Falling Creek Falls Park

Falling Creek Falls Park just north of Lake City, FL sat on our list for some time. As we travel, we keep notes and a travel journal as we see signs, interesting looking places or destinations, or someone comments on a local attraction. Each county, city, or town usually owns property used as public parks. In our travels we often find these parks, usually by accident. Incredibly, sometimes the locals do not know about them.

Our March RV trip proved much colder than the forecast predicted, with a north wind. Cold rarely stops us hiking and being outdoors just as the heat rarely stops us in July and August. The north wind this time of year in Florida, at least north and central Florida where we tend to migrate, really drops the “feels like” temperature, especially when it cuts right through you and is accompanied by cloudiness. We found the park, stepped out of the car, and the north wind greeted us. Not surprisingly, we found ourselves alone in this very small park on a not particularly great day.

For the first part of the hike on the boardwalk I heard only traffic from the nearby Interstate. It didn’t take long for that to fade away, and the rustling of the leaves from the many gray squirrels, and the occasional call of a bird to replace it. This winter central and northern Florida experienced a wet ‘dry’ season. We heard the muted roar of a waterfall before we reached it. Follow the boardwalk; it forks not far from the parking area and a sign points the way to the spur to the falls. We reached it in a few minutes. The water poured over the ledge down the ten feet to the continuation of the creek, and the tannin lent it an interesting color. We enjoyed it for a few minutes, photographed it from various angles, and then watched it a bit more. We returned the way we came, and walked the other spur to where the boardwalk ended and a trail went off into the woods along the upper part of the creek.

We both took the opportunity to play around with shutter speeds to see what effects we could get with the water and the tannin. More on that next week.