Walaka National Forest & Mt. Royal Indian Mound
 
This place was our main adventure of the night we knew we were in for a long hike over 7 miles easily. We took the area by two different sections and it was not an easy task believe me but we covered almost all 2000 acres so that has to give you an idea how hard we work on these investigations.
 
We started off at the mud springs trail head. My main goal would be for us to hike back in the woods till we reached the springs. These are not your normal FL springs where you can just park and take a dip. This is a place you have to hike to get to.
 
The trail was fairly wide for awhile then it narrowed down for a half of mile as it constantly twisted and turned. It was actually a really interesting trail cause you just never knew what was ahead of you each turn was just that steep of a turn.
 
For awhile everything was pretty quiet a few times the trail split off with not markings whatsoever we thought this was odd on how we had a map of this trail and their was no mention of these other ones.
 
We came out into an open area with a picnic shelter and heard rushing water. We found the springs. We seen this giant pool of water and it drained down another area nearby with a boardwalk. The water was so clear calm we also took the board walk that went right over the water. There was a gar in the water sitting on the bottom I took a photo of it. There was a ton of mullet swimming around as well.
 
After our break we started to head out of the springs I mean this place turned out to be a jewel. We did not even see a single gator in the area. After our break we took another trail which had a sign saying bobcat crossing we did not see or hear any in the area. We found one marking on the tree and that would be the last of any markings till we got back to the truck.
 
We hiked in a very large open area we were no longer even on the trail poor markings really were only the beginning but we followed the old wagon road which over time looped us back to the truck. There was not a lot of activity hiking around the mud springs area. I felt energy, I heard something once, and felt a little uncomfortable near the springs. For the most part so far the area turned out peaceful but this area we hiked in was well visited so it was time to do a less well visited area and compare results.
 
We got back into the truck and headed for the St. John's Landing area. This area of the national forest was much larger. Miles of trails were to be found in this area. I parked near the fire tower which had barbed wire around it Andrew gave me a lesson on how to climb barbed wire fences no problems for him he was in the army lol.
 
After studying the map for awhile we hiked on in starting off on a circular loop which came out to this grassy road. There was a trail head with a map and information. Everything however looked backwards even direction wise.
 
We started off hiking down the grass road there was NO markings which is a spooky scenario at night. Nobody likes to hike on unmarked trails in a national forest especially down here lol. But we figured ehhh what the hell since it was unmarked we had to cut to our right which we did do according to the map. However it came out to another cross road and we started seeing signs like Longleaf Lane we were pretty confused.
 
We took the road the opposite way and ended up heading towards the parking area so I had Andrew bring out the compass cause we had to go west to the river. So we had to back trace for over a mile took the poorly overgrown trail and back to the trail head bulletin board.
 
We took a break I grabbed something to drink and we were not about to give up. It just was one of these things that we had to find a series of trails that would head westward.
 
During our break I heard 3 heavy groans in the woods Andrew also heard them. My speculation was that it was a bear they were loud and very drawn out. I could be wrong but whatever it was had been moving around within about 200 feet of us and it was loud. It did not seem at all startled by our presence.
 
I let off 3 bigfoot calls in the woods normally when I do this I never get an answer back But this time I did. Not one call back but two of them. They were far away in the forest but whatever it was called back to me. The calls were long drawn out screams I mean lets face it it was pouring rain out, 3am, and chilly. Something was out in those woods.
 
Andrew asked me what I wanted to do and I told him we would continue our search for St. Johns Landing and the Mt Royal Mound. We this time hiked further down this road instead of making a sharp right like the first time.
 
We found something called the short cut trail which was not very long but it was rough. The sand and dirt was very thick lots of branches were down as well. We thought hmm horses actually walk on this stuff lol.  Hell the trails were rough in some areas in the fact that Jason fell earlier and Andrew fell from stepping in a hole on one of the trails. I got pretty lucky I tripped once and found my balance before toppling over. But the trails just were very rugged.
 
I noticed an odd scent in the air at times it smelled like a perfume not sure if its a certain type of tree that gave it off cause this time a year there are no flowers or trees blooming.

 
We came out onto an area that had four cross roads we eventually found a path that led west. This was a long hike as we went through a scrub forest, a prairie, an area full of large trees I believe willows and then the trail narrowed down to a dark path. We made it to St. Johns Landing finally.
 
The other side of the river was almost a mile away and all we could see is fog everywhere. At the camp site was a firepit, bucket, and a bench. It was just this little cozy area in the woods. I tried looking for the burial mound came up empty. It is in these woods more then likely along the river but probably well hidden since it was only recently found.
 
We sat on the bench took a break the river did not even move we seen no gator eyes or anything. It just was a real haunting area and some of the trees had slice marks in them from someone's ax.
 
There was another path at the site and I wanted to take it cause I thought it might lead us to the mound but instead of following the river it veered off onto another trail which we took left cause I figured if anything it might take us to another part of the river. Which it did a half of mile away it veered off again to an area called Orange Pointe. There was no Indian mounds to be seen in the area but this area did seem more hilly so maybe there are some smaller middens here.
 
Orange Pointe was another camp site on a peninsula along the river. This area was very dark and more secluded. It seemed to be very overgrown and we took a break back here.  We celebrated over a mission accomplished. Cause we basically covered most of the national forest at this point and its obvious people do not hike back here they use four wheelers to get around so to do this on foot really shows you what type of group we are.
 
We took the Orange Point trail back and of course it was unmarked but if we head north east we would get back to the truck eventually. There was something moving in the woods probably a deer cause it was moving around fast. We actually found the old wagon road we were on earlier when we started our hike and followed that right to these gates and the truck.
 
It was a great investigation we did a lot of hiking and Jason was ran to the ground. He was fairly far behind us most of the way. It was not an easy hike but I came there to look for bigfoot activity, see the springs, get to the river and we accomplished a lot of what we said we would do before hiking on in.
 
The area is very old lots of history to the land and plenty of room for something cryptid to hide back here. I wish I took more photos here but its not always about the pictures that matters its sometimes about what you see, feel, smell, and experience.  We moved on to our final location of the night which was Lake Como Pomona Park Cemetery.