Yearling Trail — Attraction in Florida

I've long been a fan of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, so I'm surprised it took me so long to go here. There isn't much to see, as far as signs of human habitation goes, but I knew that going in. Having grown up in Central Florida, in a rural area, it's easy for me to imagine Jody wandering these woods and going to the nearby springs, river and creek. The landscape and wildlife should be reason enough to walk the trails, but try to imagine eaking out a living by farming this sandy landscape while passing by what was once a planted field. Highlights, for me, were the opportunity to see Florida Scrub Jays and Scrub Lizards, and the solitude. I saw three deer, one only about ten yards away, three families of Scrub Jays, a couple of Scrub Lizards and several varieties of birds. Tip o' the day: If you go in early morning, before setting off, grab yourself a spider switch. You'll want a slender stick about 30" long to clear the trail of spider webs if you're the first visitor of the day. Woods Orb Weavers set their snares across the trail in abundance. They won't bother you, just watch for them and use your switch to break their web on one side of the trail. They won't be a problem later in the day, or on your return, because they take their webs down by mid-morning and rebuild them in the evening. Ticks and chiggers are present in warm months, as well as horse flies and deer flies. Bonus Tip o' the day: Wait for the biting flies to lower their heads before swatting them and you will up your success rate by 90%. Take plenty of...

My wife and I enjoyed our hike. 2.5 hours and 5.7 miles. Not a breakneck pace by any means. Its quiet and enjoyable though it's fairly well known so you'll probably bump into some other hikers but not so many to be annoying or interrupt the silence. Numerous animal droppings on trail so there is wildlife and there was a warning of increased bear activity. I chose to be armed regardless for any eventuality. Only animals we saw were some scrub jays and a guy with a dog. Mid January and the temps were low 70s with low humidity. During the summer, be ready to burn. The first mile in is totally uncovered. Takes a bit to get to the treeline which offers some shade. There are no facilities. Bring your own EVERYTHING. Be warned. In the summer, it'll be extremely hot and your far from help if something happens.

We enjoyed our afternoon....

I enjoyed hiking the Yearling Trail. The varied scenery kept it from getting monotonous, and there was a fair bit of wildlife as well. Keep an eye out for the Florida Scrub Jays, as they are somewhat elusive and like to hang out in the brush. Every once in a while they will jump up on and old burnt tree and allow a quick peek. Pay attention for trail markers as you go, as there are some places the trail isn't very obvious and it's easy to take an incorrect tangent and not realize it for a bit. I think my favorite part was the sinkhole, because there wasn't really much to see at the historical sites (mostly just clearings where home places...