Another great place to explore in the WSF is the Iron Bridge day use area. Just down the river (or road!) from Hog Island, this area is a great launching point for a short canoe or kayak trip back to the campground.
I spent a couple of hours out here on the Florida Trail, heading towards the River Junction day use area. It’s only +/- 2.6 miles to the River Junction trailhead, so it’s good for a hike after work. I hiked one direction, and ran back to Iron Bridge. It’s good, all-around typical Withlacoochee trail this direction.
Some facts about the Withlacoochee State Forest and the Iron Bridge area in particular is that it was a World War II chemical testing range. Bombers from the nearby Bushnell Army Air Base and from Orlando would fly over and spray DDT and who knows what else all over the place.
Iron Bridge was a trestle so that logging trains could get over the river. The rail bed is still there, but there’s not much left of the bridge. It’s cool to explore, check it out sometime.
When the river is low this is a great spot to hop over the rocks and get over to the Silver Lake campground area. There’s a great FT loop right there over the river! I’ll post on that area another time soon.
Gallery is here.
Here’s some links to the Withlacoochee WWII stuff.
http://members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/FL/Airfields_FL_TampaN.htm
http://www.uxoinfo.com/uxoinfo/sitedata1.cfm?siteno=66
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