Friends of Highlands Hammock

The Winter 2012 CSO Newsletter is available here.

The Fall Newsletter is available here!

Be sure to get your 2011 Turkey Trot 5K entry in before the November 16 deadline. The area's biggest and best will have a field of 500 plus working off calories prior to the holiday feast. Be sure to join in the fun!

Entry Form Here

Humane Society of Highlands County

SANTA PAWS HOLIDAY 5K RUN & 1 Mile Pet Walk/Parade

Date: Saturday, December 3, 2011

Description: 5K Race begins at 8:00 a.m. - Pet Walk at 8:30 a.m. Bring your dog and celebrate the season with a pet contest with prizes, photos with Santa Paws and awards for overall winners in Masters & various age groups. Registration form available at Ranger Station or online atwww.FloridaStateParks.org/highlandshammock.

Fees: Entry fees are $15 for preregistration or $20 day of race.

Contact: Call Humane Society at 863-655-1522 for more information

The final concert of Highlands Hammock State Park’s “Music in the Park” series is Saturday, May 21^st at 7:00 p.m. The band performing, previously advertised as Final Cut, will be replaced by the Country-Rock ensemble, Dock 7.

Dock 7 includes members Rich Shepard on bass guitar, Waylon Baker on guitar, Rick Daniels on drums and Robyn Cole singing lead vocals. The band performs a mix of contemporary country, classic rock and their own original music. You can sample their sound at www.dock7music.com and hear their current single, “Crazy Over Me.”

“Our sound is influenced by everything from rhythm and blues to Van Halen, KISS, Brad Paisley and also artists like Hank Williams, Waylon Jennings and Alabama,” says Rich Shepard. “We’ve been entertaining in central Florida since October and our band includes two founding members of the highly successful Robyn James Band.”

Waylon Baker, one of those two, hails from Plant City as does wife Robyn Cole and drummer Rick Daniels. Robyn has been singing on stage since she was five years old and while she performs in several genres, Country music is her home. She and husband Baker are the chief song writers of the group. “It’s always a team effort though,” says Robyn. “The guys always throw out an idea or two and will tell us if they don’t like something.” Robyn’s stage presence and vocal ability is well known as a “show stopper” due to the soul and sound she brings to the stage.

All the guys started their careers a bit later than Robyn, each picking up their preferred instruments around age twelve. Their musical influence is as varied as the band themselves. Rich Shepard was a founding member of the California Toe Jam Band, while Daniels mentions his previous performances with King’s Ransom Band. “Although we have all played in a number of bands around Florida, Dock 7 is our home now,” asserts Shepard. “We just get along so well, musically and personally.”

You can hear Dock 7 at the Hammock on Saturday, May 21^st beginning at 7:00 p.m. Bring a lawn chair or blanket to sit on, a flashlight, bug spray and a picnic basket or cooler. Concert admission is $5.00 per person with accompanied children age 12 and under admitted free of charge. Park admission will be waived after 6:00 p.m. on the concert night, making this a very affordable evening out for the whole family.

“The annual concert series has proven to be an excellent fund raiser for the Friends of Highlands Hammock during the nine years the park has sponsored this event,” says Park Specialist Dorothy Harris. “The board is currently working on next year’s concert line up and we should be able to post the fall and winter dates to the park website soon.”

View all the upcoming events at www.FloridaStateParks.org/highlandshammock or call (863) 386-6094 for more information.

Spring has arrived and the park is bursting with life. Gaze into the lush green canopy of the Hammock or come delight over wildflowers springing up in the flatwoods. Spring birds are abundant now. Look for swallow-tailed kites, yellow-billed cuckoos, red-headed woodpeckers, great crested flycatchers and northern parulas. White-tailed deer are seen nearly every day and alligators laze about in the swamps.

What a wonderful time to visit the park! It’s not too hot and there’s no worry about afternoon thunderstorms for another six weeks or so. Come take advantage of the extra daylight hours. Bring the kids out in the late afternoon and toss a football or ride your bikes. Take a cruise around the Loop Drive’s bike path or enjoy the off-road bicycle trail.

Haven’t been camping in a while? Make a reservation to relax by the campfire while the kids enjoy the playground and make new friends. This time of year is perfect-no pesky bugs to bother you and weekdays are quiet and peaceful. Weekends remain busy until the end of May.

It’s also a great time of year for enjoying an evening concert. Saturday, April 16^th, Billy Glades performs his Florida Folk music beginning at 7:00 p.m. Concert tickets are just $5 per person and accompanied kids age 12 and under are admitted free of charge. Park admission is waived after 6:00 p.m. on concert nights, making this an affordable evening out. Why not camp that weekend so you can relax all day, enjoy the concert and still have time for smore’s before bed.

If camping’s not your thing, plan a picnic for Mother’s Day. Park admission is reduced for any family bringing “mom” with them on Mother’s Day. Dad doesn’t need to feel left out because he’ll receive the same discount on Father’s Day. Pack a picnic or bring a cooler of BBQ fixings and grill with the family. Don’t forget to check out the new Seven Lakes day use area on County Road 635. Admission to this picnic area is included with your regular park admission. The lake front offers a relaxing vista to enjoy during your meal.

Tram tours continue to be scheduled at 1:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 1:00 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the summer season. Tours offer a chance to enjoy remote areas of the park from the comfort of an open-air tram with a ranger narrating along the way. Alligators, turtles and wading birds are often seen, making this an extremely popular way to enjoy the park. As our snowbirds depart for the north, demand for this popular program decreases and tickets are more widely available. Tickets may be purchased the day of the tram at the Ranger Station beginning at 8:00 a.m. Adult tickets are just $5 per person and youth tickets (ages 6-12) are $3.00. Accompanied children age five and under may ride free of charge. Private tours can be scheduled according to staff availability and arrangements may be made by calling the ranger station at (863) 386-6094.

With all there is to do, perhaps the simplest thing gets overlooked. Daily park admission is still just $6.00 per vehicle for up to eight people per car. The park offers nine different nature trails to explore and I bet it’s been a long time since you’ve walked some of them. Do you remember the 1,000 year old tree at the Big Oak Trail? Chances are it looks quite a bit different than you remember. The huge oak on the Hickory Trail with the burned out bottom is still there waiting for you to step inside. Have you seen the Fern Garden Trail now that the historic waterway’s been restored? Fern the alligator is back and maybe you’ll even see the otters swimming around. Don’t forget that you are always welcome to bring your dog out for a walk or borrow a pair of binoculars at the ranger station to see what’s out here in “the Real Florida”.

For more information about the park, contact the Ranger Station at (863) 386-6094 or visit our website at www.FloridaStateParks.org/highlandshammock.

Florida's state parks will be FEE-FREE or DISCOUNTED on the following days in 2011:

Sunday, May 8 – Mothers Day – 50 percent entry fee for families with mothers*

Sunday, June 19 – Fathers Day – 50 percent entry fee for families with fathers*

Sunday, July 17 – National Park and Recreation Day – Free for all*

Sunday, September 11 – Literacy Month – Free with library card, library book or donation of family-friendly book*

Friday, November 11 – Veterans Day – Free for all*

*Excludes the Skyway Fishing Pier State Park.

The 2010 Turkey Trot Results are in!

View them here!

The entry form for the 2010 Turkey Trot can be downloaded here.

As the Civilian Conserva-tion Corps (CCC) Mu-seum door slowly closed behind me, I gave my eyes time to adjust to the lower level of inside light-ing. It was a nice change in atmosphere from the hot outside summer day, to the quietness of the museum. As the peace-fulness settled over me, I realized I did not have any expectations, just curiosity of the what, who, why and how’s of the museum. As a new ranger to the park, I was just sticking my head inside for a quick look around.

Read the rest here.