Bull Creek's entrance sign and kiosk. Visitors must sign in before entering the Wildlife Management Area. No entrance fee required.
Billy Lake is probably the neatest place in Bull Creek. Its cool refreshing waters are a welcome sight after coming off the dry exposed pinelands. It's a rather small lake but its swampy shores offer plenty of places to explore with a canoe.
Don't even think about trying to cross Bull Creek at Ronnie Ford unless you have a boat or some kind of swamp buggy. Even in drought conditions, this road is rarely dry to enough to cross on foot. If you have a chance to explore this area with a canoe, there is a tiny "lake" just south of the ford. Also, you can see trestles from an old tram that once crossed Bull Creek.
Jeep for sale! Good condition. Just needs an engine, some wheels and other nonessential parts. You can find this great deal next to Crabgrass Creek near the end of Cemetery Road.
Crossing Bull Creek and Little Creek using Mizzle Road can be a real challenge, especially when there's alligators nearby.
My little bridge project. It took about a month to complete. Most of the time was waiting for the water to go down. Hauling the lumber to the site was a real treat. Nearest point you could get to it with a vehicle was about a half mile away. The bridge is located on the old north-south tram line that runs parallel to Bull Creek.
Why is it that at every flood gate crossing, the gate is always locked. As you can see there's no way of getting around this thing. On the left is the picturesque Bull Creek flowing towards Jane Greens Swamp. On the right are huge barriers setup to prevent debris from clogging the flood gate. Beyond the gate, this road goes for another 5 miles before terminating into private property. You'll have to cross Bull Creek using Mizzle Road if you want to get to this section of the levee.
Ever wonder what that strange looking building is on the right as you go through the entrance to Bull Creek. It's the old Florida Institute of Technology's Astronomical Observatory. I guess this is the only place they could find to get away from the bright lights of Melbourne. Doesn't look like it's getting much use though.
Where could I be? My trusty old Trimble Scout GPS says latitude N 27° 59.58' and longitude W 80° 58.07'. That would put me out in the middle of nowhere. Actually this is the sign you'll see when hiking into Bull Creek from the southern most point. Below it you'll find a sign-in registrar which usually has lots of interesting comments and scorpions too.
One of the unusual things you might come across while visiting Bull Creek is the old Crabgrass Creek Cemetery. It's located at the end of Cemetery Road at coordinates N28° 06.079' W80° 56.819'. The most prominent and oldest tombstone is Kathrine Lanier's dated January 15, 1895. Interestingly, if you look at some of the old maps of this area, there was a town called Lanier just south of Billy Lake.
