Here in central Florida, for 100’s of thousands of years, water has trickled down through the limestone creating subterranean voids which then collapse creating the depressions that dot this entire landscape.
Payne’s Prairie Preserve protects an area where these depressions are essentially continuous and form a 15 mile wide depression basin where an amazing marshland exists. This depression has a “drain”. The Alachua Sink runs over 60 feet deep right to the Florida aquifer. Across the centuries the drain has periodically, unpredictably plugged and the basin filled creating a lake. In the 1800s they actually ran steam ships across the lake to transport crops and lumber. Eventually the plug breaks free and the lake drains leaving rich marshland like we find today. We walk the AlChua trail along a dike following the creek that drains this expanse. As one might expect (we are in Florida after all), the place is lousy with alligators. Heron and Egret work the shoreline. Horses, descendants of those introduced by Spanish explorers roam the rich green meadows. On a sandy “hill” (inches make the difference between marsh and dry ground here) we spot a cluster of slow moving brown dots. American Bison have been reintroduced and seem to have made this place home. This is a pretty good wildlife walk.
Near the Visitor Center we find an eagle nest complete with hungry fledglings. Very cool.
Devils Millhopper State Park gives us a close up look at a 120 foot deep sinkhole. A spring flows down beside us as we descend a 232 step boardwalk into the lush basin. It is its own amazing little ecosystem protected by the shade of the walls and blessed with a constant source of water. 150,000+ years in the making. Nature does wondrous work, at her own speed.
