EDITOR’S DESK

Backcountry Beckons
Quiet and mysterious trails — the last line in one of my favorite books, Seasons of Real Florida, by roving reporter Jeff Klinkenberg of the St. Petersburg Times, reflects my own backbay adventures this Spring, as Bay Soundings was developing its “staycations” series.

There are places that fill you up when you’re depleted. Bradenton’s Emerson Point is one of them, a lush peninsula jutting out into Tampa Bay just above the Manatee River. Kayaking the mangrove forests that snake through the preserve is awe-inspiring. Cool clear waters, dappled with sunlight from above, reveal starfish, corals and tiny fish darting about. Oysters cling to the walking roots of the red mangrove trees that form quiet and mysterious tunnels beckoning exploration. That such adventures are free, thanks in this instance to Manatee County, is all the more remarkable.

Our staycations series opens a door to adventures right out your back door. And it’s time get outside, because our children aren’t the only ones suffering from nature-deficit disorder.

Hiking a longleaf forest, cycling the Myakka river trail, pulling crab traps on the Little Manatee River, then feasting dockside on fresh-from-the-bay steamed stone crabs and blue crabs, is salve for the weary soul. Toss in a row on the Hillsborough River during morning rush hour (for motoring mortals, that is) and — ahhhh, it’s tough to reel a girl back to the office.

Springtime in Tampa Bay, before summer’s sweltering heat and humidity take hold, is in a word — breathtaking.
If anything, my travels over the last months have reminded me how much more there is to see and explore. The list of off-road adventures and fabulous parks and preserves in our watershed alone is endless. Clearly, we’ve just scratched the surface. That’s why we are renewing our commitment to making backbay adventures a regular feature. We hope readers will take the next step – and venture out into the vast and spectacular Tampa Bay watershed we call home.

In coming issues, look for stories on places and spaces we didn’t have an opportunity to profile this issue, including Weedon Island Preserve in Northeast St. Petersburg and Pasco County’s Crystal Springs Preserve, a companion to this issue’s story on third-generation cattle rancher Robert Thomas (see profile page).

Special thanks to my hosts and fellow travelers for making these journeys possible: Charlie Hunsicker, J.B. Starkey, Mariella Smith, Gus Muench, Gov. Bob Martinez and his wife, Mary Jane, Gary Baines for letting me crew and inspiring me to learn more about this beautiful sport, and Robert Thomas and his son, Wayne, for sharing Two Rivers Ranch with our readers.

I think the 20th century French novelist Marcel Proust got it right when he said: “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

– Mary Kelley Hoppe