Lower Hillborough Oak Ridge free camping

After spending two weeks at Winter Quarters Pasco, we now had to be out of the Thousand Trails System for one week. So we looked at the map and found Oak Ridge which is an equestrian campground provided by the Southwest Florida Water Management District that was only 25 minutes from where we were. We booked it and then decided to go see it.

Upon arrival it seemed nice enough - good road in, a nice large clearing with some shade, picnic tables and fire pits and a pit toilet. There was a young couple camping there and it looked like they had been there a while.

We decided to take the dogs out for a walk. The first thing we saw was this huge grasshopper with a striped bum - half grasshopper, half bee? We all started snapping pictures of it and, because we were so focused on this insect, Michelle stepped right on a fire ant hill. The ants invaded her shoes and her legs. I got some on my feet but I was wearing sandals which came off easily and I was able to sweep them off my feet quickly before getting too many bites. Michelle, on the other hand, had to unlace her shoes, remove her socks and then try to sweep them off. She got a lot of bites and was suffering the consequences immediately. Oh dear! For such small insects, they sure cause a lot of discomforts!

Michelle with her dog Sadie and of course Cheeka had to be in the picture!

Eastern Lubber grasshopper.

Michelle then decided not to camp with us at that site. She went on to a full-hookup facility near our next stop and we spent the week practically having the place to ourselves.

We explored the many trails surrounding the area, even getting lost one day which had us walk for about 1 1/2 hour. Thank God there was a lot of shade! We finally made it back to our trailer tired and thirsty.

Yep! We're lost!

A horse tree!

Not all the trails are well defined.

Zebra Longwing butterfly

The prairie

A tree with decorum

The pines in the forest surrounding us were definitely planted as they all stand in straight lines.

Oddly enough there weren't many birds around. We had the visit of one lone vulture who walked around the grounds looking for bits of food left by other campers. Unbeknown to her, Cheeka had already vacuumed the place of any food available. I had to pry a meat bone from her mouth three times. And she doesn't give up easily!  I also spotted a bluebird and a woodpecker.

Eastern bluebird

Downy woodpecker

While walking the trails we rarely heard birds and didn't see any wildlife. There were pockets of bird chatting where it seemed many had congregated but as soon as we continued walking we were accompanied by silence. There was evidence of wild hogs rooting for food in many areas but we didn't see any.

The hogs really turn the soil!

These free campground always have water available but it's normally not potable. We use it to flush our toilet instead of using the water in our freshwater tank. The well was equipped with a hand pump (we hadn't used one of those in a long time!) and the water coming out didn't look bad at first but it yellowed more and more with time. It was quite disgusting.

Cheeka enjoyed the freedom she gets at these places as we can let her go free even though we're supposed to keep her on leash. But really, when there is nobody else in sight what is the problem? MeMe also enjoyed her time outside but she suffered from diarrhea most of our stay there. Most of her accidents happened on the carpet in the bedroom so guess what our next reno will be? We will be replacing the carpet very soon with flooring that is easy to clean.

There was a vet clinic only minutes away so I went there to buy some I/D prescription diet for intestinal disorders but they wouldn't sell it to me without examining the cat. So I went to Walmart which was about 1/2 hour away and found some fresh refrigerated cat food with just chicken and pumpkin. I kept her on that for four days but it resolved the problem within one day. Phew! I was glad we didn't have to pay for a vet visit only to be told to feed her a bland, easy to digest diet. There was also a Publix grocery store, a medical center, and a Shell gas station at that same location. It was nice having everything so close by even though we felt like we were in the wilderness.

Are you feeling better?

I love you!

We would definitely return there as the campground doesn't seem to be used that much for camping. The trails are used quite a bit by dog walkers.

We are now back to having full hookups with all the amenities of a Thousand Trails campground at Peace River which we stayed at also last year.