We first visited Highlands Hammock State Park a year or two ago. We returned briefly yesterday for a picnic lunch and a walk at our favorite spot from last time, the Cypress Swamp boardwalk. The water level was lower this time than last, with this visit farther into the drier season than before.

The popular boardwalk, after a lovely wide section with angled benches, loses much of its width and one of its side rails. This makes the swamp seem much more intimate, without that mental barrier between you and the alligators. (We saw two.) (by quoderat)

Besides the alligators, we saw a large spider and a small flock of ibis (both by zanna)

Florida Hikes reports that they enjoyed a wild orange milkshake, picked from trees in the park that are descendents from an earlier use of the land as an orchard, but we are zero for two for having the concession stand open in the first place. We did however stroll through the small Civilian Conservation Corps Museum. My favorite part was probably a map with pins for all of the work camps across the country.

By September 1935 over 500,000 young men had lived in CCC camps, most staying from six months to a year. The work focused on soil conservation and reforestation. Most important, the men planted millions of trees on land made barren from fires, natural erosion, or lumbering—in fact, the CCC was responsible for over half the reforestation, public and private, done in the nation’s history. Corpsmen also dug canals and ditches, built over thirty thousand wildlife shelters, stocked rivers and lakes with nearly a billion fish, restored historic battlefields, and cleared beaches and campgrounds.

In less than 10 years, the Civilian Conservation Corps built more than 800 parks and planted nearly 3 billion trees nationwide. [history.com]