Fort Pickens at Florida's Gulf Islands National Seashore

Florida's Gulf Islands National Seashore  preserves natural and historic resources along the Gulf of Mexico barrier islands of Florida and Mississippi. One of the historic resources is Fort Pickens.

Pensacola Bay in Florida's Panhandle had long been considered a vital port with its depths ranging from twenty to sixty-five feet and its length of 12 miles. The Treaty of 1819 with Spain ceded the area to the United States, and by 1825, legislation was passed to establish a naval yard and depot on the bay. Fortifications to protect the bay were deemed vital and Ft. Pickens and its sister forts were built.

The best location for a fort was on the western point of Santa Rosa Island, a barrier island which provided natural protection to the bay and mainland Florida, and also commanded the approaches to the channel. 

In May of 1828, the government acquired 998 acres on the island and workers broke ground in May of 1829, finishing in October of 1834. Workers consisted of both skilled mechanics and unskilled laborers, many of whom were slaves rented from their masters. 

Here's a photo taken during its construction...

The fort was named for Brigadier General Andrew Pickens of South Carolina who fought in the Revolutionary War. The fort was de-commissioned in 1947.

Over 21 million bricks were used in its construction, making it the largest brick structure on the Gulf of Mexico. It contained the latest technologies in coastal defense, design and, weaponry and made America virtually impregnable -- for a time.

Fort Pickens was of a Pentagonal design, with broader western walls to provide a wide range of fire over the bay.

The fort had a counterscarp to the east side to create a defensive moat in the event that a land invasion came from the west. The westernmost Bastions were also equipped with chambers filled with explosives which could be detonated as a last-ditch-effort to save the fort from invaders.

This U.S. Seacoast 32-pounder smoothbore cannon, cast in 1823, could fire a 32 pound solid shot over a mile, shooting through the embasure (opening) in the outer wall.

The diagram shows how the recoil was absorbed on the wooden platform...

The fort remained in Northern hands during the Civil War, and that was the only time its guns were fired. In November of 1861, the Union troops at Fort Pickens bombarded Confederates who had occupied Forts McRee and Barrancas across the bay. The confederates fired back but the Union prevailed, and the confederates left their posts in the spring of 1862 needing their troops elsewhere. The number and caliber of guns and weight of metal brought into action in this battle rank with the heaviest bombardments in the world's history!

New technology in weapons required replacing the guns with the massive 15-inch Rodman smoothbore which was installed in 1868. It weighed 50,000 pounds and had a maximum effective range of three miles. Its 15-inch explosive shell weighed about 300 pounds, or it could fire a 400 pound solid shot. The circular iron tracks allowed it to fire in any direction. 8 and 10 inch Rodmans were also installed, but all these were gradually replaced by rifled, breech-loading artillery by the late 1880s.

The fort was also on the brink of war with Spain after the USS Maine was sunk in Havana Harbor, Cuba, in February of 1898. Fearing the new torpedo boats, the Corps of Engineers mined the harbor entrance. The system remained until a hurricane damaged it in 1926.

But the fort had become antiquated by the 1890s because the latest rifled artillery could penetrate its brick walls, so in 1898 the fort was updated with reinforced concrete and steel walls. The addition was called Battery Pensacola and was actually a fort within the existing fort. It had two 12-inch rifles on carriages seen below. After firing, the gun could disappear behind walls. Its 1070 pound shells could hit ships eight miles away! 

The fort's brick walls and cast-iron guns became obsolete. Harbor defenses required steel guns in low-lying concrete batteries, so Battery Trueman with 3 inch, rapid fire guns was commissioned in 1905. These guns were later moved to the newer Battery Cullum in 1943 to protect against German U-Boats.

Several other batteries were later added to the island as separate installations, and the fort provided protection during both World Wars I and II.

The most powerful guns were Battery Langdon's 12 inch projectiles which could be fired 17 miles out to sea. It is reported that many soldiers would bleed from the mouth and ears because of the concussion from these guns.

Battery Langdon was begun in 1917 and completed in 1923. It was covered with soil and foliage during World War II to camouflage it from enemy aircraft.

Volunteers offer re-enactments of cannon firing...

I took all these photos when I was here for a week of volunteer trail work on the Florida Trail whose northern terminus is at Fort Pickens. Here's a sunset photo I took while there...

Indiana Dunes National Park

Indiana Dunes National Park is our 61st and newest national park!

