Where Are the Monkeys?! Ocala National Forest

Sometimes you just have to get in the car and drive without having any direction in mind. I’m a firm believer in spontaneity and luckily I’m dating someone who enjoys flying by the seat of her pants as well.

While dating long distance, Megan and I, planned weekend adventures each time we visited one another. Well on this particular day we both wanted to go somewhere we had never been to in Florida. We only had a few hours, so we couldn’t go far…

“Hey, I have an idea, let’s go hiking!”

“Ok, so where are the closest hiking trails to Sanford, Florida?”, Megan asked.

That question reminded me of a rumor I had recently overheard. The rumors that there are Rhesus monkeys living in the Ocala National Forest of all places! If this were true, I knew at some point I had to see these monkeys in person. We pulled out the GPS and saw that Ocala National Forest was only 30 minutes North of us.

Entering Ocala National Forest

If you don’t know, the Ocala National Forest is the second largest nationally protected forest in the United States. It covers over 600 square miles, so it is pretty hard to miss if you’re traveling north of Orlando. But as crazy as it sounds, I will tell you one thing, besides the monkeys, that is easy to miss; the hiking trails.

Once we got into the park we drove up and down dirt, sand, and paved roads. This proved to be a lot of fun unti realizing I was driving my front wheel, compact car and not a Jeep. They literally have “Jeep Only” trails, and pictures of Jeep Wranglers all over the place. Of course, other 4-wheel drive vehicles go out there, but actual ‘jeep clubs’ come out here almost every weekend. I’m definitely trying to use that as an excuse for Megan or I to buy a Jeep.

Anyways, I’ll stop with the Jeep commercial and tell you how we apparently are not very observant.

Sooooo there are hiking trails ALL OVER the national forest. Most of them are just kind of marked with a small wooden sign and lead into the forest. If there’s a paved parking lot, then you’ve found one of the few trails that have a visible lot for your car. We actually stopped by a campground and had to ask where the nearest free hiking trail was and we were finally pointed in the right direction.

We miraculously found it, so I guess her vague directions weren’t as bad as I had initially thought.

I drove in under a flourishing canopy of trees with the sun shining through in patches on the ground. I felt like we had found our own secret garden. As we walked the trail, unsure where it was leading, we were fascinated by all the different types of vegetation, especially compared to what Megan and I are used to seeing along the Appalachian Trail.

Where are the monkeys?

I thought to myself, ‘if I were a monkey this is exactly where I would hang out” so we kept our eyes pealed. We stumbled upon a beautiful overlook that was built out into the St. Johns River. Decided that was a good place to relax, we sat down and waved at all the boats passing by, speedboats, pontoons, and bass boats, every one was enjoying their “Sunday Funday”, in one way or another. The trail is very secluded so we had it all to ourselves; it was a perfect Sunday date.

Now even though we were enjoying our hike, I was still focused on our mission to see a monkey. We began our quest back into the forest, listening for any unusual sounds and keeping our gaze high and along the canopy.

When reaching my car, I was very disappointed that neither of us could report any monkey sightings up to this point. I pulled out my phone and started reading where hikers had previously seen these alleged monkeys. Based on my Internet searches, I heard two different rumors. One was that the monkeys were left on an island on purpose to promote an exotic Silver River tour. The head of the Jungle Cruise, Col. Tooey, was informed that the monkeys couldn’t swim so he thought they would stay on the island where he left them. Apparently this information was not factual, because they spread across hundreds of acres slightly east of where we were in the Ocala National Forest.

Now the second story I heard was also fairly interesting. Back in the 1930’s and 40’s  the ‘Tarzan” movie series was being filmed along Silver Springs. As rumor has it, some of the monkeys that were in the movie escaped their cages and were never hunted down. So their descendants are still populating the National Forest. Either way, one day we will go back and visit, so I can see these monkeys.

Conclusion

By the end of the day, both of our phones were dead from trying to use the GPS, while also looking up important monkey info, but we weren’t worried about it. I knew I lived somewhere South of the national forest. The good thing about living in Florida is that for the most pary, if you go too far East, West, or South you’ll run into the ocean.

Plus, when you’re on a spontaneous road trip, sometimes the objective is to get lost. Because no telling what you might find, especially if you’re in the Ocala Nation Forest.

– A