(Note: As many of you know, I cut my spring-break Florida POTA trip short for personal reasons. However, I did not change this article and opted to leave the original itinerary intact as that was the intent of the trip.)

Having two POTA trips under my belt, I thought I’d share how I plan my trips in hope it will inspire others to undertake the same endeavor. After I explain my process, I’ll walk through the process using my spring-break POTA trip as an example.

The first questions to answer are where do I want to explore and how am I going to get there?

So far, I’ve traveled to Nova Scotia and Florida. Air travel was a necessity for the Nova Scotia trip but not my preference for travel in general. I loved to fly as a child but as an adult, it has lost its appeal. We live in a gorgeous country and have at our disposal a wonderful interstate system such that my transportation preference for a POTA trip is to drive. For a short trip (five to six days), I try to stay within 250 miles of my home QTH. For a trip longer than a week, I’m willing to drive 500 miles or more.

The next step is to decide where I’ll stay. Now that I am single, I need to watch my expenses closely. Camping is a great accommodation option if one is willing to put up with some inconveniences. So far I’ve found the campgrounds in the state parks to which I’ve traveled more than adequate. One has to be willing to walk to the bathhouse, accept whatever conditions the weather provides, and be less connected than we typically are in our modern society. Camping also requires certain equipment which I addressed in my first article.

Once I’ve nailed down my accommodations, it is time to begin choosing which parks to activate. For the past two trips, I chose parks based on their proximity to the roads I drove between accommodations, whether I needed to pay for access to the park, and how easily I could ensure I’m within the parks boundaries. My priority was to fit in as many park activations as I could during the trip.

Going forward, my criteria is the same but my focus is not. I want to spend more time in the parks I activate, choosing parks based on the scenery and/or other activities they offer so I may learn about the ecology and/or history of the location. I also want to savor the parks I visit, taking time to slow down and enjoy the experience.

So let’s walk through this process as to how I planned my spring-break POTA trip in April.

Choose a destination and how to get there

As I mentioned earlier, I prefer to drive. I’ll be gone six days for my April POTA trip, so I need to find a destination within 250 miles from Bloomingdale, GA. I chose to visit the state of Florida as I enjoyed my trip this past December and think the weather during the first week of April will still be comfortable that time of year.

Choose accommodations

For the Florida winter-break trip, I stayed in a different campground nearly every night. The advantage of that arrangement is I could cover more ground and experience more places. However, taking down and setting up camp every day eats up time and, depending on the weather, can be a pain. For the spring-break trip, I thought I might stay at the same campground the entire trip.

I searched for and found a map of all the Florida state parks with camping. There were several state parks within the 250-mile radius from my home; however, I also wanted a park that had lots of potential POTA sites nearby. After looking at my options, I chose Manatee Springs State Park at which I will stay three nights. Not far away is Suwannee River State Park which had availability for two nights. Bingo – accommodations done!

Choose which parks to activate

Now that I’ve chosen the parks at which I’ll stay, I need to figure out what POTA sites nearby are of interest. As I stated earlier, I want to choose activation sites based on what they can offer me in addition to the activation itself. Two prime activities at parks are wildlife viewing and hiking.

When I think of wildlife, I immediately think of national wildlife refuges. I Googled “best national wildlife refuges to visit in Florida” and found the following map. The refuge closest to the areas I plan to visit is St. Mark’s National Wildlife Refuge and, given what I read about that refuge, there is so much to see there that it may fill up an entire day.

 As for hiking, I googled “best hiking trails in Florida” and found  floridahikes.com. There were a fair amount of trails from which to choose though several were eliminated because dogs are not allowed due to the presence of alligators or ticks are a major problem. I took my time exploring the site finding trails close to or in the Manatee Springs and Suwanee River State Parks.

Now that I have my accommodations nailed down and some ideas for wildlife viewing and hiking, I need to fill in my itinerary.

For day 1, I know I have 250 miles to drive to Manatee Springs State Park. I looked for a  park along the road and discovered Lafayette Wildlife Management Area. The park has a loop Daisy and I may walk once our activation is finished.

For day 2, I scheduled an activation at the Nature Coast State Trail which was mentioned on the Florida Hikes website and received good reviews on TripAdvisor. Adjacent to the trail is Fanning Springs State Park, another POTA site. I plan on hiking the Palmetto Trail  at the state park and look for manatees at the nearby springs after our activation.

For day 3, I considered heading south of Manatee Springs State Park to Cedar Key. Accessing Cedar Key requires a boat which I don’t have so I nixed that option. However, near Cedar Key is the Cedar Key Museum State Park and the Cedar Key Scrub State Reserve, a great site to view the Florida Scrub Jay, Florida’s only endemic bird and whose populations are in decline.  These two parks offer wildlife viewing, some hiking, and exposure to Florida’s history.

For day 4, it will be time for a change of scenery, to head north to Suwannee River State Park where Daisy and I will spend two nights. Manatee Springs and Suwannee River state parks are an hour and a half apart. To make sure I have time for “being”, I will plan on activating Suwannee River in the late afternoon/early evening giving Daisy and I time to set up camp and hike the Big Oak Trail at this park.

On day 5, we will head to St. Mark’s National Wildlife Refuge. I am excited about visiting this refuge – lots of hiking and bird watching opportunities here. Our visit is a little early for the spring migration; but maybe we’ll catch the “early birds” while there. (Yes, you can groan.) The Forest Capital Museum State Park is nearby and another potential activation if we don’t spend our entire day at St. Mark’s.

On day 6, it will be time to head home. I plan to stop at Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge since it on the way. There won’t be history, hiking, or much wildlife viewing, but it will give me another activation and give us a break from being in the car.

Well, there you have it. How I planned my April POTA trip.

I hope this article is useful. I am already going through this process as I plan my summer POTA trip to North Carolina this July. How did the Day 1 activations at Lafayette Wildlife Management Area and Manatee Springs State Park go? Stay tuned…