Move to a New Site & Goof Off Day 2/15/2008

Well we had decided that we wanted to stay overlooking the ocean for the rest of our stay here so today was the day that a site opened up so we had to move. Now if we walk out the door we can walk into the gulf after about 20'(hope we don't sleep walk). After we moved we cleaned house and moved some things around to better suit our needs and usage. We are still even after this long living in the RV finding different places for things so it makes it easier. After lunch we took a short trip to Tate's Hell State Forest to see the Dwarf Cypress trees. This forest covers 202,437 acres and is enormous. We started back in on a dirt road, of course, and drove for what seemed like miles and miles, and we guess you could say it was, as it was 6.1 miles back into the site. OK now for a little history lesson. Tate's Hell SF got its name back in the late 1800's when a farmer named Cebe Tate journeyed into the Big Swamp. Armed with only a shotgun and accompanied by his hunting dogs, he set out to track down the panther that was killing his livestock. Tate never planned to venture very far into this uncharted land, however following the baying of his dogs and feeling he was close to cornering the panther, Tate went deeper into the swamp. After a couple of days he had lost sight of both the dogs and the panther. For several more days Tate wandered aimlessly in the swamp. During the ordeal, he lost his shotgun and was bitten by a water moccasin. Delirious, Tate stumbled out of the swamp in front of a couple of woodsmen near Carrabelle. When asked his name and where he came from, the disoriented man simply replied, "My name is Tate and I've just been through Hell".
For years the area that locals referred to as Tate's Hwell has been basically uninhabited due to its wet habitat, thick underbrush and voracious insect population. Even Archeological records reveal that early Native Americans had little to do with the Great Swamp. It wasn't until the early 1950's that attempts were made to drain Tate's Hell swamp in order to grow trees. It was later learned that draining the swamp into East Bay would seriously effect the marine condition of the bay and its estuaries. Today the primary objective of the Division of Forestry is to restore the area to a more natural condition.
Tate's Hell State Forest is best known for its large expanse of wetlands; 70% of the forest is classified as either wet prairie or wet flatlands. The predominant feature of the forest is Tate's Hell Swamp. Several unique stands of cypress wetlands are located within the forest. These cypress trees are documented to be over 150 years old with some of them more than 300 years old. They only reach a mature heighth of approximately 15' with many of them only growing to 6' or less. Wildlife is plentiful in the forest and includes the eastern box turtle, red-shouldered hawk, white-tailed deer, barred owl, wild turkey and eastern diamondback rattlesnake. There are several endangered or threatened species in the forest also and include bald eagle, Florida black bear, red cockaded woodpecker, Apalachicola kingsnake and the alligator snapping turtle. There are also many carnivorous plants, called Pitcher plants which lure trap insects in their erect trumpet shaped leaves with an array of downward pointing hairs and a slippery wall, which leads down to a deadly bath of rainwater and digestive enzymes and then digest the insects. The carnivorous plants of the forest include glistening sundews, butterwarts, and several species of pitcher plants.
The forest is open to regulated hunting and fishing of course under regulation of the Florida Fish and Wildlife CC. There is canoeing and boating and some primitive camping for tents only. There are some areas for off road vehicles and many hiking trails throughout the forest. Another unique area of the forest is the elevated Dwarf Cypress Boardwalk and observation tower. This the area we visited and walked out the boardwalk to view the trees. It was quite a site and the only thing is that it is winter here and most of the trees were bare, but it still was worth the drive and walk. Then it was on back to the RV and starting the blog and eating dinner and then finishing the blog and now its time to say till tomorrow and we love you all.


Picture List:1-3 Tate's Hell State Forest, 4-6 Dwarf Cypress Trees, 7-9 More tate's Hell SF,10- The Carrabelle Hotel circa late 1800's.