Hawthorne Trail

A warm, moist morning produced visible sun rays piercing the forested hills of the Hawthorne Trail. These hills are always like a little cup of coffee to really get you charged up early in the ride and then to remind you that you aren't quite through just before you get back to Gainesville. The natural setting of this trail easily qualifies it as one of Florida's best with the lure that you can almost count on seeing wildlife as well as other folks enjoying the corridor not necessarily on wheels.

To add additional accuracy to the Trails Guide page I'm building, I went ahead a pedaled down to the overlook at Payne's Prairie only to find this youngster and her mother (click on the photo to see more).

Gary, Deanne, and I were feeling confident that we could make this trip in spite of the heat forecast for today since we had started early enough and there was a light breeze. Our usual rest stop was somewhat disappointing with a posted "Out of Order" sign deflating hopes for convenience, but we were making such good time that we merrily forged on. Just after admiring the new concrete trail section that bridges the intersection of SE 200th Terrace, we arrived in Hawthorne and met up with George Edwards' troop preparing for their return to the Rochelle trail head.

The aforementioned breeze seemed stronger as we turned to face it and it carried along with it a noticeable increase in the chance of a shower. A cotton-tailed rabbit grazed bravely on the trail right of way as we approached and turned tail just as I clicked the camera on. Our return trip seemed to be going rather smoothly, yet just as we passed George's group again, droplets became drops became full rain which changed the experience into an entirely different one.

By the time we were climbing the hammock again, the rain had stopped, but everything was wet and refreshed. The turns in this area called for a little more caution with loose debris from the hard rain the day before and water from this new shower. While we loaded up, George rang me to confirm we had seats waiting at Satchel's for pizza. That turned out to be an experience not to be missed!

32 miles

Trail Condition: Beautiful, some light forest litter
Facilities: "Out of Order", temporarily we hope
O\vo~