In St. Petersburg for a month

[PastorJon]

Well, we thought we might do a little geocaching down there. I'm from Maine, where geocaching is primarily walk-in-the-woods, large caches that are well camo'd or hidden.

 

I figure that geocaching is slightly different from region to region, but I'm seeing a LOT of micros when I start searching in Florida.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions of caches or cache series for us? While we're there, we hope to visit some of your great parks and beaches, as well as go to some of the museums in St. Pete.

 

Thanks!

[+swfirefly]

If you are interested in doing a Wherigo cache, there is a walking tour of St Pete.

http://www.Wherigo.com/cartridge/details.a...3b-52476b417f97

[PastorJon]

Thanks... however I don't think I have the necessary equipment for a Wherigo cache... I'm mostly looking for a list of the top traditional caches in the area.

 

Thanks again!

[+Isonzo Karst]

Pinellas County is heavily urbanized. And one of the most cache dense regions of the state - mostly urban micros.

 

Within the county, I'd recommend a day at Honeymoon Island State Park, There are 3 or 4 caches on Honeymoon. and, if you can afford it, take the ferry over to Caladisi Island.

 

GC147NQ is the furthest north on Honeymoon Island, a delightful walk along the island, fabulous bird life. There are a couple more closer to the visitors Center. You can pay to take the ferry over to Caladesi, another part of the state park, boat only access. There are 2 caches on Caladesi. This kind of island, beach caching is what many people imagine when they think of Florida.

 

Caladesi cache map

 

On the very south tip of the Pinellas Peninsula are a series of islands. Fort DeSoto Park is a county park, you can drive in, spend a very pleasant day, a number of caches there.

 

If you're willing to do some driving, I'd recommend coming east, into Hillsborough County, across Tampa Bay to the Wilderness Parks. My personal favorite of all of the moist tropical hardwoods of Florida is there, and easily accessible. Park at Morris Bridge , GC17C6R is right at the parking entry (I'm not recommending the cache, but it does provide entry coords). Then walk north across the Hillsborough River, and enter the woods on the northeast side of the road. There's a gate, no walk through - you either have to squeeze around the end, or climb at the hinge side. This is legal entry. GCT184 is a cache at that entry. From there, you can walk east and south, following a line of caches. Depending on your time and energy - get out to GCT0M7 and return. If you really want to see wild Florida, and make a day of it, get to Postpile's outstanding Big Pine Island Roundabout GCVEPH (note, many people will DNF stage one - if failure as an likelyhood is going to make members of the group unhappy, then don't try it). No hunting in these woods. They will get quite sloppy from recent rains, but also drain rather fast.

 

Alternately, drive over to Where the Green Fern Grows. A bit of a drive from Pinellas, but this multi-cache (stages are ammo cans) is one of the regions best. A beautiful area.

[+Team CeDo]

Downtown St Pete also has a bunch of micros that are very cool to do, also while you are there you can see many ineresting places I personally recomend the Dahli museum while there.

[PastorJon]

Thanks for the replies and pointers. Those are some good ideas. I think we'll mostly look for caches that are in some of the parks down there.

 

Any pointers on other Florida-issues that I might not face in Maine? For instance, we don't have much in the way of poisonous snakes in Maine, neither do we have Gators. Are there particular snakes to be wary of? What should one do if encountering a Gator in the wild? Are there other hazards we might come across while caching?

[+Isonzo Karst]

The real Florida hazards are likely to be sunburn, not carrying enough water, not carrying or using DEET and assorted stinging wasps and bees.

 

Mosquitoes are a year round reality, though in Pinellas County, on the water's edge, no-see-ums are a more likely problem. There's poison ivy and here, many hides will be "in the palmettos". The palmetto frond stem is saw-toothed, it can cut you. It's fairly easy to avoid pulling back across the teeth of the plant. But you do have to pay attention. Paper wasp nests on the undersides of palmetto fronds are common. It pays to stoop down and look before you reach in after a cache. Oh yes, and fire ants. I generally use a stick to lift cache cover, just to test for ants.

 

Gators are rarely aggressive, small dogs and small children should be kept close if you can see the eyes or nose of an alligator in the water or if there is one resting on the bank. You may see them in fresh water ponds in the parks. They are much less likely to be seen in brackish (salty) water.

In extreme south Florida there are salt water crocs.

I also doubt that you'll encounter venomous snakes in Pinellas county. The commonest in Florida are water moccasins (not in salt water), pygmy rattle snakes and eastern diamondback rattlers. People tend to kill rattle snakes, they make themselves apparent by rattling. I used to see them commonly, but now they're comparatively rare. The pygmy rattler is still somewhat common - it looks a lot like a small eastern hognosed snake. Again, in the county parks, I'd be surprised to see any. You might encounter them on Honeymoon Island, but it would be exceptional.

[PastorJon]

The real Florida hazards are likely to be sunburn, not carrying enough water, not carrying or using DEET and assorted stinging wasps and bees.

 

Mosquitoes are a year round reality, though in Pinellas County, on the water's edge, no-see-ums are a more likely problem. There's poison ivy and here, many hides will be "in the palmettos". The palmetto frond stem is saw-toothed, it can cut you. It's fairly easy to avoid pulling back across the teeth of the plant. But you do have to pay attention. Paper wasp nests on the undersides of palmetto fronds are common. It pays to stoop down and look before you reach in after a cache. Oh yes, and fire ants. I generally use a stick to lift cache cover, just to test for ants.

 

Gators are rarely aggressive, small dogs and small children should be kept close if you can see the eyes or nose of an alligator in the water or if there is one resting on the bank. You may see them in fresh water ponds in the parks. They are much less likely to be seen in brackish (salty) water.

In extreme south Florida there are salt water crocs.

I also doubt that you'll encounter venomous snakes in Pinellas county. The commonest in Florida are water moccasins (not in salt water), pygmy rattle snakes and eastern diamondback rattlers. People tend to kill rattle snakes, they make themselves apparent by rattling. I used to see them commonly, but now they're comparatively rare. The pygmy rattler is still somewhat common - it looks a lot like a small eastern hognosed snake. Again, in the county parks, I'd be surprised to see any. You might encounter them on Honeymoon Island, but it would be exceptional.

Thanks for the help... certainly wouldn't have thought about being cut by plants!

 

Looking forward to our time in Florida... will release a travel bug while I'm down there too...