Okay, for those confused, I actually did this walk starting at the covered bridge and making a broad loop walk using the Equestrian Trail, walking through Moody Campground, then the Artesian Trail and Moody Cut Road to the Lodge. Since there was a pile of children and mothers at the picnic area near the Lodge, I skirted the chaos and headed to Creekside Trail, completing my loop back at the bridge.
There was no one else on the trails today. The campground was empty, too. The only crowds were near the Lodge, and a few rangers / workers wandering around in their vehicles.
When I was seated on a bench near the Artesian Well pond, a couple of squirrels took offense and started chattering at me, then bouncing around through the palm trees. I didn’t sight any large animals, just some wading birds near the creek and an assortment of tiny birds and a few woodpeckers working on rotten limbs out of sight. There was also the occasional call of an osprey as a mated pair has lived a long time in the area. A few fishermen were out on their boats in the creek and others were clustered near Styles Creek.
In all, it was a great reintroduction to one of my favorite parks in the area. I know just about every trail, marked and unmarked in the place, but thought this loop would be enough while I’m still recovering strength. I had no problems at all. The trails were in good shape, dry after a month or so of pleasant weather.
Hope you like the photos. The low-angle sunshine was a bit harsh so I did some exposure & color correction on most of the shots.
Princess Place Preserve sits north of Palm Coast and south of St. Augustine. Pellicer Creek is the county line delineation between St. Johns County and Flagler County. It can be reached via SR 1 and Old Kings Road, north of Palm Coast. The access road is sand.
There you have it… another outing.
Eliza
Sunny's Journal 
So beautiful !
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Thank you for beautiful pics! I enjoy them because they are so different from what I experience here in Mt. Shasta. I’m glad you are feeling better and able to be out in healing Mother nature and I appreciate your insight into cosmic events as they unfold.
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Do you edit your photos before you publish them? They are so beautiful and perfect. Thank you for sharing.
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Foxwag…It depends. Today the lighting was particularly harsh so I dropped the exposure a bit and added some saturation to bring up the colors that were being washed out. BTW, years ago I worked for Eastman Kodak processing film, 35mm, 126mm and 110mm. I also have an art degree, and an eye for composition. On some of the flower shots, especially the roses, I crop the photos to bring out the flowers. This is one creative outlet for me right now since I don’t have a space for painting. Thanks for the comment & question. ~ Eliza
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Another enjoyable selection of trees. After referencing the Southern Live Oaks it seems they’re adorned with Spanish Moss.
What dreamy images, thanks
denis
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Denis – Yes, these magnificent trees were, in some cases, heavily adorned with Spanish moss. Princess Place is an old estate from the 1800’s, 2000 acres of it, with largely intact old forest except for wide avenues of lawn and sandy roads. It is a chunk of very old Florida and has been a joy to explore. There are microclimate zones within the forest, high sandy hills with short twisted oaks and then old pine plantations that were planted maybe 25 to 50+ years ago. In the highlands, there are what I have deduced (not verified) are fire trails for access at least for tractors and trucks. Almost two years ago, the county was doing some maintenance and tree cutting in the highlands. I’ve been to the park shortly after hurricanes. The area is always highly groomed to prevent forest fires. When one of the ancient oaks is taken down, most of the time, the branches are removed and shredded. The park has a crew that are out all the time mowing and monitoring the condition of the trails and forest. ~ Eliza
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Eliza,
Yes when referencing the Moss I learned the largest Oaks can endure high force hurricanes.
Intrigued by the branch shredding, is that to stop contamination or contain pollutants ?
Perhaps to remove a source of kindling.
denis
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Well, let’s see — some of the “limbs” on these ancient trees are as long as a house and heavier than your truck. If left to rot, the large limbs create a fire hazard during the driest months of the year… in winter and spring. Smaller broken branches are tossed into the woods to break down naturally and create safe harbors for little creatures. I’m not sure what happens to the shredded material. It can be composted and used for mulch. ~ Eliza
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DEAR ELIZA,
After reading your informative words I simply cannot hold back my rather provocative comment – which is: when you mentioned “SPANISH MOSS” which adornes the old trees on FLORIDA, yours truly for the ‘security reason’ (aspect) only would say that the legitimate representative of SPAIN just recently met with the representative, sometimes for us the WESTERNERS mysterious country in the ORIENT, who is reportedly 6’2″ tall gentleman and that brave legitimate representative of the CHRISTIAN SPAIN is even significantly taller then he is, so NO wander that he got “THE FULL CEREMONIAL HONORS” there!!
SURSUM CORDA!!
SINCERELY,
TONY M.
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