Torreya State Park, Florida

Our second night on our Florida trip was spent at Torreya State Park. The road to the park is hilly, curvy, and pretty. There were lots of down trees still left from hurricane Michael. Logging companies were logging the down trees and cleaning up the damage section by section. It is one of the few times I have seen logged areas look better than before logging. They are even planting new trees. The state park has nice potential, but seems to be one of the forgotten ones. The campground was up on the tallest hill and was full. But there was no ranger on duty and we did not see a camp host. Fortunately we paid online, so didn't need to hunt for someone to pay. They had a yurt and were building another one. The sites were very close together, trails were still closed due to hurricane damage, and the campground just seemed sad. It was not dirty, or overgrown, the bathroom was clean, there were people around. I don't know why it seemed neglected, but it did. I think the campers and people using the park were an afterthought. The main reason for the park is to preserve a tree called the Torreya Pine tree found only in that area. We sat behind the camper and watched the sunset. It was beautiful up on the hill. Overnight it rained. But the next morning we got to see the sunrise from the seating area. I was told by another camper that the only open trail started down the hill from the campground and went straight down to a rock bridge then back up. Due to the wet ground, I didn't try the trail. We just walked the campground loop several times and were ready to pull out early to make it to Melbourne.