As we were leaving Lake Butler the sunshine that had decided to poke through during the lunch hour seemed to be retreating. Clouds were rolling in and we still wanted to get another 10-12 miles in before stopping for the end of the day. We left town following a road west and then north before entering the Lake Butler Forest, a pine plantation owned by Plum Creek Timber. It’s a forest but it’s a crappy one.

Back when we’d first met Shamrock Steve down near Titusville he’d told us of an area with these weird mounded hills that were a pain to walk across. Then it was some foreign location way away from us that it would be a long time to get to.

Well, we were there now.

Initially through the LBF it was along some forest roads. With the recent rains there were puddles in the road and you could see water between the mounds where the pine rows are planted. We didn’t think anything of it until we’d find a clear cut area that went through the pine plantation but the only demarcation of a trail was the tiny strip of trees that were left in the clear cut because they were blazed orange. The first time we saw this we ignored going on the real trail because it paralleled a forest road. It was stupid really to take the trail through the woods there instead of staying on the road. But then we saw we really needed to get off the road and onto the trail further down despite our strong lack of desire to follow the trail through the clear cut.

The clear cut was awful, small trees and branches strewn everywhere, blackberry brambles covering the ground and then the water puddles between the mounds. It wasn’t a trail, it was despicable. We tried to follow the road around as far as we could go but then it was inevitable we had to get into the nasty clear cut. It was then we thought we might not make 12 miles that afternoon if we’d have to slow down like that.

The trail eventually got back into the pine plantation that wasn’t cut down and the trail was a little better and kept winding around between roads, clear cuts and planted pine. It was not a pleasant section of trail. In fact, I’d just suggest road walking instead and that says a lot because we came to hate road walking the further north we got on the FT. The Lake Buter Forest is really a pitiful example of trail in Florida.

We came to a small creek which we had to walk up to the road and back around to by pass it, and we wondered why a small footbridge hadn’t been built over this creek yet. On the other side we met a hunter who’d driven in to pick up a trap; he’d caught a raccoon. It was in the smelly stage of death. At that juncture there was a white sign posted that we could bypass the actual trail by following two forest roads in an effort to avoid the clear cut the actual trail went through. Of course we were going to do this! At this point we really wondered why the maintainers even bothered having it go through the forest at all knowing that it would just be cut down eventually.

Despite the book saying we had to camp in designated spots in this area (I really wonder at the FTA sometimes, do they not understand thru-hikers? We’re going to camp where our miles take us! If you don’t have enough designated sites or places to camp, too bad! We’re not doing short or extremely long days just to fit into some campsite location.) we pitched our tent at a good location in a nice planted pine area where Speaker could hang a hammock and we could pitch our tent. It was possible someone might drive around out there, but highly unlikely. We did pass many hunt stands with deer feeders out so I know hunters came sometimes. And we always shook our heads at the ‘sport’ in baiting a deer like that. That’s not hunting, that’s waiting and baiting and killing something too easily.

The next morning the sky finally cleared up for us and we had one mostly sunny day to walk in. We left Speaker since he was planning to get off at the Olustee Battlefield at the Osceola National Park and hang out with the Chuck Norris crew for the Super Bowl. We’d been planning to get to White Springs to take our first zero day or a close nearo so we decided to keep going.

Through the rest of LBF it was pretty much miserable walking. We were able to follow some more forest roads and at one point managed to miss the actual trail and followed a white blazed road instead. I looked over and saw the tell-tale sign of the FT through the clear cut, a sliver of tall trees in the middle of nothing. Eventually we got back in the woods but ended up following the little ditches between the rows as the actual trail, except that with all the recent rain they were flooded. We tried our best to finagle our way around it, walking through poky palmettos and the edges of the water, but it was slowing us down. Gah, I hated the LBF!

Eventually we came to another sign that said we could bypass the actual trail and follow a dirt road and we chose to take it. Later we found out that Love it or Leave it decided to follow the actual trail and severely regretted it. He’s someone who takes blue blazes or sometimes an easier way so I was surprised to see hear he took the actual trail.

Finally after two rough days we made it to Osceola National Forest! Since the day was sunny the pine needles were warmed and their aroma wafted through the forest. For the most part the walk through ONF was beautiful, particularly the area south of I-10. We wound through beautiful trails and it was fairly well maintained. There were nice bog bridges over some small creeks and sloughs. We had lunch just past Ocean Pond campground on a boardwalk through a cypress dome, eating some of our dehydrated refried beans for lunch and trying to dry out our shoes from our morning walk through the wet LBF.

We crossed I-10 for the first time. We’d cross it three more times in the coming weeks. On the north side of ONF we encountered a burn area as well as some clear cutting. *oh great* we thought. More crap to walk through. It wasn’t terribly bad and at least there wasn’t too much water pooled up, it seemed their rows were lower and better built than LBFs’. We came to our third shelter on the trail, it was really an all side open pavilion but it had a privy, too. We flipped through the log book and saw that Li’l Buddha had stayed there last year for a zero when heavy rain was forecasted.

On our merry way north we met a young guy and his dog who were traveling cross country in his car and camping at various forests and campgrounds along the way. He was heading out on the trail a mile or so to pitch a tent for the night. When we told him what we were doing he was excited and gave us props for doing what we were doing.

The trail started getting a little less maintained in this area with bog boards and bridges across low areas on the forest roads in need of serious repair but also to clear the blackberry vines from the area. There were countless times when they latched onto my skin and clothes, and expletives left my mouth many times. Argh! I was not a happy hiker!

It seemed a slow day but I think we’d put in 23 miles or so, more than we’d initially planned in order to get closer to White Springs since we knew it was going to be a 70% chance of rain the following day. When we arrived at the west fire tower primitive campsite it was getting late in the day. We saw a nice campsite closer to the trail but kept following the side trail to the main campsite because we knew there was a water tap and a bathroom. When we got to the main camping area there were several long-term people camping in trucks and campers that we decided to fill up our water and head back to the quieter campsite under the oaks.

We’d been there for a few minutes when another truck comes back to the campsite. A woman got out and started talking to us and asked if we minded that she camp on the site as well. The place was big enough for many people and we knew she’d be quiet and not cause any problems with noise. She joined us as the picnic table for dinner where we found out her trail name was Hammer. She’d done some volunteer work with the FTA before and liked doing small sections on the FT. Apparently she’d had a rough week at work and was letting out steam by hiking in the ONF. Hammer gave us some trail magic drinks before we dashed inside the tent when some initial pre-storm rain started coming down.

The next morning was not pretty. It was raining and I had a stomachache. Not a good combination. No one wants to need to dig a hole when it’s raining. We packed up and got on the trail as fast as possible because we had at least 22 miles or so to get into White Springs. It would be a long day because of the rain.

The first two hours or seven miles seemed to go alright. The rain from the early morning had stopped and though we had our rain gear on we’d been able to unzip everything and keep our hoods off. We walked through recently burned areas, probably as recent as the day before since the areas were still smoldering. We made out the trail as best we could since most blazes were gone. Almost through with ONF and the rain started coming down heavier; we put our hoods on and zipped everything up. At the entrance on the west side of the park we found a trail closed sign—would’ve been nice to see that on the other side!

The FT then followed a road west where blazing was minimal and poor. We arrived at the junction of 441 and were a loss to where we went. No double blazes or blazing in sight. And it was pouring rain. Chris pulled out the map, something we should not have had to of done if the area was blazed properly, and tried to keep it as dry as possible. We were now on a long road walk down dirt back roads.

A few miles later we had to pull out the map again because of poor blazing to figure out where to turn. I was very angry with the maintenance at this point. The rain showed no signs of letting up. By this point the rain gear was starting to become ineffective and we could feel our clothes getting wet from sweat but from the rain as well. And it was chilly. We just kept walking down the roads, forgoing our morning snack in favor of trying to make it to the Madison shelter for lunch.

On the map we could see a line for future trail that would’ve bypassed the Madison shelter. Initially we thought if it was open we’d take it but then because of the rain we really wanted to go to the shelter so we could eat lunch instead of trying to down something in 10 minutes under a tree. Thankfully, I suppose, the new trail was not open (it would bypass the roadwalks and head straight for the Suwanee River) and we were able to get to the Madison shelter for lunch.

I was so thankful for that shelter, a shelter on private land put up by the Madison family. We stripped down and put on dry clothes and if we hadn’t been close to White Springs we would’ve bunkered down there for the rest of the day as it had a wood burning stove and would’ve kept us dry the rest of the day. Instead we made a hot meal to get the chill off and replanned our day. The trail follows a road again after leaving the Madison property before ditching back into the woods and coming out near some shoals on the Suwanee River. On the map there was a white blazed road walk into White Springs which would cut off at least five or six miles to our day and get us into town much earlier than we’d planned. We also took into consideration that there might be swollen creeks and the river might be up with the rain.

With our rain gear back on we settled in for a road walk instead of the actual trail in an effort to get to town early to warm up. Once on U.S. 41 we crossed the Suwanee River and saw where the trail went and though we were a little sad to have missed some beautiful hiking we were happy to be close to White Springs.

In town we scouted out where to eat and visit later on. The guidebook boasts this as a great place for a zero but having been written several years earlier it seemed now the town was slowly becoming run down. The main grocery store had closed and we were glad we’d done a maildrop here. On the way in we passed the post office and decided to get our drop there first since it was the only post office that’d been strict about holding our package for a particular length of time. Inside we found Love it or Leave it shipping a box ahead to another town. We chatted with him for awhile and caught up with what he’d been doing. He told us that the motel was a little run down but we brushed it off as nothing new from where we’d stayed on the AT. He was staying at a B&B we’d passed on the way in and had gotten a killer hiker rate of like $25 a night.

After getting our package we found the motel. It was a dump and it appeared to be more of a place people lived at than stayed for a night or two. The main office was closed but a resident came out and told us we could find the manager in the laundry. He came out and we told him what we needed. At first he thought for a few minutes before he decided he could put us somewhere. He had to clean the room first and had to run to the dollar store to buy us a rug and towels for the room!!!

We sat under the overhang of the motel on a bench for over an hour before we were able to get into the room and shower. The closest thing I could come up with was that this was the FT’s Doyle Hotel. And since we were hiking we’d just roll with it and not worry about it.

The hotel room became a giant dry-out room as we unpacked the tent and our gear all over the room to dry out. Even our sleeping bags had gotten water on them. Our pack cover had kept some things dry but when it rained enough a puddle of water would always pool in the bottom of the pack cover.

We chose to relax and watch tv and head down to the laundromat to do laundry and eat at the only restaurant in town, a bbq joint.

The next day was pretty lazy with sleeping in and moving watching on the agenda. The town was small and quiet with not a lot to see but we walked up and down U.S. 41 many times.

At this point I really need some new socks. I’d only bought one new pair for the hike and didn’t realize that my other pair from the AT was thinner than I thought. We had hoped to hit the outfitter in town but found out this was the old location and it had moved several miles out of town, not within walking distance. I guess I’d have to stick with holey socks.

We hit up the library in the afternoon for some internet time.

Saw the currently being renovated spring house in town.

Enjoyed the sun again!

We went in the old Suwannee Diner, what was now a going-out-of-business resale shop. We went in to see an old mural of the Suwanee from source (Okeefenokee Swamp in GA) to sea.

It is really a shame that these old Florida towns are going so much downhill. It would be a great hub for kayaking and hiking if they could built it up some. It doesn’t help when the outfitter isn’t located in town any longer.

We wrapped up our zero in White Springs and headed out the following morning for several days of hiking along the Suwanee.

After leaving Buckman Lock we crossed S.R. 19 and into an area that as best we could tell was only used by ORVs. I’m not sure if it was public or private land, but we weaved through all sorts of dirt and mud roads that were completely destroyed by off roading vehicles. There was a lot of trash in this area, too, which is always disappointing to see.

We ended up following a fire break line at one point, another section of fluffy sand. *gah!* Eventually we found an old, overgrown railroad bed that we followed until we found what was listed a potential campsite in the guidebook.

Yes, our potential campsite was under the power lines! They were quite noisy, too, crackling and buzzing when perhaps it was a higher energy usage time. Speaker showed up and went back into a pine plantation to hang his hammock leaving us to sleep under the power lines. The potential rain an thunderstorms were to come overnight and into the next day so I was a bit nervous about lightning strikes around the power lines.

Still wading through Persuasion.

The next morning was overcast but did not seem such a heavy threat of rain. We finished our walk through the pine plantation and crossed a busy S.R. 20 with its morning commute around Palatka. Back into the woods we followed some old levees and roads before ending up in Rice Creek Conservation Area. We went from being on dry ground to getting into a wetland almost instantly. Luckily we found a long boardwalk, maybe a half mile or so long, to take us across the beautiful cypress dome. Crossing and walking down a few forests roads, we weaved in an out of the woods, past a beautiful clear running creek that was probably spring fed before the rain finally caught up with us. We stopped for a few minutes to put our rain gear on despite the humidity and heat and knowing we’d sweat ourselves to death if we kept it on all day.

Thankfully the rain stopped a few minutes after we started hiking. We found another boardwalk which led us to the 8th largest cypress in Florida.

Chris decided to jump the boardwalk and head over while I took a snack break at the bench at the end of the boardwalk. It looks like there used to be a nice sign about the cypress but it is now gone and plywood remains.

I would’ve loved to have seen more of this area but of course we had to keep moving. At this point the rain became a steady mist and rain gear was not going to help and would make things worse. Leaving Rice Creek we thought we were set for a road walk down S.R. 100 but when we arrived at the road we saw the blazes crossed the street and came out on top of the Palatka-Lake Butler Trail. The old rail bed was still in tact in some areas with the ties being visible and rough to walk on. What was worse were the rocks used in the rail bed, that felt like walking in Pennsylvania!

After about three miles of this we turned down a dirt road in the small community of Carraway. The community consists of a few homes and small churches, one of which we stopped at to fill up our water at a spigot on the side. If someone had been around we’d of asked permission but I suppose our just-due for getting water from the church was that it was sulphur water! Barf! If you’ve ever had water that had a high amount of sulphur you know that just the smell of it is gross but tasting it—ugh! The worst part is after swallowing the water and getting a burpy after taste! It was rough making it through lunch on that water!

We jumped a few gates to get up the road the trail followed before finally getting back into the woods again at Etoniah Creek State Forest. Immediately we began to follow the creek for the majority of the afternoon and it was spectacular! I wish we’d taken more photos but due to the mist we didn’t take the camera out much. We followed all sorts of bluffs, peering down at 50′ or more to the creek at some points, something we were definitely not used to in Florida. Not only that, the creek was spectacularly clear, a change from the tannin rich waters down south.

An afternoon break was had at the Etoniah Creek shelter, a very roomy two story shelter that would have made a great place to stay. Yet again it was too early in the day for a shelter day. We did find a log book in this one and flipped through it finding a few familiar names including Chuck Norris, Wee Willy the Prince of Whales (a well known AT hiker-bum who hikes around other trails often with Pirate), and L’il Buddha who’d started the ECT before we’d started the AT last year and was well ahead of us when we got started.

After we left the creek we came out into a pine area, some of it having been recently cleared. I’m guessing it was either logged or being managed in some manner, but it was a little annoying though I was glad it was cloudy and spitting rain rather than 90* and sunny. We were aiming for a designated campsite on the north end of Etoniah State Forest. After making it through the clear cut area we were finally back in some oak hammocks, walking along the outer rim of those on ORV roads. In the sand there we noticed bobcat prints, relatively fresh ones, and hoped to see one. Of course we weren’t that lucky!

We found the campsite a few minutes too late. It’d started raining harder shortly before we arrived at the site. Even though the site was rather sloped we were able to be under the oaks which sheltered us from the rain a little. Speaker rolled in after we’d been set up for awhile and dinner already eaten. He threw his hammock up and not long before we all hit the sack the bottom really fell out!

It rained throughout the night and when we woke up the next morning I was dreading the inevitable walk in the rain. Ugh! We slept in a few minutes, listening to the radio for a weather update. Finally we crawled out with our rain gear on and headed out. We were settling in for another long road walk which was thankfully down fairly slow roads. Somewhere down at the end of the paved road walk I happened to look up and check a street sign. It was Christian Camp Road and I knew I’d recognized it from the map. We had to turn here, however there had not been a double blaze to turn!!! We even had to look down the road to see an orange blaze here. Someone really needs to fix this; in fact we were worried Speaker wouldn’t notice and would keep on walking before realizing it. Road walks aren’t generally labeled as well so sometimes we don’t pay as good attention as we should.

It’d been spitting rain for most of the road walk and had picked up a little bit as we got closer to Gold Head Branch State Park. By the time we reached the bathroom pavilion on one of the lakes it was coming down even harder. Chris threw out the idea of taking a shower in the bathrooms but they were being renovated when we went in and only the toilets worked. The maintenance guy told us bad news, that more rain was in the forecast for at least the next week. Not good! The day before had begun our week of clouds and rain.

Up the hill a bit was a soda machine at another building so we took a break there while Chris downed a soda and I kept mine for when we would have lunch. Just as we were leaving we saw Speaker heading up the hill but we kept going to move through the rain.

I’m sure the park would have been much nicer to see had it not been raining and chilly but we were focused on finding somewhere to eat lunch and hoped that would be at the front gate to the park. The trail wound around bluffs of the creek that runs through the park and finally through a scrub prairie near the front of park before heading for the headquarters. There we found shelter under an overhang where visitors would normally go to pay for their entrance to the park. At least we were out of the rain and could put something warm on while we ate. The rangers confirmed the nasty weather for the next few days. Speaker showed up a little while later having already ate at the last pavilion with the sodas. He also said he’d nearly missed the turn on the road but happened to look up at the right moment.

The rain seemed to have stopped by the time we left the headquarters. Our next goal was to get through Camp Blanding another bombing range that is open to the public in some areas and during particular times. I’d called the night before to verify the trail was open through there and was given the ok to go through but to fill out all the permits at the trail entrances like we were supposed to. At the campsite in Etoniah State Forest we’d heard the large artillery fire from the range even though we were several miles away. As we were approaching the camp we heard it even louder and debated whether it was ok to go in. There were no closures listed at the sign so we dropped our names in the register and went along the way.

We followed old ORV trails and then turned into the scrub as we followed the contour of Lake Lowry where we heard the artillery fire coming from a boat. Hope they weren’t shooting our way! We made it through the camp unscathed!

After leaving the base we’d planned on staying at a campsite at Camp Crystal Lake which we finally found after being disappointed that another camp with screened shelters wasn’t the place we were supposed to be. But, the bright side was crossing a small road and realizing that we could potentially order pizza for dinner! We did some homework by calling Chris’ dad and getting the number of some pizza places as well as 411 and after getting Speaker to agree on it we made the call. Thankfully Domino’s knew where we were and could deliver from Keystone Heights!

We weren’t going to carry pizza boxes out so into the fire pit they went!

Campsite at Camp Crystal Lake.

The next morning was cloudy but luckily we went the whole day without rain. We ended up back on the Palatka-Lake Butler Trail for the entire day and it would take us into Lake Butler the following day. Aside from some poor trail management at the very beginning where we had to cut through private property and some over grown fields to get to the trail, we didn’t have too much to write home about that day. The trail was an old rail bed again and no one was on it. In fact, we wondered how many people ever used the trail. Most of the time we were surrounded by woods but often we’d be behind someones backyard listening to dogs bark as we passed. A few people leaving their driveways gave us a weird look but other than that it was quiet.

Speaker had to go into Starke to try to buy a new camera and was planning to try to hitch from a road in Hampton. We reached a road in the main town of Hampton and saw a gas station less than a quarter mile down so we detoured down for a mid-morning snack of a microwaveable hamburger for me and pizza for Chris. We dallied there for thirty minutes or so before deciding to move along and left Speaker to hitch into town. He’d decided he’d either walk back on another road out instead of getting back to where he got off on the P-LB-Trail.

On the map we’d been wondering about this giant U-shaped detour down roads and then back to the P-LB Trail and found out later when we had to detour because a bridge was out across a small river. We later learned that Love It or Leave It went down the trail anyway and found a way to get across the river without getting too wet. Now, I can imagine that if the water was higher this would be impossible and we’d considered doing the same but didn’t want to risk having to turn around and double back. So, off down the road we went, except we missed a turn off down a NW road. Again, poor blazing in this area! We ended up adding at least another mile to the day.

On S.R. 100 we found a dog that wanted to follow us for awhile, barking and running back and forth across the busy road. We managed to shake it but worried for its safety. People don’t understand that they need to keep their animals behind gates or tied up so they don’t become road kill! (And by tied up I don’t mean day after day after day on a chain!)

Back down an quieter road a woman pulls up next to us and asks us if we were doing some sort of reenactment. If she’d paid a bit more attention to our attire she’d of noticed we weren’t, but apparently there is a Battle of Olustee reenactment every year down the P-LB Trail and into Osceola National Forest. We were a few weeks away from that and obviously not dressed for it but we gave her the low down on the FT anyway. She warned us to camp further down the trail from some of the houses because of apparently some gun happy people who shot at rats! Grreeeat.

We did find a good campsite but knew that there was a high chance of rain in the late overnight hours and early morning so we tried to find a spot that wouldn’t flood. Speaker showed up, without his camera, though we’d been unsure if he’d catch up or not.

The next morning we got up and packed as quick as possible before the rain started, were on our way and within minutes the rain started. We stopped and put rain gear on and picked up the pace to get the four miles into town done. Two small road blocks were in our way, though, more bridges were out leaving us to scramble down the slope to a wetland, balancing on some logs and getting across and back up.

Following the trail into town wasn’t the best idea because we ended up at the west end of town and most of the services were on the east end. Looking a bit lost we walked the sidewalk of downtown Lake Butler for awhile before figuring out we would just find something down toward the library. Subway was our breakfast choice and it was good one. The workers gave us a few weird looks but didn’t ask questions. Another customer came in later and started talking about the rain and then told us it wasn’t good day to hitchhike! Um, sorry we weren’t hitching—we’re walking!

You know you are a little bit strange from having lived in the woods so long when you twist up a napkin and shove it in your ear, in public, to clean it out. Yes, that was me. But seriously, I need some q-tips and didn’t have any! Speaker joked about that with me several times the rest of the trip when the topic of manners and public vs woods came up. As in, what you do in the woods and become accustomed to. Like looking for a tree to pee behind or maybe doing snot rocks. Or using a piece of grass to floss. You know, those things.

We found the Lake Butler library and was pleased to see a long length of time set for the computers. We hadn’t been on in over a week or so and it was due time to check email and catch up. While in the library the bottom fell out even more and we were glad to be inside.

It cleared up a bit with even a little bit of sun poking out as noon-time arrived. We tried to hit an outfitter but it was more hunting than a true outdoor outfitter. The owner was very friendly and seemed interested in stocking hiking supplies but we told him there probably wouldn’t be that much activity from hikers other than early in the year. Chris and I had lunch while Speaker resupplied, then we resupplied at the local IGA and Dollar General and decided to get out of town before the next bottom fell out of the sky.

Next up we’ll go through the Lake Butler Forest, Osceola National Forest and into White Springs for a zero!

After resting up in the hotel in Lake Mary the next morning we ate a filling breakfast downstairs, grabbed a sandwich from the Publix deli (best ever!) and set off on our way. We were aiming to get close to Ocala National Forest so we could walk in the next day. We still had some roadwalking to do, however, and that left us to follow more of the Cross Seminole Trail through some neighborhoods. Eventually we caught up to Max and Amanda from Chuck Norris’ crew and subsequently played leapfrog with them while we paralleled Markham Road and walked up C.R. 46A.

At the C.R. 46 junction with 46A we headed north into the Lower Wekiva River State Park. I initially thought we walked through the park to the north, but instead we walked north, then back west and south to avoid a bit of the road. It was a nice walk through there, but a seemingly silly alternate for getting off the road because we just ended up back on the road anyway less than a mile later.

After heading west down 46 and over the Wekiva River (looked like good paddling!) we finally saw the entrance to the Seminole State Forest! Finally, back in the woods!

At the entrance, which apparently we were supposed to pay at the self pay station but somehow we overlooked that, I did notice a sign that appeared to be more of a general information sign about prescribed burning. I should have taken more note of that for about an hour later down the trail.

We came to our first shelter on the FT here and felt like we had to sit in the shelter and needed to sign a log book, but there was no log book. It was almost like old times on the AT, but there wasn’t a group of people to chat with. I kinda wished we could have stayed there for the night but it was still before lunch at this point.

Not long after leaving the shelter we noticed smoke in the distance and heard/saw helicopters working in the area. We kept an eye on it as we walked north, not sure where exactly the trail would go in relation to the fire. The trail weaved through recently burned areas complete with charred pines and the burned remnants of saw palmettos. Don’t worry, the palmettos will come back! It was a bit difficult to follow the trail in a few places, but we looked for footprints and the tell-tale signs of a trail.

We kept getting closer and closer to the fire and it seemed to get larger, too. The helicopters were starting more lines further north and I was getting frustrated because I didn’t know if it was going to encompass the trail. At one point the flames rose high and the smoke billowed ominously. We backtracked to a fire road in case we needed to bail out. Chris tried to look at the map and figure out where it was in relation to the fire and we determined that we would be ok and that if we really had to we’d jump in Blackwater Creek, our lunch destination and a campsite.

At Blackwater Creek it seemed the fire was dying down so I tried to eat lunch in relative relaxation, but towards the middle of our hour break the helicopter came and more smoke started coming out, this time it appeared closer. Gah! Off down the trail we went hoping to outpace the fire as we moved north.

We took another break at Sharktooth Spring campsite since our lunch was cut short, laying in the open meadow next to the picnic table. The fire seemed to die down and a few times the helicopter passed right over us and I knew they had to see us lying there. The campsite is true to is name and we found the spring by accident after missing the main trail turn and following the side trail down to the spring. It was our first spring on the trail and a nice sight to see!

Through the rest of Seminole State Forest we walked in relative ease, knowing the fire was out and trying to enjoy the area. We passed through a cypress swamp, luckily walking on a road through it instead of in it, and a forest ranger drove by in a truck as we waved to him. On the north side of the park is an open field where we spotted the helicopters used in the prescribed burn. We we exited the park on the north end we came to a mailbox, commonly used for log books or information on the trail, where we left a note for the FTA and the forest service that they should have posted closures or re-routes on the trail head due to the close proximity of the fire to the FT. It could have been dangerous and general signs about prescribed fires isn’t good enough. We even tried to call the forest service at several numbers when we’d backtracked but to no avail, no one answered!

At SR 44 we had a several mile roadwalk north east to get through a subdivision and into another wildlife management area.

We were minding our own business when a car turns around and pulls over on the side of the road. I figured it would be someone just curious about the trail or asking if we needed a ride, but it turns out they were geocachers that we knew from geocaching events. They knew we’d been out hiking the trail and had questions about it and we talked for awhile, got some trail magic sodas from them (mmm!) and they gave us the low-down on some of the trail through the Royal Trails subdivision. Royal Trails is a larger property subdivision, more suited for living in the country, bigger yards and a quieter neighborhood, but a subdivision nonetheless.

By the time we reached the turn off for the subdivision we were feeling the day wear on us. We’d started later since we’d been at the hotel, been delayed with the fire, met our geocaching friends and well, we would’ve pitched the tent there had it been appropriate. Instead of being dopey and lazy we kept on going, weaving through the streets until we finally followed the trail back into the woods behind someones house. There we found a stash of water left by someone specifically for FT thru-hikers! We topped our water off and kept on going. At this one I was getting seriously end-of-the-day-itis and was looking at potential campsites as we passed them.

Finally we found a place to camp at the junction of two sand roads in the middle of an unknown wildlife management area. We hoped no one would come offroading in the middle of the night!

I was glad to have my gloves and hat the entire trip. It got cold in the evenings especially when the wind kicked up and many mornings we had frost on the tent.

Sunrise the following morning! Nice isn’t it?

The next morning we followed Maggie Jones Road, a fill/dirt road in the middle of nowhere bounded by private property and cattle ranches. There was some poor blazing in this area, with what appeared old double blazes that threw us off for a few minutes before we decided not to follow them and stay on the road. Good decision! Eventually the trail ditches the road and onto private property to the west, through sand scrub areas, following close behind rural homes and interesting, alligator infested (probable!) ponds. Finally we emerge at at a Boy Scout camp where the book said we could fill up on water at a spigot on the back of a shed. We located that and saw across the field the many cars and Scouts out for the weekend.

We end up back on Maggie Jones Rd. for a minute, cross C.R. 42 where one can go into Paisley for a resupply if needed, and then spot the sign for Ocala National Forest!

We must’ve not been in a very photographic mode that day because we have no photos from this section! We’d never hiked this section to Alexander Springs so it was new territory in ONF for us.

Sandhills dotted with pines are the predominate habitat of this area with some low-land stream and marsh crossings which are thankfully, at least mostly, built with bridges or bog boardwalks. Sometimes you’d find some rickety ones in need of repair but we traversed them with ease.

By lunch we’d made more than half our miles for the day and only had about seven to go. We found a few downed logs in the middle of a palmetto thicket and made that our lunch spot, sprawled out, took off our shoes and made ourselves at home. At the beginning of our lunch a couple from Michigan or Minnesota came by saying they’d been doing parts of the FT in out and back sections through the public land portions. We were packing up when they returned.

Soon enough I noticed the side trail to Alexander Springs and got giddy that we were getting closer to our campsite for the night.

We arrived at Dora’s Pond at about 3:30pm with enough time to sit and read. I’d been carrying Persuasion for so many miles already that I decided it was time to start reading it! Now I was hooked!

I was nervous about there being water in some of the ponds as some of the smaller ones can dry up during the winter dry season. But, we were happy to see plenty of water in the pond even though it was lower than usual. This was the first campsite that we heard the weird barking/yelping noise. It started off on the south side of the pond and came closer and closer, passing by the tent within a few feet and eventually off into the distance. So far the best guess from friends is that it was a fox which I’ve pretty much confirmed from listening to this.

Since we’d hiked this section before I was able to feel my way through how we were doing on miles and time and guessing at what was coming up next. At a dirt road crossing we entered Farles Prairie and found ourselves encountering what we later found out to be the Rainbow People. A large group of cars and an old school bus painted with Fat Kids Kitchen on the side of it were parked on the side of the road. Cardboard signs about the super bowl were hanging on the trees, random trash bags were on the trail and finally we started seeing tent cities forming.

We passed what I’d just say would be modern day hippies, a mix of 90s grunge look with a little of the late 60s mixed in for good measure. Most of the group were young from late teens to early 30s but a few were in the middle to late age category. Many had dogs, some were riding bikes down the trail and it seemed to be overall chaos. We passed one tent city and would walk a few hundred feet and find more and this continued for at least two miles through Farles Prairie. Our first thought was that they were not known to ONF officials and planned on reporting them as they were being kind of rough with the vegetation and there was trash everywhere.

Finally it seemed we’d passed the last camp and we were able to hike in relative peace again. Later on we found a whole pile of garbage and old signs from what appeared to be their last camp area and we were definitely peeved at this point. When we arrived at Juniper Springs for lunch we alerted the park ranger at the gate who told us they had a month long permit to be out there. Oh well. I hope they understood all that trash!

We’d been looking forward to having lunch at Juniper Springs so we could eat at the concession there, buying microwaveable burgers and ice cream to eat while we sat out under the pavilion by the spring.

It was Saturday (or Sunday, whatever, the weekend!) and I was very surprised at the lack of people at the spring. I figured that it was a beautiful winter day in Florida, perfect weather and why weren’t more people there?

After our lazy lunch we continued north into more uncharted (for us) ONF territory. While we’d been in shade most of the day in the Farles Prairie section, this one turned out to be very much in the open and with the scorching mid-day sun coming down, it proved to be a parched hike. A mile or so in we started seeing adults with children hiking out from Hidden Pond campsite. These were hardcore hiking parents, some toting off-road wagons, kids on their backs or in unwieldy strollers. We’d pass a group of 5 or 6, walk a little ways and find a few more. This continued until we did see the very last group a couple of miles later and they all asked how far they were to Juniper Springs. I was just impressed that they were all backpacking with kids ranging in age from baby to elementary age.

Further north we climbed up steeper sandhills that allowed us to have a mountain like feel of the area even though we couldn’t have been more than 50 or 60 feet up. It provided some scenic views of the palmetto prairie and felt a little more like the AT in some sense.

See that bird? Yes, there is one there, on the right hand side near the tree leaning to the right, that’s a Florida scrub-jay. We saw several in this area but our camera zoom capabilities were not good and they were flighty birds so no good pictures, but they were fun to hang out with for awhile.

After seeing the birds for a few minutes we descended into a little depression where we saw our first bears of the trip! ONF is one of the best places in Florida to see bears as there is such a large contiguous space for them to roam. They dashed up the other side of the depression and into the palmetto thicket. Once we got to the top of the hill we met another couple coming down the trail who’d seen them as well. We chatted with them, Mike and Meredith we later learned their names to be, and said we were hiking the FT and were headed for a campsite near the trail head for the night. On the way we passed a father with two kids also out for a late evening hike, by this time the sun was getting ready to set.

We’d started setting up camp when Mike and Meredith came back and talked with us for awhile longer. They were mostly curious about food and how we carried it. We said goodbye to them only to have them come back 10 minutes later with a grocery bag full of snacks they’d had for their camping trip. Even though we still had plenty of food and were going to a maildrop the following day we took a few of the snacks anyway. Thanks Mike and Meredith if you happen to read this! It was great meeting you! I think that was one of the aspects of the FT that perhaps we didn’t get as much of on the AT—telling people about the FT because the majority of people didn’t know about the trail at all.

‘Panther and Ridley’ or ‘kitty and turtle’ according to Zoe.

As the sun set we heard a holler from the trail and made our a dark figure approaching us. It was Speaker! We’d passed him and the rest of the Chuck Norris crew at the Seminole State Forest when most of them got off the trail to go to another hiker’s birthday bash. Chris and I’d been debating how soon Speaker would catch us and I thought it might have been one more day but he’d pulled a big day and caught us that evening.

Another nice sunrise, despite a threat for rain early that morning.

We set off for Hopkins Prairie that morning and it turned out to be a beautiful section, much better than Juniper Prairie.

There is a blue blazed side trail following a forest road around the prairie for high water times, but we were able to follow the trail through the prairie. As you follow the trail we weave around all sorts of little islands dotting the wet prairie, following the perimeter around them, sometimes cutting through to get to the other side. On the map you can look at the trail and wonder why it is doing all these loopy turns but once on the ground and seeing it you would definitely want to stay on dry ground!

The blue blaze side trail to Salt Springs. It was a long hike and not worth detouring for a resupply, but would be a good place to start as a trail head.

We had lunch somewhere in the middle of the trail and it was starting to become blazing hot out and unfortunately we’d found a scrubby area to eat so finding a spot in the shade was difficult. A little while later we ran into another couple doing a short few days in the northern section of ONF and chatted with them for a bit. They were eating ramen for lunch in thru-hiker fashion! I would’ve expected more from weekenders!

A nice sign at a county road crossing. There should be more of these out there!

There it is! We found the northern eastern/western corridor connector which we’d last left at Three Lakes WMA.

Shortly after we found the blue blaze to the 88 Store a biker bar/convenience store where hikers can refill their water, take a shower, pick up a maildrop and get some food. You can even get permission to camp behind the store if needed. We’d planned a shorter day because of the detour, like 17 or something, so we arrived early in the afternoon and decided to take a few hours to shower, drinks sodas and go through our mail drop. I would definitely recommend this place for a maildrop as the people running the place are hiker friendly. In fact, this is probably one of the only places on the FT that resembled a hiker friendly spot on the AT. You could kick back and relax, sign their register and in general talk to locals about the forest. Most of them were ORV owners and I heard some disparaging comments about the lack of ability to use some trails with an ORV, but as a hiker I completely understand why there are those rules.

We’d been there for a few hours when Speaker finally showed up. We’d lost him sometime around Hopkins Prairie and knew we’d see him at some other point. He’d taken to adopting the style of hiking that the Chuck Norris group had been doing, taking lots of frequent breaks. Chris and I preferred to go at least two hours before taking a break unless of course we had to use the woods in some manner. After Speaker showed up we started talking about the threat of rain two days from then and decided to push past Grassy Pond, our initial campsite destination, and stealth somewhere else further down. This would put us further down the trail and if we did more miles the next day we’d could enjoy a shorter day in case it rained two days later.

On our way to the stealth site we ran into our second bear of the trip. This fella was not shy at all and just hung out on the trail blocking our way. We’d inch up, it’d inch up. Finally after playing this game for five minutes or so it dashed off into the scrub.

We found one of the prettiest campsites we’d been in that evening in the midst of a pine forest. We heard another fox that night, this time further off in the distance.

It was a beautiful hike through the last section of ONF, up more sandhills and past white banded pine trees for red cockaded woodpeckers. Didn’t see any RCWs though.

We really were on a roll in this section making better time than expected yet again. As we got closer to Rodman Dam we decided we’d try to make it to Buckman Lock for a late lunch.

Rodman Dam marks the north end of ONF and blocks water from the Ocklawaha River to form Lake Ocklawaha. The cypress snag lined lake would have been a beautiful photographic opportunity in a foggy morning sunrise! Fishermen were crawling over the dam and in the spillway area. We cut back into the forest north of the dam paralleling a road before crossing it and heading for the Cross Florida Greenway.

Once on the greenway, which is a large levee made from the dirt that was dredged to create the paralleling canal, we cruised along easily. I was expecting to see people on it, but it didn’t appear to be used very often. This would have been a great area to stealth camp with access to water down at the canal and camping up on the levee.

About four miles later and nearing 1pm we arrived at Buckman Lock, the lock that allows boats to leave the canal and head for the St. Johns River. Hikers have to cross at particular times when the lock is open or call the FTA and get the gate combination to cross.

We pushed the buzzer which emits a loud buzz from the speakers above the office building and the lock keeper came over to let us through. Speaker was still behind us somewhere and we informed him that he’d be coming up soon.

Now, there is also a campground with port-o-potties on the south side of the lock so if you can’t cross or don’t want to cross, this is a viable option for camping.

Across the lock we found several covered picnic tables with tap water but the restrooms and visitor center were closed. We lingered for almost two hours before deciding to carry on despite feeling lethargic.

Next up we’ll traverse through pine plantations and several conservation areas!

Once we hit U.S. 192 we planned to do another 12 miles, or walk until about 4:30 and see where that got us. We stayed on the grass shoulder on 192 for the most part until we turned onto C.R. 419. Luckily 419 is a quiet two-lane country road that is frequented by mostly locals. Steve told us he’d drive up the road a bit and then walk towards us and then walk back to his car with us. Originally we planned to stealth camp near one of the creeks that was listed as a water source in the book and when we passed by it we realized it might have been tough, do-able but tough. As there was mostly open pasture in this area there would have been little cover to duck in anywhere. I was glad that we were going to be going to Steve’s house for the night.

When we met Steve at Bull Creek he’d said that Chuck Norris’ group was within a day to a day and a half ahead of us. Their group was spread out with some of the hikers maybe five to seven miles ahead and the furthest ones up 20+ miles ahead. When we met Steve that evening we decided we’d just drop by David ‘AWOL’ Miller’s house where they were all staying that night. We’d found out Speaker was with the group as well.

AWOL’s book was one of the first AT non-fiction books I read once we decided to do the AT. I bought it at an REI in D.C. to get a bit of excitement going for the AT. We’d met him in person at the opening of the of the AT Museum last June when we were in PA but didn’t know if he’d even remember us at all. I mean, he’s met lots of hikers over the years and I think we all might run together at some point!

Photo take by AWOL, nabbed from Facebook. We hung out in the rental house that AWOL is renovating for awhile before heading over to his house for pizza and chatting. It was nice to try to get to know a few of the other hikers out there and to get some scoop of Florida Trail knowledge from Chuck Norris.

We decided to stay with Steve since he’d already been kind enough to invite us over so we headed there for our first good shower in a long time. That shower at Avon Park bombing range hadn’t been quite so satisfying since it was cold and we would get to check our email and relax a bit.

The next morning we decided we’d slack the rest of the road walk up 419 and S.R. 520 so Steve made us an egg breakfast and set off for where we left off the night before. On the way we saw two of the hikers from the other group slacking and finishing up their road walk.

It was mostly an un-eventful roadwalk but at one point we did have a scary experience when some idiot decided to pass on the left from behind us as we were walking on the white line!! There was no shoulder at this point only down on the grass which was hard to walk on. Despite not having heavy traffic, when there was someone coming our way we’d ditch off the road until they passed. I didn’t expect someone to actually try to pass on the left! Unfortunately I think this happened at least three more times throughout the rest of the hike. Having done so much road walking I’ve realized how bad people drive and do not pay attention. And how much they text and drive.

We ended up making better time than expected and met Steve at the end of Yates Rd before heading into the Tosohatchee Preserve.

We were pleasantly surprised with some more trail magic from Steve when he gave us oranges and home made chocolate chip cookies! Yum!! We said goodbye thinking we probably wouldn’t see Steve again.

That night at Tiger Branch campsite in Tosohatchee I called my mom like I called her just about every night. I know some people aren’t very into using their phone or calling home while hiking but I enjoyed calling for a minute or two to check on things. We double checked the weather with Chris’ dad because upon leaving that morning from Steve’s house we saw that there were severe thunderstorms expected for the following day. If anyone knows me it’s that I despise hiking in rain. Ok, so a drizzle isn’t bad and a rain that lasts 30 minutes and stops isn’t bad, it’s the all day rain and nasty weather that I can’t handle. Plus, wet boots? Blech.

The night was quiet except that sometime prior to my urge to get up and pee there was a loud animal that ran right by the tent. I suspect it was a pig because it ran heavy and gregariously. So, when the urge to pee came along I was wary about running into said animal, or made up monster in my groggy mind.

It was overcast that morning and we’d decided to get up early in order to make at least 13 miles to a campsite in Seminole Ranch WMA before it started raining. We’d heard that it was supposed to start getting bad after lunch so if we could put some miles in we’d be ok.

Oatmeal….not on my list of edible items anymore. It really stinks too because there are all these ‘gourmet’ oatmeals out there now and I pick them up, turn the boxes over and then crinkle my nose and want to barf thinking about oatmeal.

As we walked through Tosohatchee the sky cleared a bit and though there were clouds our minds were in more ease as we felt like we could make the miles by lunch easily.

There are a few wetlands in Tosohatchee but most of them we were able to avoid. However, one of them made us change our shoes despite our attempt to look for ways of hopping across on logs or patches of dry ground.

At S.R. 50, the road to Christmas we needed to refill our water and saw an RV campground. There we were able to get water and chatted with the receptionists up front about the weather. They let us peak over their computer to check the radar out and saw that it now appeared the bulk was going to hit around 3pm. After downing a Pepsi so kindly given to us by the ladies after we expressed our dismay of their lack of a soda machine, we headed down the trail. A few more miles and we were at a wildlife cleaning station for hunters. The book said for hikers not to stay inside the covered picnic shelter, but it would have made a nice place to stay that’s for sure. We walked down a levee road that lead to another levee road, thankful we were on a roadway as it appeared to be water in a marsh all around us. We had to detour off to the southeast to the designated campsite.

We got to the campsite at about 1pm and set up the tent and got everything ready in case the bottom fell out. Flipping through the book we’d decided that we’d stay in a hotel in Lake Mary since there were no good camping spots in the middle of Orlando. Chris called a hotel and got reservations for two nights hence and we spent the rest of the afternoon waiting for the rain.

We each did some exploring in the hammock to the south of the campsite. A bald eagle cried out from a nest nearby every so often.

After lounging more in the tent, flipping through Persuasion a bit, I pulled out the maps and looked a them. We’d been looking forward to going through Chuluota like the book mentioned but the map showed otherwise. It took us off into a detour back to the east and through the Little-Big Econ State Forest. And added more miles. Grreeeeat.. Chris and I debated for a few minutes before I called Chuck Norris since he’d hiked the trail several times and would know what was accurate. The map turned out to be accurate…drat! No deli sandwiches for us! And instead of having a 20 or 22 mile day it appeared we’d have to do 27 miles to get where we’d planned in order to get to our hotel on time. GAH!!!! Somehow Chris worked it over in his head that we really could do it and so I mentally got myself prepared.

At 3pm the rain still hadn’t come and at 4pm it started spitting a bit but finally, finally at bed time (5:30 or so) the rain finally came. We ended up moving the tent before bed after deciding it was too depressional in the spot we’d set it up and we weren’t sure how much rain was going to fall and the last thing we wanted to be was floating in the middle of the night. I found a talk radio station I’d listened to when we lived in Melbourne, Real Radio and they chronicled the storm as it moved through the Orlando area. Rain, hail, tornado warnings—gah! A leaking tent to boot! The storm came and went and the next morning we woke up to more overcast.

We made our way north to the Orlando Wetlands Park dodging pools of water from the rain the night before. We weren’t sure how wet the park was going to be, I mean it said wetlands, so we were going to be slogging? Turns out we walked along a levee on the north side of the park. Now, at this section there is trail that apparently opened up a few days after we went through, at least that is what we heard. Now the trail will go through other natural lands from the NE corner of Orlando Wetlands Park instead of going through the park and onto Ft. Christmas Rd like we had to walk.

We’d made it to the west side of the wetland park when it started with a hard drizzle resulting in us putting on our rain gear. Grrr! The roadwalk was quiet along a two lane road through mostly country homes and farms. We passed one trailer that had a yard full of junk and a yard full of animals (chickens, goats, cows, sheep) and not an inch of vegetation left. I’m not sure what the animals ate. Slowly the clouds broke and the sun came out.

Since we were hitting a 27 mile day we took shorter breaks more often. We were close to the Seminole county line when a car pulled up and it was Steve. He was checking on us from the night before. When I’d called Chuck Norris the verify the map issue he’d offered to come get us since the storm was coming, but we were too far out to be easily accessed. Since we were hitting lots of miles and were on a time crunch he didn’t walk with us so we said goodbye and thanked him again for his hospitality and the trail magic.

A few more turns on some other roads and we ended up back in the forest. This time we started seeing a few hills and some clear running creeks. Cool!

We stopped for a short lunch at the first campsite we saw and it appeared to be relatively new. I wish we’d taken more photos in this area but since we had tunnel vision for miles that day we didn’t stop nearly as much. Some new trail work had been done, bog boards in some areas, but we found on wet area that was a hundred yards or so in length that was bog board deficient. And the water was cold! We’d met a hiker lounging in the scrub before that who’d warned us of the wet area. He was doing a southbound section but said he was going to get off early because of a bad attitude!

Finally we came to the rails-to-trails trail that joined up where we thought we’d initially be going through at Chuluota. We took that north to the Econlockhatchee River.

It was late afternoon when we arrived at the river and we still had several miles to go.

Our goal was to get as close to Lockwood Blvd at possible, the start of civilization. We followed the winding river through beautiful terrain. I wish I’d known about this area while living in Melbourne because it would be great kayaking and exploring. We walked and walk and started hearing roads and kept thinking we were getting close but weren’t quite there yet. Finally we passed a trail runner and figured that we were getting close. The map labeled a possible campsite, not designated, on the map about a quarter mile from the road. We’d passed it and ended up at the road and had to backtrack, setting up in a sandy area in the oaks.

The next morning we wanted to get our 19 miles in as soon as possible in order to do our resupply and enjoy the hotel room.

We first stopped at the Oveido Sports Complex to use the restroom and refill our water and then stopped by a gas station to get snacks and sodas. Inside the station we got a few weird looks. Now on the AT and in some neighborhoods on the FT I might consider leaving my pack outside, but this was not the neighborhood to do such a thing. Chris left his near the front door but I kept mine on the entire time. We talked to a few guys from the neighborhood about the hike and what we were doing. It seemed that everyone we passed on the city walk thought we were practicing for something or hiking with ski poles. Seriously people?

We started our urban hiking by walking through Round Lake park and entering a subdivision where we found blazes painted on the back of fences. We were walking through at the time kids were heading to school and I felt a little odd walking by kids heading to a bus stop. After crossing a few roads we found our way on the Cross Seminole Trail, a paved bike path. We’d been on a few minutes when we started getting confused as we did not see many blazes. We’d turn around to make sure we didn’t miss one and still worried we’d missed a turn, kept going.

As we were about to cross a road a car stopped and honked. At first I thought the driver was angry at us and then I spotted the Florida Trail Association license plate on the front. Ah, someone who was hiker friendly. Turned out it was Joan a local trail angel and someone familiar with the trail in the area. We chatted with her for a bit and found out we were on the correct trail and that we followed it for a long way until we got out of Orlando. We told her that there should be more blazes, at least every quarter mile, as a reassurance. She told us she wished she had something to give us but had only Kleenex—something I didn’t need at the moment but always seemed to otherwise; my nose runs a lot while hiking. Thanks for stopping Joan!

