Ascent of Maclay Gardens State Park High Point on 2013-09-10| Other People: | Solo Ascent
Only Party on Mountain | | Date: | Tuesday, September 10, 2013 | | Ascent Type: | Successful Summit Attained | | Motorized Transport to Trailhead: | Car | | Peak: | Maclay Gardens State Park High Point | | Location: | USA-Florida | | Elevation: | 230 ft / 70 m |
Ascent Trip ReportBusiness trip and visiting daughter at FSU. Ability to go back and find the HP. This time I parked at the mulch parking lot beyond the paved parking lot to the formal gardens. The road to it is beyond the last paved parking area and the road forks left and right. Take the left. This is the Lake Overstreet TH parking. I hiked to the power line and this time did NOT cross it and get all tangled up in the new bike trails that are not on the maps. The trail heads north along the east side of the power easement and then bifurcates NE around the Lake Overstreet and NW called the Connecting Trail. Take that one. you immediately cross a small brige with a dry ditch about 5 feet deep that connects upstream basins to Lake Overstreet. I hiked down this a ways to find a contour on the USGS to make my starting eleveation and then headed back along the Connecting Trail to the Ravine Trail.
There are several suspect HPs above the 230 contour. One is alone the North Bike Loop. I took this hike and it does indeed wrap along the ravines and is a nice hike. I don't think the true HP is in this area but it would take something more accurate than a GPS to ascertain. Then hiked back on the Ravine Tail and looped around and explored the other bike trails at the other suspect locations. It appears the spots shown on the provisional location is as good as any.
I enjoy making a highpointing endeavor seem like a hike so the 5 miles or so was reasonable excercise and walked fast or jogged much of it. I was dissapointed, however, to discover that the west side of the Ravine Trail actually has another entrance (the Forest meadows Parking lot across from Meridian Road) where you can pay only $2 bucks instead of enterring through the main gate fee of $5 to get on the trails. I have only used the main gate both times. Of course, that takes the hike to the HP and candidate contours around a half mike away and for me, not as much fun. Lots of huge live oaks in the woods and nice wooded hike. |
| Summary Total Data | | Total Elevation Gain: | 133 ft / 40 m | | Extra Gain: | 20 ft / 6 m | | Round-Trip Distance: | 5 mi / 8 km | | Route: | Connecting Trail to Ravine Trail to North Loop | | Trailhead: | Lake Overstreet ditch 137 ft / 41 m | | Grade/Class: | 1 | | Quality: | 3 (on a subjective 1-10 scale) | | Route Conditions: | Maintained Trail, Bushwhack | | Weather: | Hot |
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