Highlands Hammock State Park
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Clyde waiting for the right light.
It was at this point where Clyde found the photograph he REALLY wanted to take, but the light was all wrong, so we waited and waited for an hour and half for a cloud to cover the sun. Clyde needed the sunlight to soften with the cloud coverage, so he’d have even light while photographing the forest.
Clyde had purchased a Leica M10 Monochrome digital camera and was anxious to play around with it and his Pentax 645 35mm shift lens. He has had the camera for about 3 months and it’s been a learning curve, but he feels like he is finally getting the hang of it. It only shoots black and white, so he is able to use filters to achieve the same kind of feeling he had with film. He’s very excited with the results.
Highlands Hammock Trail —- for sizing and price CLICK HERE
Our motor-home parked in a cozy location
Our first hike was on the Fern Trail. The trail begins with a board walk then drops off onto a dirt path with LOTS of roots that Clyde had to lift his walker over. It was a long walk for him because of all the lifting of his walker that was necessary, but it was a beautiful walk.
Unfortunately, the light wasn’t right for Clyde to take any photographs along the trail, but I had a lot of fun with my iPhone! :)
The next day we had wonderful thunderstorms and spent the day in our RV playing with our computers and watching movies. It was very relaxing.
The image you see on Clyde’s computer that he is working on is a photograph he took while photographing around the St John’s River before Covid-19 happened. We’ll post that story later.
I’m working on the computer finishing up a hand-painted photograph using photoshop.
After the rain let up, I decided I wanted to check out the Cypress Swamp Boardwalk Trail. We have taken the Cypress Swamp Trail boardwalk several previous times while visiting the park. However, at a certain point the boardwalk narrows down to about 18” with a railing on only one side. Clyde’s walker won’t fit, but I have always been curious about how that part of the boardwalks scenery looks. So off I went…
This plant is an exotic, so it’s very good to see the bugs are doing a job on it…a beautiful job. The leaves look like lace hanging from the trees.
The narrow section of the Cypress Swamp Boardwalk
Clyde with Ranger Blake Lewis
When I returned to our campsite I found Clyde and Ranger Blake Lewis enjoying a conversation. He has worked at Highlands Hammock State Park for many years, so it was a joy and inspiration to hear about his love for the park.
The day ended with a Sahara Dust Sunset. All of the dust from the Sahara desert has made its way to Florida and given us very yellow sunsets.
I took the image with my cell phone, using it as a telephoto. Rarely works very well, but the image gives you an idea of how wonderful the sunset was.
Entrance to the Swamp Walk Trail
We had sun all day most of the week, but on this day it looked like it might cloud up and give the forest even lighting, so we headed off to the Cypress Swamp Trail newer boardwalk.
I had fun photographing too!
This is the point where the wide boardwalk narrows down to the old boardwalk
It was at this point where Clyde found the photograph he REALLY wanted to take, but the light was all wrong, so we waited and waited for an hour and half for a cloud to cover the sun. Clyde needed the sunlight to soften so he’d have even light while photographing the forest.
Relaxing on a bench and enjoying watching the trees gently sway in the breeze.
We sat for a long time and enjoyed the meditation of watching the reflections on the water, and of course, the trees swaying in the breeze. The water was so still that when we looked at the reflection for awhile it felt like the world was turned upside down!
Another wonderful Sahara Dust Sunset
We had a wonderful time at Highlands Hammock State Park and feel so lucky that it is so close to us. It felt so good to be out in nature and enjoy the beauty of this earth.
For more information about Highlands Hammock State Park CLICK HERE