Crossing an old railroad bridge.

Most of the walk from Oveido to Winter Springs was between home developments, through a sports complex and past a few schools. Then the trail ducks off into an industrial area and at first we thought we’d lost the trail again only to find it went through a construction site where it appeared they were shredding trees and then onto another sidewalk under a powerline. After turning at Soldier Creek park and crossing S.R. 419 we ran into Amanda, one of the hikers we’d met at AWOL’s house. We’d caught up to the end of the group. She was having some foot issues and was taking a break and so we left her to rest and not much later we were following within a few hundred feet of Max. We ended up losing him because the highlight of the day was coming up, Big Tree Park. This was where we’d find The Senator!

The Senator is the oldest pond cypress in the world! It’s gigantic! Nothing I’ve seen in our swamp tromps compares!

The park has a restroom but the sign says not to drink the water. That’s ok because it is only a quarter mile or so to gas stations on Ronald Reagan Blvd.

We hit up 7-11 for a very junky lunch—delicious, but junky! I think it consisted of taquitos and hot dogs, something that I’d normally pass up but instead devoured.

More neighborhood walking continued as we headed north and eventually we ended up on another sidewalk under a power line. The entire time we walked through Orlando I kept looking for stealth spots. There were some, very few, but I suppose it would be possible. Then again, you could get a cop hounding you to move or dealing with neighborhood kids. It just seems dicey.

The walk along the sidewalk dumped us on Reinhart Rd through shopping strips on all corners. Along the way we met a guy in his 20s asking us if we were preparing for the AT and of course we told him we were on the FT and that this was indeed the trail. He continued walking with us as we discussed the financial and gear aspects of hiking the AT. He seemed genuinely interested and hope he gets to hike someday.

Finally we came to the pedestrian bridge over I-4 signaling we were close to our destination for the night.

Once we reached the corner of International Parkway and H.E. Thomas Parkway we spotted the Chuck Norris crew. They were hanging out in the Publix parking lot, eating food and a few were continuing their walk north for another hour or so. It was 3pm and we’d blazed through 19 miles.

We chatted with the group for awhile before walking across the parking lot to the Hampton Inn. I was looking forward to a good bed, doing laundry and getting a shower in. The plethora of restaurants nearby made us even hungrier! The Publix was a great resupply and we had dinner at Moe’s, a burrito place, a decent substitute for real Mexican. Mexican is our go-to food choice when getting into a town but we only had it once the entire trail!

This was definitely a nice hotel to stay at, beating the heck out of the two motels we stayed at later on!

Next up we’ll get back into the woods!

As we left River Ranch I noticed the sky had clouded over a bit. We had a road walk to connect to another road walk, this time we were headed for S.R. 60, listed in the book as being incredibly full of traffic and quite dangerous to walk on because of a narrow shoulder and sloped grass sides. Our go to find-somewhere-at-20-miles-and-stealth wasn’t going to work here. So, we’d looked on the map and decided that we’d go to where it said “information” on the map at one of the lock’s at the Kissimmee River and S.R. 60 and hope it was good enough to pitch our tent.

On our way out we passed where an old section of the Florida Trail ducks back into the woods. The map lists it as closed trail now, and I’m assuming it is closed because of Everglades restoration activities near the river, but I don’t know for sure. There is a small dirt parking lot to an entrance to the Kicco WMA here with a port o potty as well, so if your mileage put you here this would be a good place to camp for the night. But, again, we were headed for 18 at least and didn’t want to stop short since we had to make it to a particular place for a food drop in two days.

When we arrived at S.R. 60 it was clear this was going to be a miserable walk. Luckily we didn’t have to go but maybe a mile or so to the place we thought we’d stealth. When we arrived we found a construction site at the lock but just passed that was a boat ramp and a decent space to set the tent up. The parking lot was full of empty trailers, the boats still out on the river. Eventually the boats slowly returned from their day on the water as we made dinner and set up camp. Our biggest worry was that a cop would come by an question us, but luckily no such thing happened. The only annoying thing was the sound of traffic through the night and some of the light from the construction area seeped into the tent. I had ear plugs, however, and Chris slept without them.

We knew it was supposed to possibly rain the next day, so when a few minutes after waking that morning and it started storming, we weren’t surprised. Lightning, heavy wind and rain kept us inside for awhile but after listening to the radio and hearing it was going to be nasty for most of the morning and we had 24 miles to do, we decided to finally get out of the tent. Now, when it is pouring outside, you do everything you possibly can inside the tent, even eat breakfast if you have to. We are mostly strict about not eating in the tent because of food debris attracting bugs, mice, and bears in certain areas, but who wants to eat in the rain?

Despite the rain there were a few people who waited out the lightning and launched their boats into the water. We found out from one of them that the heaviest stuff had passed and it should clear up as the day went on. This was good news as we headed down S.R. 60 in the rain. I was not looking forward to getting sprayed with water from oncoming traffic.

It would be at least an hour and a half or perhaps two to get down the road and into a natural area again. Traffic was insane down the mostly two lane road with the occasional passing lane. As we walked we noted that there was definitely not a good stealth site in this area and we’d probably hit the best possible location. A few times we had to jump further off the shoulder because of the passing lanes; idiots who waited until the last minute were close to causing wrecks and I didn’t want to be involved in any of that.

Finally we saw a brown sign in the distance and it gave us a glimmer of hope we were almost off the road. As we inched closer (it seems like inching when you walk next to 70mph cars) we were pleased to see the sign said Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area. We turned off the busy road to walk down a dirt road bordered by cattle ranches. Here we found our third otter in as many days scuttling across the road. At the end of the dirt road we saw the official green sign marking the entrance to the WMA. To the west we saw a field of deserted RVs and a sign that said something about the FTA. I sat down and took a break while Chris went to investigate and found no one around.

Next up we followed the eastern fence line boundary into the WMA, which was unfortunately a fluffed up fire lane. Seriously, why does the trail insist on following these things? Difficult to walk on; I hate them! I mean, find the hardest part on the beach to walk and you can simulate walking on these fire lanes. Eventually we left the fire line and headed off into a thicket of palmettos. Thankfully it had stopped raining and was mostly cloudy at this point but it would have been very hot had the sun been out. I could see a mile or so off that we were heading for a hammock to which we finally arrived at.

Once inside the hammock it felt a bit like ‘home’. I mean that in the swamp exploring kind of home way. The cabbage palms and some of the floor of the hammock were covered in moss and there was a very tropical and ancient feel to the place. There were a few mosquitoes, though, one reason to get back into the open air. We reached a campsite in time for lunch and to dry out the tent from the morning. I called my brother and sister in law because they had a doctors appointment that day to find out about their newest pregnancy and I wanted to see if it was twins like we were all joking it would be. It wasn’t, just a single little baby in there, but healthy and that was the best point!

Journeying further north we needed to fill up our water at Foderstack slough, which flows under some culverts at a road crossing. The water was plentiful if a bit tinged with tannin. We followed the road a bit until we ditched off to the west and into an oak hammock that looked like a nice camping spot. Eventually we hit a fence line that we followed for awhile, no fluffy sand this time, and then onto an old raised tram.

In the middle of the WMA is a figure eight style trail system, with the FT heading up the southwest and northeast sides of the eight. We met this junction at a small bridge crossing and what we thought was going to be a log book, but only found worn out pages from old books. We ducked through more cabbage palms and found a pond with an alligator.

Not far from Lake Jackson, less than half a mile, is a campsite with a water pump. As we were coming up to the site we saw a group of five or six people arriving too. They were there for the weekend and had used a dolly to haul some things out to the campsite. We chatted with them for a bit and found out they were from Miami and the local Sierra Club and had been to the spot before. Apparently the water pump worked last year but this time there were no bottles to prime the pump. More chatting revealed some of them had done sections of the AT and we informed them of our thru-hiking status on the FT and of the AT last year. That was one surprising thing on the FT was when we’d tell people our thru-hiking status they’d mention something about the AT, either that they’d done it along time ago, wanted to do it or had done sections of it. It’s quite interesting how many people know about it!

