Colt Creek State Park Lakeland, Florida December 9 – 20, 2025

After dumping and flushing our tanks we left Blue Springs State Park in Orange City around 1:15 pm on Tuesday, December 9th and drove 2 1/2 hours to Colt Creek State Park near Lakeland, Florida for an 11-night stay. We had stayed there a little less than 2 years ago and there was flooding going on; for this stay there was a burn ban due to drought conditions. So, no campfires for us.

Colt Creek State Park

Colt Creek State Park is more than 5,000 acres of native Central Florida land that includes pine and cypress trees, open prairies, lakes and winding creeks. The land is inhabited by bald eagles, white-tailed deer, alligators, red-shouldered hawks, and a wide variety of birds and butterflies. Additionally the park is home to threatened species such as gopher tortoises and the Sherman’s fox squirrel.

We saw white-tailed deer, a red-shouldered hawk, a baby alligator and an attack cardinal during our time there.

There are more than 15 miles of trails for hikers, bicyclists and horseback riders that meander through the park. We probably hiked about 6 to 7 different miles of those trails during our stay and found the views were varied and beautiful.

There are lakes and natural creeks that allow for fishing and boating. Mac Lake boasts a 75-foot dock for fishing or just enjoying the wonderful view. Due to being a natural habitat for alligators, swimming is not allowed.

The park offers a variety of camping experiences including primitive campsites for tenters, an equestrian campground, a group campground, and an RV campground with a tent glamping area.

We, of course, were in the RV campground which was a single loop with approximately 30 sites. Our site was a long pull-through site with 50-amp electric and water. I also set up Cindy’s screen room (which is on its last legs after 3 years of continuous use) and added Xmas lights to it for her seasonal enjoyment.

After setting up we grabbed a quick nap then caught up on The Daily Show during dinner. We also watched the previous episode of Plur1bus that we missed; the one where we finally see what Carol found in the warehouse. Yuck!

Then Cindy made her way to bed while I stayed up and did some reading and writing.

It was 60 years ago that night, December 9, 1965, that A Charlie Brown Christmas first aired. Here’s my blog post about that show.

Wednesday morning we wrapped the Xmas gifts that we had at that point, then drove over to Zephyrhills to enjoy lunch at Culver’s and reload the Nomad larder. Man, I am SO glad that everything is affordable now like the Prez says.

Watch Your Yeti-tude

Thursday morning we hiked 1.8 miles on a trail in the park. You can probably imagine my shock as we rounded a bend and came face to face with…BIGFOOT!

Or at least a reasonable facsimile of the old Sasquatch.

We documented our encounters (we had another one on a different trail a few days later) in the accompanying photo album and video about this stay.

It turns out that the life-sized Skunk Ape cutouts were erected on the trails by the Mid Florida Bigfoot Research Group to raise awareness (and have a little fun, I’m sure) of the legendary Bigfoot.

Cindy and I remember when we were kids that Bigfoot was only talked about as a being in the Pacific Northwest region of the country. These days, it seems, everyone wants a piece of the action. The Rocky Mountains, Appalachian Mountains, Northern Great Lakes, Louisiana and Florida all claim to have sightings of Sasquatch.

Our former optometrist of 20 years was a native of the PNW and was a true believer in Bigfoot. Every year, during our eye exams, we would hear from him how Yeti was roaming around his old stomping grounds in Oregon. During my first-ever exam with him I mentioned that I just could not see something like that being true and he said with my bad eyesight I was lucky to see anything. So I never mentioned my skepticism again after that. I mean, who wants to upset the guy who’s messing with your eyeballs?

Anyway, we were so traumatized by our encounter that we spent the rest of the day reading and catching up on shows we missed while we were apart.

And looking out our windows every few minutes.

Attack Of The Cardinal

Speaking of windows; when we first arrived there was a beautiful red cardinal that was hanging around the bushes outside our dinette window. But, like cardinals we’ve encountered before, this one was extremely territorial. He glimpsed his reflection in the window and proceeded to attack his reflection in our window. It must have been quite frustrating. We have some footage of the merciless attack in our video for this post. Viewer discretion is advised.

I ended up clipping a towel to the top of the slide-out so it would hang down over the window in order to keep him from seeing his reflection. It worked so well he lost interest entirely after a couple of days and left the bushes AND the area.

The Last Farmers Almanac

Friday morning we hiked 2 miles on a couple of trails in the park. As I mentioned earlier, this park has more than 15 miles of trails. We’ve enjoyed exploring them and different areas of the park.

About a month earlier, the company that publishes The Farmers Almanac announced that, after 208 years, the 2026 edition would be the last Farmers Almanac of all time. I wrote about that over on my writing blog and about our getting a copy of the last Farmers Almanac.

We also made arrangements to meet our friends Kirk and Laura for our traditional Xmas Day lunch and get together.

Gator Baby, You’re The One

Monday we hiked 3 miles on one of the trails. We did not intend to hike that far, it just worked out that way. It killed my left knee and Cindy’s back.

On the upside, we saw a baby alligator sunning itself. It was about 3 feet in length and was just lounging in some short grass with its eyes closed, soaking up some rays. We kept our distance, in case mama was nearby, but were able to get some good photos and some video of the gator baby.

That was also the day that Politifact, the independent group that fact checks statements by politicians, declared 2025 The Year Of Lies.

Tuesday we limited our hike to one-half mile for the sake of my left knee and Cindy’s back. But we did get to see a Red-Shouldered Hawk sitting on the top of a tree in a field scouting out where he might score some brunch in the form of a mouse or other rodent critter. They just look so cool and calm as they scan the area. But when they move it is with lightning speed and grace.

Wednesday was another morning of a short hike, then back to Zephyrhills for lunch and grocery shopping.

New Bella Bed

We also bought Bella a new doggie bed, one with a more supportive mattress. Like us, she’s getting older and a softer yet supportive mattress is helpful for old bones. She was a little leery of it at first, but seems to have grown to like it. We threw her older bed into the dumpster at the campground, but later I saw the host had it in the back of their Polaris cart, so hopefully it found a good second home.

Friday we were back up to hiking 2 miles in the morning. Then, that night, we watched When Harry Met Sally because I just wanted to watch a Rob Reiner movie. We might watch some more of his movies in the coming days because…what a loss.

Saturday we packed it all up and left for our next stop, back to Lake Louisa.

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