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was authorized by Congress in 1966 and was elevated to national park status in February, 2019. The park runs for nearly 15 miles along the southern shore of Lake Michigan, from Gary to Michigan City,  and comprises approximately 15,000 acres including oak savannas, dunes, swamps, bogs, marshes, prairies, rivers, and forests. Hikers can enjoy over 50 miles of trails.

The National Park has acquired about 95% of the property within the authorized boundaries. Its holdings are non-contiguous and do not include the 2,182-acre Indiana Dunes State Park which was created by the state of Indiana in 1926.

People have lived in the dunes area for over 10,000 years, and the park is home to over 1100 native plants, ranking it fourth in plant diversity in the park system.

The park is also home to 46 species of mammals, 18 of amphibians, 23 reptiles, 71 fish, 60 butterflies, and 60 of dragonflies and damselflies. The white-tailed deer is the largest herbivore and the coyote is the largest predator. 352 species of birds have been identified and a blue heron rookery is present. 

Immediately inland from the beaches, the sand dunes rise almost 200 feet forming ridges, blowouts, and valleys, and extensive wetlands fill many depressions between dune ridges. The park contains at least four major stages of historic shoreline making it one of the most extensive geologic records of one of the world's largest freshwater bodies.

2019 AHS Volunteer Trail Project at Gulf Islands National Seashore

Gulf Islands National Seashore, authorized in 1971, offers recreation opportunities and preserves natural and historic resources along the Gulf of Mexico barrier islands of Florida and Mississippi. The protected regions include mainland areas and parts of seven islands -- Santa Rosa and Perdido Key in Florida, and Petit Bois, West Petit Bois, Horn, East and West Ship, and Cat Islands in Mississippi. This map shows Gulf Breeze Island and the Naval Live Oaks Visitor Center, as well as Pensacola Beach on Santa Rosa Island and the road to Fort Pickens.

Our work was located at the Visitor Center/Headquarters in the Naval Live Oaks Reservation in Gulf Breeze, Florida (near Pensacola) and also on Santa Rosa Island at historic Fort Pickens, constructed using over 20 million bricks and completed in 1834. It was manned in the Civil War and both World Wars. 

Our main focus as a volunteer trail crew supplied by the American Hiking Society was maintenance of the first (or final) two miles of the 1300 mile Florida Trail. 

A combination of Florida's lengthy growing season and a shortage of maintenance personnel had allowed vegetation to encroach upon the trail, narrowing it in many places. This trail section enjoys much use by through-hikers, day hikers, and visitors to the park. In addition, this section of the trail passes right through the park's campground, and campers make extensive use of the trail both for exercise and as walking/biking access to historic Fort Pickens. Below you can see how narrow the trail corridor had become (and you can also see Peggy, Deb, and Chad cutting back the foliage.)

The trail became so narrow, the park's UTVs barely fit on it. As a general guideline, we were told that the trail should be wide enough for two such vehicles to pass on the trail. Peggy, Chad, and Deb smile for the camera.

As we removed vegetation, the trail seemed to disappear until the cutoffs were removed...

We created a tall archway here where the foliage grew over the trail...

Another assignment was to remove all the vegetation that had overgrown the historic seawall at Fort Pickens, a cultural and historic asset of the park which was scheduled to have preservation work starting soon. Here's the crew after cutting off the overgrowth -- on the left, Fran, Chad, and Donna, and on the right, Peggy, Moriah, Deb, and Linda. In the distance, you can see that the trail has been widened quite a bit.

Our second day, we discovered a trail problem that hadn't been mentioned by Scott, the facilities manager. A heavy overnight thunderstorm had left three inches of water on several areas of the trail, water which was a detriment to hikers and bikers and also harmful to the ecology and the trail. 

I showed these photos to Scott and asked if we should install gravel and he agreed, so Chad and I spent the next two days hauling and raking gravel to fill in the low areas.

Below is the worst section nearly completed.

Our tools included loppers and sheers and also several gas-powered trimmers seen in use by Fran and Chuck in the next photos...

The power trimmers really made our work more efficient...

Half of the crew was later sent to the Visitor Center in Gulf Breeze to clear the boardwalk loop, nature loop, and picnic area. Below is Donna lopping vegetation.

...and here's Fran clearing leaves and debris off the boardwalk...

