2/1 Kissimmee Prairie Preserve SP

Actually, I visited this place before Christmas, but forgot to post it.  Oops!  It was an interesting place, and even though I only spent one night there,  I want to post about it. 

I did not know until recently that there were several large dry prairie areas in Florida.   Basically, a dry prairie as it exists in Florida is a subtropical community of low shrubs and grasses.  This type of grassland was once very common in Florida but most of it was replaced by grazing land or farming, and now a lot of it has become developed land for housing.  It usually consists of land that is poorly drained and is kept as prairie though burning.  

In any case, the few dry prairies in Florida are large tracts of land and enjoyed by stargazers because they are dark sky areas.  

This is the simple entrance to Kissimmee Prairie Preserve.  No fancy visitor center or even a gatehouse to welcome you, though there is a gate that closes at dusk.  

 

 

An information sign and a pay deposit box for day use visitors.  Campers do not have to pay here as their fees are prepaid online.   

This road was a surprise.  It is probably good that I did not know I had to drive for five miles on a gravel road to get to the campground or I might not have chosen to stay here!!

 

 

Funny to find an osprey nest in a dry prairie, but there was a lake not too far away. 

 

 

A lot of nothing but grass in this area, with a very few trees in the distance.   

 

 

This clump of trees seemed to have had a ranch house in the middle at one time.   

 

A sign warning you that this is a dark sky area.  

 

 

 

It was getting dusk as I got to the campground.  

 

 

And a lot more of nothing as I left the next morning.  I wish I had had more time to explore on this brief visit, but I had to get to the next place this day.