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CONTEST: Cypress Creek Natural Area. 2-7-10

Every weekend I try to come up with an area I want to hike. This weekend I had my eyes on Cypress Creek Natural Area. I saw there were some new caches placed out there and it would be a hike to get to them. I took the bait! I woke up early and packed my pack for a good day hike. I started my hike by bushwhacking my way to a service road. I then took the service roads to all the caches. I haven’t been back in this area for years. I was amazed on how much I missed the last time I was out here. I stumbled across an old Florida homestead, which had an old chimney still standing. I was shocked! This is the kind of stuff I live for, old history spots like this. There I was, taking off my pack and searching the area for old ruins debris. I came across some old hinges attached to some old wood. Very cool! The area was covered with bamboo cut down, probably planted by the old inhabitants who lived there. Usually there are old orange trees growing by places like this, but I didn’t see any. I also found a huge conch shell near the old foundation. That was a strange thing to find in the middle of nowhere. This home site is near the Old Jupiter Indiantown Road. From the 1900s until the 1950s, the Jupiter Indiantown Road connected the communities of Jupiter and Indiantown, giving residents access to resources.

After checking out the old ruins I found an old rusted out car by a dirt trail. It was so rusted and banged up, that I couldn’t make out the “make and model”. I also ran into a small family of hogs down the trail. Then as I was making my way back to my truck I ran into a family of turkeys. Man those things can run! I managed to get a couple of pictures before they booked out of there. All and all it was a good day to hike.

I ended up doing about 6-7 miles in all.

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Comment by footTRAX on February 15, 2010 at 8:14pm: I was in Cypress Creek again today and had a wonderful time hiking around. I saw some great stuff along the way.

Comment by footTRAX on February 10, 2010 at 4:57pm: I didn't see any graves, but the ERM cleared a lot of the land. I will be going out there in a couple of weeks. I am going to hike the old Indiantown Jupiter road. I think I will come across some old ruins there too. It's a old dirt road that connected Indiantown and Jupiter together. It's overgrown now, but still passable.

Comment by Sandra Friend on February 10, 2010 at 4:31pm: Very cool. Conch shells were often placed on the graves of captains and others who worked at sea. Even in family cemeteries. There are some in the cemetery at Suwannee River State Park.

Comment by footTRAX on February 8, 2010 at 5:24pm: I have always had luck with the wildlife around here. The wildlife thank me for not being a hunter... LOL

Comment by Marc on February 8, 2010 at 10:33am: You seem to have good luck spotting the wildlife, footTRAX. I must still be too noisy. If have my daughter, forget it -- the animals can hear her for miles because she doesn't stop talking.

Comment by Chris on February 8, 2010 at 8:00am: You'll have to take a trip up to NY with me and do some URBEX. Can you say abandoned subway tunnels? A scuttled submarine? Yeah, buddy!