Our crew leader, Linda, along with Fran and Moriah are seen removing vegetation that was blocking the sidewalk...

Below are a few photos of the widened Florida Trail...

We were housed in the historic "Captain's House" which had 5 bedrooms, 3 washrooms, and a kitchen and which served the 8 of us volunteers very well.

Below is the sunset we enjoyed the first night we were there...

Here's our stalwart, hard-working volunteer trail crew:

L to r: Donna, Linda (our crew leader), Peggy, Chad, Chuck, Debra, Fran, and Moriah.

Here's video of our week's work here.

Biking Florida's Apalachicola National Forest's Munson Hills Trails

The Apalachicola National Forest is just south of Tallahassee, and it's always the first place I bike as I drive into Florida. The first day, I biked 12 miles which included the Munson Hills Mountain Bike Loop. This area had once been under the Gulf of Mexico, but as the water receded, sand dunes were left behind which later was planted with long leaf pine trees. (Trail map at end of post.)

"Mountain biking" in this context obviously doesn't mean mountains per se, but rather refers to off pavement biking. The ground is a mixture of clay (some brought in for the trail construction) mixed with the white "sugar sand" that predominates here. But the word "hills" (as in Munson Hills) is accurate and there are definite ups and downs as you bike. My workout app tells me that I had 870 feet of elevation gain and loss these 2 days of biking. 

Some sections had recently had prescribed burns to stimulate growth and remove unwanted plantings and deadfall...

Trees with white rings painted on them have nests for endangered red cockaded woodpeckers, and those trees are carefully bypassed by burning.

 I biked 12 miles the first day, mainly on the Munson Hills Loop, and 15 miles the next day, mainly on the Twilight Loop.

I passed through sections that had been replanted at different times, thereby showing the growth progress of the trees over time...

Obviously, this is an amazingly beautiful and tranquil place to bike, which is why it's my first stop every year when I drive to Florida, as well as my final stop on my way home, too! I've biked over 40 trails in Florida over the last 15 years and this is one of my favorites!

Here's the map of the trails as well as mileages. Munson Hills Loop on upper half and Twilight Loop on lower half, with East and West Connector Trails and a few shortcut trails.

Scaling Colorado's Uncompahgre Peak

My Dad, seen here, accompanied his cousin, Jake, a U. S. Forest Service ranger in Colorado, to the top of Uncompahgre Peak (14,309 feet) via horseback in the 1930s to change out the sign-in sheets at the top...

Since Dad had been there 60 years earlier, it was a thrill for me to backpack in the Uncompahgre Wilderness .  Uncompahgre Peak towers over the Big Blue River Valley in Colorado as seen it in the far distance. 

Here's the peak after 2 days of backpacking up the valley...

On day three of our backpack trip, we began the final approach and climb up to the peak, and though quite arduous, the feeling of accomplishment when reaching the peak is indescribable. Below you see me as we near the peak...

...and here's Len resting. Back in the 1930s when Dad was here, the trail still existed all the way to the top allowing Jake and Dad to scale the peak on horseback. The trail has now deteriorated near the top due to weathering of the friable rock, so we had to scramble up the loose rock the last quarter mile or so...

...and here we are at the top...

...enjoying the views looking back at the Big Blue Valley which we had hiked two days to get here...

Another view from the top. The single peak centered below is called Matterhorn (13,590 feet tall) since it resembles its more famous Swiss Alps cousin. The Wetterhorn is just beyond it to the left.

23rd Anniversary of My Websites

Twenty-three years ago (January of 1996) I began a website called Chuck's Backpacking Bonanza which documented with photos and information my 60+ backpacking adventures across the country. There were very few Internet gateways to online information back then (pre-Google) and my site became one of the three go-to tools for such information. For those who recall, uploading photos and webpages back then was slow and arduous and done by telephone modem. What takes seconds now took minutes back then and the resolution of the photos was poor.

As the years progressed and technology improved, I added my biking, rafting, kayaking, and canoeing adventures to the site as well as my volunteer trail projects and changed the name to Bike, Hike, and Paddle which now serves as the index for my Chuck's Adventures site. Together the two sites have had over 587,000 visits and contain over ten thousand photos. A decade ago I began making videos of my adventures, and my YouTube channel has 150+ movies with 468,000 views. It's rewarding to share my outdoor adventures with so many people!

You'l find this index in the sidebar on the right: