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<\/p>\nUPPER TAMPA BAY, FLA. \u2014 Tucked away in Hillsborough County, Upper Tampa Bay Conservation Park is a nearly 600-acre natural escape offering everything from oak hammocks to salt barrens \u2014 and it costs just $2 per vehicle to get in.<\/p>\n
The park sits on a peninsula between Double Branch Creek and Old Tampa Bay, giving it a saltwater habitat unlike many other parks in the region.
Senior Park Ranger Ethan Hobbs has worked at the park for 27 years and says its ecology is unlike anywhere else.<\/p>\n
“We have the creek which actually runs right into Tampa Bay and because we are on that tide, we are considered a saltwater habitat. We don’t really have freshwater here. No alligators usually, uh, manatees and dolphins are something that you would normally see here in the water,” Hobbs said.<\/p>\n
Hobbs describes himself and his colleagues as stewards of the land.<\/p>\n
“I always say that we are caretakers for the park,” Hobbs said.<\/p>\n
“We have a very diverse ecology here,” Hobbs said.<\/p>\n
Visitors can rent canoes and kayaks for $25 for 4 hours, explore 3 hiking trails, or cast a line from the 300-foot boardwalk that leads to the waterway. The park also has picnic tables, grills, and shelters available for rent. Boat launches are free.<\/p>\n
Wildlife encounters are part of the draw, though Hobbs is candid about expectations.<\/p>\n
“The encounters with the animals are frequent but not guaranteed,” Hobbs said.<\/p>\n
For those who prefer to stay cool, the park’s air-conditioned nature center sits just steps from the boardwalk.<\/p>\n
For Hobbs, the park is more than a job \u2014 it is a connection to his childhood.<\/p>\n
“I grew up not too far from here and so this is like what I used to run around in when I was a kid with my brother. This is just like my old backyard, where I used to go fishing with my dad,” Hobbs said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Body cam video, court records reveal years of warning signs before Hillsborough deputies were shot<\/p>\n
Christopher Dmuchowski wounded 2 deputies who responded to a domestic violence call in Ruskin. Records show warning signs dating back years.<\/p>\n
Body cam video, court records reveal years of warning signs before Hillsborough deputies were shot<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UPPER TAMPA BAY, FLA. \u2014 Tucked away in Hillsborough County, Upper Tampa Bay Conservation Park is a nearly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[28673,150116,135,137,136,150115],"class_list":["post-371292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-hiking","tag-kayaking","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-upper-tampa-bay-conservation-park"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}