Julington-Durbin Preserve

 St. Johns River Management District

Jacksonville, FL
February 2014

On a nice Saturday afternoon we headed to one of our "home" hikes- (Julington-Durbin Preserve). It would be our longest hike of the year (3.1 miles). I would learn two valuable lessons on this hike. First, I always kind of assumed that Kellisa's hiking days would be over when the day comes that I can't push her anymore. However, Egypt insisted that she push Kellisa for "a little while". I was impressed as Egypt pushed Kellisa for at least one mile. Kellisa couldn't stop giggling while Egypt was doing the pushing. Second, I learned that Egypt's current level of endurance ends at 2.1 miles. Egypt stopped in the middle of the trail and looked back with a defeated face and pleaded, "call the firetruck mens to come and rescue me". I explained that my cell phone wouldn't work in the forest and that she would have to hike out herself. Her next idea was to ride on my shoulders. I told Egypt that those days were long over. After a little more discussion, Egypt sucked it up and hiked out under her own power. I was very proud of her effort.

TRAILS W/KELLISA

HOME

Bayard Conservation Area

 

 12 Miles South of Jacksonville, FL

 

February 2015

 

 

Laurel and I had a rare few hours to ourselves and she wanted to go for a hike (heart stops to melt moment), so we went to Bayard Conservation Area. Bayard is my favorite place to hike within 30 minutes of home. It's a huge protected area with many miles of trails offering countless loop and out & back hiking options through several different forest types and one trail even ends at the banks of the St. Johns River. Since we didn't have Kellisa, I was able to take Laurel on a trail that features a very cool, but too narrow for any kind of mobility chair, boardwalk. The rest of the trails are wide, flat and usually free from mud. We didn't see any wildlife, but Laurel was ready to learn how to follow a trail using painted blazes on trees. (More pictures)

Hiking to the St. Johns River at Bayard with Kellisa (Nov. 2012)



Julington-Durbin Preserve

St. Johns River Management District

Jacksonville, FL

February 2014

Kellisa's might have a hiking future without her father behind the wheels. 

(More pictures and a video)

Graham Swamp Conservation Area

Graham Swamp Conservation Area
Size: 3,084 acres in eastern Flagler County

December 2012

This was our first visit to Graham Swamp and we were quite surprised at the hills:

Trip Totals: 2.14 miles in 54 minutes 

Bayard Conservation Area

Bayard Conservation Area

Size: 10,320 acres along the western bank of the St. Johns River

November 2012

Kellisa and I finally had the time to try our new Freedom Push Chair on a trail. We drove just under 11 miles from our home to the Bayard Conservation Area, one of our favorite local hiking places. 

Because we had limited time, I decided to follow interior roads as much as possible to my goal of reaching Davis Landing. Our route in red:

Along the path: 

In the middle of the trail, we came across this cottonmouth basking in the sun: 

Kellisa at Davis Landing along the St. Johns River:

The grassy trail through a pine forest:

We pushiked 6.66 miles in 1 hour, 58 minutes and 52.78 seconds: