Hello and welcome back! This is my second post about Juniper Springs. To catch up, click here for yesterday’s recap of my arrival and a few of my favorite pictures.
OK, can I just say this real quick: I am not familiar with camping in state parks and the first night, it was very dark. You might think, “Yeah, it was night time.” No, no, I mean it was like Adam and Eve’s first night in the garden dark. That’s because there were only a few campers along with myself. No street lights, no city lights within dozens of miles, not even the moon was on.
One thought I had about me and the other campers: “I guess we’re all just gonna trust each other in this pitch blackness, huh?” I’ll be honest, it was a bit scary. It was just so, SO dark.
But anyway, nothing murdery happened the first night so that was good. If anything did happen, would I call it, “Only Murders in the Park”? OK, that’s a decent reference to the Hulu show I’ve started watching starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez.
There I go again in a direction I didn’t plan on going!
OK, so let’s get to the beauty of this park. There are two main springs within the park. Yesterday I tried to build up for you the anticipation for what I saw that first day. It wasn’t anything I remember seeing in my entire whole life, and here it is:
Technically these are called “boils.” Crazy, aren’t they?
Being in nature, tucked away from city lights and city noise, barely any internet and no TV… I could really get used to this. As I explored the area, I found the springs the area is known for – Juniper Springs.
I loved getting to this “swimmable” spring early in the morning to see the steam coming off the 72-degree water.
I camped here for four days and I’d say that was just about enough. I had time to check out everything I wanted to, take the dogs on a million walks (and pick up all their poop, and yes, they pooped near a few campsite entrances 
), and ride my bike around the entire area.
The drawbacks. There are only two drawbacks I can think of… 1. On the third night, in the middle of the night, I got up to pee and when I flushed, the camper started beeping and the water pump wouldn’t shut off. No pun intended, I thought, “Oh crap.” I knew it was because the battery was really low but with it being the middle of the night, I felt terrible about what I was about to do. I had to turn on the generator to get full power to the trailer. It was only for a few minutes and I really hope I didn’t disturb the two campsites that were sorta near me. I’m thankful I have a quiet generator, and also thankful this resolved the water pump issue. I also just went ahead and shut off the refrigerator, but turned it back on in the morning, with the generator support. Yikes! The second draw back was that, unfortunately, the canoe run was closed off so if you come out to stay, that might still be the case. I think taking a canoe down the nearby river would be interesting too, once they open it back up.
Next stop on my mini-tour is near Daytona Beach, Florida. I’m really excited to get coastal for a few days. Check back soon for my experience at an RV park and how it differs from a state park. I will also answer these questions: Did my dogs poop on a beach? Did a lifeguard use a megaphone to get my attention? What kind of bird has bright yellow feet?
-Out of the Wilderness
Out of the Wilderness 
Look at that water though! It is clean and blue; I love that you capture the rising steam too as it is just inviting me into the picture . . .
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The steam was something I’ll never forget on those cold mornings. It was beautiful to see!
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