Clermont to Auburndale – Alligator Love on the General James A. Van Fleet Trail

We had a very good day, despite adverse winds all day and 90-degree temperature during the last two hours.  We saw lots of wild life – a pair of sand hill cranes with their colts (yes, that’s what they call the baby cranes), gopher tortoises, two bald eagles, and a white Ibis. (Not to mention the biting flies that helped keep our breaks short.)

On our bikes by 8:20 a.m., we pretty much sailed out of town, having conquered most of the hills the day before.  We biked 20 miles before reaching the Trail, mostly on shaded country roads with little traffic.

The Trail runs through the Green Swamp, the headwaters for the Withlacoochee, Hillsborough and Peace rivers. The trail is tree-lined, eight-foot wide, smooth, flat, and straight as an arrow, except for one very slight curve in its 29.2 miles, and its 6.7 mile extension in Auburndale.  We got on the trail at mile 20, rode it to mile 0, then all of its extension.  When we exited we were only about three miles from the hotel—yes, it was a divided four-way, but we had a good shoulder! 

We knew to expect alligators on the trail, and we saw the warning signs, but it wasn’t until about the third little bridge that Rob spied a prize specimen, forever to be known as “Arnold” due to his muscular, well-oiled look.

Tomorrow, Diane hopes to see her heartthrob, Fabio, and/or his big brother, Humpback, two famous resident gators at the Circle B Bar Ranch Preserve, and then on into Ybor City.

At home at the Best Western in Auburndale,

Diane & Rob

Sometimes the small country roads outshine the trails.  Florida Boys Ranch Road. 

The Van Fleet Trail runs straight as an arrow for over

 25 miles.

But the Trail does have its amenities, such as these rest areas.  But be choosy some come with their own resident biting flies.

Also very cool were these Bike Rx Boxes

In each box was everything you needed to fix a flat. As well as tools to deal with
minor repairs. 

But the real reason to ride the Trail is to be found in the mid section, when you start seeing these signs on each bridge crossing the small creeks.

Two photos of "Arnold," a 12 ft plus beauty. (Photos taken from above over the bridge railing.)