Saturday morning after camping at Hopkins Prairie, my friend and I (and Roe of course) took a hike on the nearby Yearling Trail. Some of you may remember I had planned to come here a few weeks ago, but the area was closed due to a forest fire. You’ll see some of the effects of that fire as we hike the trail today.
There are two trailheads, but today we’ll use the Pats Island trailhead, which starts out on a portion of the Florida Scenic Trail. So make sure you have your sunscreen on and tick prevention measures in place. Alrighty then, let’s go.
This little long leaf pine reminded me of the phoenix rising from the ashes of the forest fire.
Pats Island is the name of a small forest community that existed here in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The most predominant members were the Long family. Pulitzer Prize winning author of “The Yearling”, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, stayed with Calvin and Mary Long in 1933 as she did research for her novel. During her visit she recorded many stories told by the Longs. Calvin’s childhood story of nursing a deer from a fawn gave her the idea for ‘The Yearling.” The film starring Gregory Peck was filmed on location here.
Our first stop was at the edge of this sinkhole where residents got their drinking water.
I liked the shadows the trees made here.
Next stop was the Long family cemetery. The fence looks new…perhaps due to damage by the fire?
Reuben and Sarah Jane Long were the patriarch & matriarch of the Long family. They settled here around 1872.
Life was hard here as residents eked out a living from farming, running woods cattle & hogs, hunting, fishing, making moonshine whisky and trading with boat travel on the St. Johns River.
Evidence of their hardships are shown on the tombstones in the way they died: forest fire, heat stroke, hunting accident, and this poor lad’s clothes caught ablaze while playing with fire.
As we continue along the trail we come to more evidence of the recent fires
My friend is standing at the Reuben Long homesite. You can see how tiny their cabin must have been.
The written guide says #7 marks an old dogwood tree with gnarled trunk that is evidence that it has survived many forest fires.
I don’t think it survived this one.
Now that you are all hot from your hike, it’d be fun to take a swim in Silver Glen Springs to cool off. The entrance is just across from the main Yearling Trailhead.
We just took a quick tour because this sign did not bode well for Roe.
No camping, but a beautiful day-use area. There are also two hiking trails. One leads to the place where Jody made his flutter wheel in the movie, “The Yearling.”
Party boat. I’ve seen pictures on the news of shore-to shore boats rafted up here on 4th of July weekend, with the springs carpeted with inflatable rafts. Today it was idyllic.
