Whew, well, it finally happened last week. I recorded a short segment on the Trail Show about the Florida Trail with the crew on The Trail Show! I was very nervous about it but thankfully my nerves were eased by a: it was a phone Skype call and not video and b: the ease in which they had their questions lined up. They are excellent interviewers! I actually haven’t listened to the episode yet, mostly because I’m not interested in listening to myself. However, Chris listened to it and said it was great. I’m not sure where exactly my part comes in at. You can either scroll through and listen…

Y’all. I have been slogging away on my Florida Trail memoir for 2.5 years. I swore way back when I started it in August 2011 that it’d only take a year and since then I had several ambitious moments when I said “I’m gonna finish it by such and such time” and those times came and went. But finally two days ago I wrote the last sentence. Or, well, the last sentence of my first draft. I have a feeling I’ll be adding an epilogue and reworking the ending. In all, the first draft is 111,100 words long. I really didn’t go into our hike with the intention of writing…

At work yesterday Fleetwood Mac came on the radio, Gold Dust Woman, and I was immediately transported back to Ocala National Forest and our short stop at the 88 Store, where we picked up our maildrop, showered, and ate ice cream and drank sodas. Gold Dust Woman didn’t come on the radio but Gypsy did, but I think any time Steve Nicks’ voice comes on the radio I will think about Florida and backpacking. Oddly enough when I went to pull up the photo on Flickr it said it was taken on January 31, 2011. How’s that for intuition? I also like this rendition by Gov’t Mule feat. Grace Potter.

Sunrise at Gulf Islands National Seashore, March 3, 2011….18 miles left until we finished. Finished! We walked through Florida! On top of Fort Pickens How was this a year ago? It seems like closer than that. While the Appalachian Trail seems light years away now, I think the Florida Trail seems closer because of our closer relationship with Florida itself. While I am glad to be in Texas again, I sometimes wish I had done more exploring and had gotten to know Florida more intimately, exploring its other locales. Despite the road walks, I do recommend hiking this trail. It’s a ‘quick’ trail, it’s flat and it offers up habitats…

Headed for Ft. Pickens after our friends Randy and Kathy dropped us off on Loop Road. 8 miles of beautiful cypress/sawgrass habitat with some fun and muddy water in the middle! The feather headband didn’t make it too far before it broke. 🙁 Follow some of the 2012 FT thru-hikers as they head to Ft. Pickens or Alabama.

*Edit 12/2015: This is one of my most popular posts and it was written in 2011. The trail has had some reroutes during this time. Please check the most recent guidebook released from Florida Hikes and be sure to contact the Florida Trail Association in regards to reroutes and current closures. Thanks and have a great hike!* *Edit 03/2020: I recommend this post from LB Hikes who finished the FT in 2020 as an update to my write-up here.* While there is a plethora of information out there about hiking the Appalachian Trail I realized there isn’t that much on the Florida Trail. Sure there’s the guidebook and other forums…

As we crossed over the bridge at Navarre, across Santa Rosa sound, to Santa Rosa island, we had to squish against the side railing of the bridge for bicyclists who couldn’t manage to get off and walk their bike and share the path and fisherman reluctant to move their poles. Where’s the common courtesy?! We picked our poles up off the grate that was beneath our feet and I pretended I couldn’t see below and notice the ocean. Somehow over the years I’ve developed a small fear of heights, nothing big, only if I think hard about it do I get a little nutty. I was glad to get off…

After leaving the more congested area around Crestview we set off on a mostly quiet walk along U.S. 90. Sure there were large semi trucks driving passed but the shoulder was wide enough for us to follow and jump off when needed. The sky went from looking to clear up to getting dark again as clouds passed over continuously throughout the afternoon. Shortly outside of town, before crossing the Yellow River, we stopped at a gas station for a bathroom break and I asked the cashier if she knew of any camping areas nearby after she questioned what we were doing. After I told her about the Florida Trail and…

After leaving our stealth/trespassing campsite for the night, the morning was dawning as if it was going to rain. It was spitting when we got up that morning, we ate our breakfast in a hurry, took down camp and hit the road, literally. We had a couple of miles left before we entered the woods again at the Nokuse Plantation. Immediately back in the woods we started following a stream for quite a way. It was a beautiful little creek and we noticed that the clear running water was going to be the trend for the rest of the hike. The rain continued as we weaved around the creek and…