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trips - Ocala Part 4- Cletus strikes back!Trip Info
DescriptionGrassy Pond to Juniper Springs? Hmmmmmmmmmmm..........could be. Friday 9:00am meet at Juniper Springs Rec area. If you want to park there the parking fee will be $20. Fill up your water containers pumping from a praire is possible but will clog your filter. (see note about water below) We will then shuttle ourselves to Grassy Pond and hike south to the start of Hopkins Prairie and just find a nice spot and camp for the night. Saturday hike south to hidden pond and camp. Water can be gotten from the hand pump at Hopkins Prairie campground along the way of pumped form Hidden Pond. Sunday hike south to Juniper Springs where our cars will be. A few notes. Grassy Pond is not longer a developed campsite so the water pump is gone. You can still camp there but be aware that it is now simply a wide spot next to a pond. PARKING Parking is free at Grassy Pond but folks have had a hard time finding it and the side road has become super loose and sandy due to 4wheeling. Unless you have a 4X4 I would not attempt driving to the pond. Instead I would suggest we park along the main forest road like we did last year. Parking is available at Juniper Springs in the developed and secure parking lot. Be aware that they charge $10 a night for parking last I checked. SHOWERS Showers are free and available at the bathrooms at Juniper springs so y'all can get freshened up before the drive home. WATER The ponds of Ocala are NOTORIOUS for clogging filers. I suggest you use extreme caution to remove as much debris from your water when filtering. Such as collecting water in container and allowing it to settle before filtering, use a prefilter or coffee filer over your inlet lines. If you use chemical methods collect your water in a container with a bandanna over the mouth to filer out floaties. Along the route there is a side trail to the Salt Springs marina where pump water can be obtained but it is a 6 mile round trip back to the FT. The plus side is that water from Salt Springs marina pump is awesome. There is a hand pump at Hopkins Pararie campground and the next potable water source is at the end at Juniper Springs.
 = Yes,  = Maybe
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