Exploring the World With Pokemon Go: Airport Lakes Park
I decided on driving a different direction in search of a new park to explore. At first I was growing frustrated as I drove around seemingly in vain. However, right when I was about to turn around in frustration since I was less than a mile from Orlando International Airport, I made a discovery. Without giving everything away, the park I discovered, Airport Lakes Park is my favorite location that I have found thus far. Lets see what I found.
Airport Lakes Park has many different areas to check out. The first one I saw once I left the parking lot was a playground. This spot was also the location of a Pokemon Gym though the actual place marked is just to the right of the picture.
Directly to the left of the prior picture I found the next area of the park. This open area is perfect for baseball and given the massive lights in the background, I am not the only one who thinks so. While I continued to explore this part, I discovered that Airport Lakes Park is a Pokemon Go Nest. I’ll elaborate on that later.
Frisbee Golf:
Just beyond the open fields, I saw a pathway to another area. As it turned out, this was the end of a Frisbee Golf course. Wanting to see the course from the start until the finish, I turned around. Stumbling over many Pokemon in Go all along the way, I continued to be pleased with coming to Airport Lakes Park.
The two photos above are around the start of the Frisbee Golf course. Much of this part of the park is heavily forested. Realizing that I was about to truly get a chance to explore, I decided to check out one other area of the park first. Following the looping trail that would take me back to open fields, I went towards one other area.
Back outside the trees, I saw another open field. This one had signs indicating that those who wished to use the area had to sign it out first. Unsure whether I could even step on this part of the park’s property or not, I skirted around the outside. Looping back to the forest, I began my favorite part of the exploration.
Once in the woods, I realized that there were many trails. Pokemon Go had many of these trails marked on the map in game, but I was more interested in the others. Ignoring every warning that Horror Movies have ever given me about exploring the trails, I went deeper into the forest.
The Woods:
Continuing to ignore every horror movie trope possible, I went deeper still into the forest. Using trails that had only formed from many feet keeping undergrowth from forming, I tried to find my way to the nearby lake. I even asked a man I ran into if there was a way to reach the shore and he had no idea.
I would like to point out something quite amazing that I discovered in Pokemon Go while exploring this area. It is not uncommon for a a park to have a Pokemon Nest, but I have never heard of there being two of them in one place. However, Airport Lakes Park might be an exception as there was certainly a massive change in what I encountered.
I continued in vain to reach the shore. Eventually I decided to look at the ground for hints of another trail I might have missed. I am glad I did since there was something else to discover. The ground was wet and there had been no rain. That meant only one thing: This was a marsh! I had found the shore, it just was choked with overgrowth.
I turned around and though it took some time, I found my way back to the main trails. It was quite fun to go off track and do some custom exploration. Though in horror movies, I probably would have gotten into trouble for my curiosity, that was not the case here. I suppose its a good thing that my fictional stories are not completely based on reality.
The Lake:
One of the reasons I had continued to search for the shore of the lake was due to Pokemon Go. I saw a Pokestop on the map right at the edge of a large lake. This indicated that there was some sort of feature at this location. Pokestops are never placed in a featureless spot after all.
Finally, after a bit of backtracking, I found the correct path to the lake. I got to cross over the marsh on this wooden bridge pictured above. I got a great view of what I had explored on foot and realized just how close I had come to stepping into water without realizing it.
The Pokestop ended up being a pavilion attached to a large dock. I managed to snap a couple of photos from the area. One of the lake all the way across which also showcases how nice of a day it was. The second picture shows the marshes proper. The trees shown in the background are some of the places I walked around before finding a safer place to observe the area.
Pokemon Go:
Here is Airport Lakes Park as it appears in Pokemon Go. One virtual image cannot properly showcase just how many amazing sights there are in here. From open fields to dense forests, this park has a little of everything.
And it also has a very diverse set of Pokemon to catch. Barber Park has been dethroned as the best place to play Pokemon Go from my travels. There were two nests to find. Near the open parts of the park, I found countless Spoink. In the forests, I found many Voltorb instead. I found a few other rare species such as Growlithe along the way.
As always, here is what hatched as I walked around Airport Lakes Park. As this was the best place I have played Pokemon Go in the last week and a half, I highly recommend checking it out. My travels will take me elsewhere tomorrow. Who knows what I will discover next?