Billy's Heaven

Last Sunday, the rocks we came to gather waited just a little longer while we explored "Billy's Heaven". He doesn't call it that, but dang ...

... it is heavenly.
At least to a Floridaphile like me.

I wish I could have backed up enough to get a wider view of this vernal pool on Billy's 30 acres of wild Florida. There were trees in the way.

What you are looking at is a stream that is issuing from beneath those rocks to the left. On the other side of those rocks, the stream dives underground and then emerges into this clear deep pool before flowing out over a shallow stream bed.
The water looks dark, but you can see all the way to the bottom ... 6+ feet (?) below. It appears dark here due to a dark bottom and reflections on the surface.


You get to that magical place in the first picture by traipsing through a gorgeous swamp with amazing plant diversity ... no planted pine monoculture here. You'll have to cross this log bridge that creaks and cracks to arrive at the "spring". Just hold on to the rope so you don't lose your balance.


Below is why in Florida, we say, "If you spill it, you drink it".

The terrain is low and rocky with little openings to the netherworld scattered here and there. There's not a level place to put your feet on the whole property (except at Billy's little clearing he created). Between the limestone solution holes, fallen logs, and cypress knees, every step is an adventure.

It's a fantastic place. For Billy's family, it's a play ground for hunting, camping, and fishing. They live a few miles away on a more conventional, drier piece of land, but spend a lot of time out here.
It's easy to see why.


In the shallow stream bed down from the spring a huge turtle was sleeping in the clear, sunny shallows.
She was enormous. That head is the size of a big orange.



Shhhhh.



We did not wake her.