Exploring Florida - Highlands Hammock State Park

Last month Nick and I took a trip to Highlands Hammock State Park in Sebring.  I hadn't been there since I was a kid and had been wanting to visit again since I moved back to Florida.  It was pretty easy to convince Nick to go since there was a chance of seeing alligators.  We did eventually see one along with some wild pigs, and a baby racoon.

Our first animal encounter would be a group of small wild pigs.  Later we would see some much larger ones but I was unable to get a picture of them.

There was another path where one could bypass these stepping stones across the swamp but that just wouldn't have been any fun.

Next we encountered this quite large gator who was trying to soak up a little sun.  He was some distance from us and obscured by plant life.  We almost missed him.

Our last animal sighting of the day.  This was back near the gator and we were trying to see if we could get a different perspective.  We had ventured up near the water off the beaten path when we caught this little guy climbing on a tree.  We also caught another sighting of the gator but the view wasn't good enough for a picture.