Thawing Out

The day started out cold again, but by the afternoon we started warming up. It looks like the rest of the week will continue to get warmer. I had another person working with me at the park today and I knew that the park would be quiet. I took the opportunity to take the new volunteers at Adams Tract on a tour of their surroundings and Troy Springs so that they could better answer visitor questions.
Before I went to Adams Tract, I took care of the paperwork and made sure that the other worker had things to do. Just as I was heading out of the office, the Coca-Cola truck pulled in to fill our machine. I talked to him while he worked and found a neat bug nearby. This is a Wheel Bug. The bug looks intimidating with a saw-like disc on its back, and if you are a soft-bodied insect, you should be scared. Its red mouth part that is folded under its head can stab into another insect so that digestive juices are injected in and the insect is consumed. I think this is a cool bug that belongs in a scary movie.

One of the places that I took the volunteers to was another state park called Lafayette Blue Springs State Park. Quite often, people staying at Adams Tract have just boated in from Lafayette Blue as it is about 20 miles up the Suwannee. Lafayette Blue Spring is a smaller spring than Troy, but it flows into the Suwannee with an impressive force.

After touring with the volunteers and dropping them back off at Adams Tract, I picked up garbage from the camp and headed back to Troy. I was there to see off one employee and greet another. I also got to see a group of fishermen who used to spend a lot of time at Troy. For various health, flood, and life issues, they haven't all been in to fish for a while. It was nice to have the group back and I enjoyed catching up with them. The fish were stubborn though, and there weren't many fish caught. While I was at the river, I found a few flowers that made it through the cold weather.

I talked to the closing worker and tied up my loose ends for the day before heading home. It was a pretty uneventful day, I wonder what tomorrow will bring.