none of my fuzzy pictures captured Sasquatch, but I did get these really great flowers......that's pretty close, right?  No? Dang it! Those guys are really hard to get on film.

About the time I passed the clearing, it started to rain, which really worked to my advantage because it wasn't very cold, and I got the trail to myself.  Being the first and only person on the trail is just the way I like it.  "But molly, how do you know you were the first?"....easy, I ran into about 27 spiderwebs with my face....that means I was the first one on the trail.  I didn't spend more than about an hour exploring, but it was fun and gives me some new things to think about when I am tired of studying.

Well, that just about wraps-up this documentation.  Last thought: I would not have had this adventure if I had not injured my hip, so a moral of the story is: good adventures happen especially when I let my ridiculousness shine.....kidding.....a moral of the story is: there is simple beauty all over this earth, and it can be enjoyed if we only take a little time to recognize it when it is near and seek it out when it is not.