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Oct. 17, Saturday, after farewell breakfast at the hotel, drove to Blackwater River State Park. There were lots of boardwalks along the river, but only saw two birds - an Eastern bluebird and some other bird. It was a beautiful river with black water and sandy shores.

Blackwater River kiosk /td>

Blackwater River

Boardwalk to river

Oct. 18, Sunday, went to Falling Waters State Park, which only has 170 acres, but many trails, boardwalks, and steps. The waterfall was actually flowing. It is the highest waterfall in Florida at 73 feet; not actually a waterfall because the water goes into a sinkhole at the bottom and disappears.

Map of park

Deck below waterfall

Top half of 73-foot waterfall

Waterfall into sinkhole

Oct. 19, Monday, did the cave tour at Florida Caverns State Park and walked all the trails in the cave area. Took 33l pictures today with the Pentax, but when I tried to re-insert the SD card, it jammed. Had to use the Kodak camera for the remainder of the trip.

Inside the cavern

Trail through a cave

Oct. 20, Tuesday, Suwannee River State Park. Took the trail along the rocky ledges and noticed a beautiful green snake winding through the wire fencing on the boardwalk. At first I thought it was a plastic snake - it looked so perfect. It was longer than the one at Wakulla Springs.

Confluence of Withlacoochee and Suwannee

Green snake in the fence

Oct. 21, Wednesday, on to O'Leno State Park where I was going to take a quick walk around the river sink on the 1.44 mile River trail. Started out wrong and almost ended up on Parener Trail which is 3.69 miles long, but my ECCO GPS kept saying to go in the opposite direction. So, after discovering Ogden Lake and a bicycle trail about a mile away, I decided to go back according to my GPS. Lots of woodpeckers in the area and lots of dead trees because of beetle infestation.

Bridge over the Santa Fe River

Ogden Lake

Oct. 22, Thursday, hiked the correct trail to river sink in the morning and then left O'Leno State Park for home. Total mileage - 1076.7.

Boardwalk along the sinkholes

River sink

The end of a great trip.