Cary State Forest II

 OK…we haven’t been out much this year.  Normally we like to visit the parks on weekdays when it is less crowded but even on a Sunday afternoon at Cary State Forest we only saw one family leaving the trail as we arrived. It's a good trail to enjoy the quiet.

We returned to to see the carnivorous plants and take a 2^nd longer trail. The Hooded Pitcher Plants are said to be best in March, April, or May. I thought we were going a bit early but I think it was already past “peak” for the plants. If you look at images online, they are never very showy but we did see them on our visit. You can't get close because they are in the water. They are in the center of the picture. It's just a tube of green with a "hood" above it. The hoods were brownish but are supposed to be green like the tube or a bit red.

They are a bit funny. We couldn’t see any for a few minutes from the viewing area. Then you notice one group, then another, and then realized there were quite a few of them in sight. Like I said, not very showy.

It's already very hot in north Florida (upper 80's and at least one day at 90F). This hike still felt nice with all the plants and wetlands to keep us cool.

Different flowers were blooming including this fetterbush.

Always interesting to see the plants come back after a prescribed burn.

I liked the color of the sun shining through the water in the wetland portion of the trail.