Hiking at Withlacoochee State Park in Florida

Today on our drive from Tallahassee to Bradenton, we decided to stop at the Withlacoochee State Forest. This forest was named by World Wildlife Fund as one of the "10 Coolest Places You've Never Been in North America". The trails here wind through long leaf pine and scrub oak hills, live oak thickets, and past creek bottoms and cypress ponds. While hiking the Tucker Hill trail area, I discovered an old cemetery near the hike. One of the gravestones belonged to First Sergeant Henry Crawford Tucker. Sgt. Tucker fought for the Confederates as a part of Company H 13th Georgia Infantry. His family homesteaded the area around this cemetery which is actually one of Florida's highest summits. It was a humid day but the trail was quiet, and it was neat to get a feel for what the Florida forest feels like.