Since we were stealthing again that night we needed to fill up on water and the group informed us that we could get water near the boat ramp at Lake Jackson and that there were some privies there too. WOO! We filled up with water and eyed the clouds to the west that had appeared ominous again. We had about another hour until we settled in for the evening so we minimized time dawdling as best as possible. We passed another group, this time Outward Bound appearing, a couple miles down further, and after eventually passing a fire tower we began hearing traffic on S.R. 523.

We couldn’t find a suitable stealth site in the woods because the palmettos were too thick in this area so we ended up in a parking area on the eastern entrance of the WMA. Chris wasn’t keen on staying there but I’d had it for the day so we decided it was the parking lot and hoped we wouldn’t get run off by a wildlife officer. We ate in a minor hurry as those clouds were still threatening rain, and not long after we got in the tent did we hear a truck slowly pass, stop and then turn around. I poked my head out and sure enough it was a wildlife officer. He asked if we were on the FT and I said yes, he told us we could camp anywhere in the woods, to which I said there wasn’t anywhere flat enough for us to camp (do you wanna sleep on a long palmetto stump?) and he said, ok and have a good night!

The next morning we set the alarm a smidge early since we were meeting Chris on 441 for our food drop. We crossed S.R. 523, also the splitting point for the western loop around Orlando (we were taking the eastern loop), and found that there were at least two sites that were stealth worthy, one by a small pond and and another a short ways passed that near a bench that was oddly placed. It was a nice walk through that section of the WMA and finally we came to the Florida Turnpike. We’d driven down the turnpike many times and thought that it would be nice to explore this area and here we were, walking under the turnpike and in the area we wanted to explore. East of the Turnpike is a nice campsite, maybe two miles east of the highway, that we stopped at for a break. No water, but still nice under the oaks and with a picnic table.

The last stretch to 441 we found some areas with puddled water on the trail, having to jump around that, but for the most part it was good, clear trail. I was expecting 441 to be quite busy in this area so as we suddenly saw a car a quarter mile away I was stunned to think we’d walked up on it so quiet. We were a little early so we didn’t think Chris would be there but I spotted what I thought was his truck pass by to the north. We were close to the fence by the road but had to jaunt north to go over a stile when I saw his truck go south again. Chris and I found a decent spot for him to pull over at a driveway entrance to a cell tower, threw down our packs and set up to have some trail magic from our friend.

We had plenty of time left in the day so a two hour break sounded good to us. Chris brought the items to make hamburgers and grilled for us on the back of his truck while we went through our food box. It’s always sad to fill up our food bags after having it so light and empty on a last day or two and then, your pack is heavy again. *darn* Chris had brought his laptop so we could try our SD card and figure out if the photos were really disappearing or not. They were. Only a few were displaying and the rest were showing up as not even being there! Bummer.

Finally we decided we needed to start our road walk north on 441 and get the rest of our miles out of the way and Chris needed to head home, a good two hours south. Thank you so much for dropping food to us twice, Chris! You were a life saver!

The 2.5-3 mile road walk went quickly and we found the trail went into Forever Florida, a private conservation and outdoor activity center. We wound around a few of the roads there and decided to skip the restaurant that you can go to since we’d had our trail magic burgers already. Then we turned south and it seemed like we weren’t going how the map outlined. I tried to glance at the map once or twice a day and try to memorize the general trend it went so I could anticipate a turn or stop. This just felt different. We walked south for awhile, then east and finally back north. Apparently the trail had been rerouted south instead of following a dirt road to the east like we’d thought. There went at least an extra mile or two to our day! Bummer.

Inside Forever Florida we saw only a few people, some workers driving work trucks and others enjoying the ropes course we walked past. Other than that it was incredibly quiet. I thought it was kinda cool that all the dirt roads through the preserve were named for I’m guessing the family members of the owners since some of the last names were the same as the owners. Eventually we reached the boundary of Forever Florida and Bull Creek WMA. Chris and I remembered we’d been to the very northern edge of this WMA once while geocaching. I vaguely remembered seeing orange blazes and passing a campsite, but it had been at least seven or eight years since we’d been there, when we’d lived in Melbourne.

I was beginning to get end-of-the-day-syndrome, a syndrome where you get tired and think you are closer to camp than you really are. Ever day doesn’t produce this, just the days where you feel like time has slowed down and you should’ve been making better time than you have been. We wound through palmetto thickets and scrub areas and I would pick out a higher elevated area (something that can be difficult to see in Florida for people not used to telling minute differences in elevation in a flat area) in the distance marked by oak or pine trees and think we were getting close to a campsite. Then we would turn away from that supposed campsite and I’d get mad in my head. Oh, I just wanted to be at camp!

Finally we found the Little Scrub campsite, a sandy area with a few pine trees and a picnic table. There was supposed to be a water pump here and Chris rounded a corner and found it.

We threw our packs down on the table and Chris went to see if he could get the pump to work. He was feverishly pumping away when all of a sudden he yells at me to bring the 4 liter platypus we have for carrying a larger amount of water in the evenings and I scramble to find it in his pack. At this point water is barely coming out of the pump, but it is enough to fill up the platypus. Chris’ arms are getting tired so he has me switch over but my arm muscles aren’t nearly as strong as his so I don’t last very long. Somehow we manage to fill up the container.

As I sat back down on the picnic table I noticed that a lot of brilliantly red birds are flying around. I mention it to Chris and when I see more I point them out. I was thinking that they’d be some cool migratory bird but turns out they were just robins. Robins are a dingy looking red normally but when the late evening sun is bouncing off them they are a brilliant red that makes them appear more exotic. Little groups fluttered through for awhile until the sun started setting more.

It got very cold that night and we should have zipped our sleeping bags together, but instead we shivered alone in our separate bags. We woke the next morning to frost on the fly and much of the water in the platypus, since we’d left it on the table, frozen. It was a difficult time getting the poles undone that morning and we had to warm them up with our hands to get them out. I brought my gloves on this trip because I knew there might be times like this and I am a wimp with cold. A few times Chris had to borrow them for instances such as this because a few moments out in the cold would stiffen his hands.

Despite the cold it was a clear, crisp morning. The night before we’d made a phone call to Steve, the guy who’d told us that going east on the Okeechobee levee was going to be a no-go and he’d invited us to call him when we got in the Titusville area and he’d pick us up and let us shower and do laundry at his home. We’d told him where we were and that we thought it might be at least two or three more days until we got to Christmas, FL where it was closest to Titusville. Steve mentioned that he might be able to meet us out at Bull Creek near the U.S. 192 the next afternoon but we really didn’t think that would happen.

We left the scrub area in Bull Creek and walked along an old logging tram through some cypress and swamp areas. It was really pretty beautiful in there; no alligators were seen. We met a grandfather and grandson out squirrel hunting but that was the only people we saw while out in Bull Creek. A few more miles and we ended up at the Jane Creek campsite where we saw a man waiting around at the picnic table. I had a feeling it was probably Steve and as we got closer we said hi and found out that it was indeed him.

We sat down and chatted and decided to have an early lunch even though we’d planned to get to the road about another mile further up. It was there that Steve offered to slack pack us on some of the road walk. I’d thrown this idea out to Chris the night before when it was a possibility that Steve might come out to meet us. We hadn’t slack packed a single mile on the AT, well, I guess you could call lightening our load for the climb up Katahdin a bit of a slack, but we’d carried our packs the whole way. After doing some of the other road walks and anticipating a 24 mile road walk (what the book said, the maps were more like 36 miles) I thought that carrying less would be better.

At the road we switched out our packs for Steve’s small backpack and threw some water and snacks in there and off we went down U.S. 192!

This entry will be less heavy on photos as this is where our SD card went on the fritz. Instead I will try to paint a majestic picture with my words. Or not. I’ll let you decide.

After leaving our stealth site at John Stretch Park we ascended the Lake Okeechobee dike. We’d originally planned to go around the east side of the lake even though it is a few miles longer, mostly because it had an extra city or two for food. Yeah, we plan for food. But when Shamrock Steve told us about the dike being closed on that side we altered our plans and went west.

This area of the dike is paved for bikes and we did see a few biking and a couple others walking. We were excited to be only about 9 miles from Clewiston and planned to stop in for lunch.

We arrived a bit early so we sat at the Mexican restaurant, I think Sunrise was the name, for about twenty minutes before it opened. I’m disappointed to say that I think this was our only Mexican food stop the entire time. That’s usually our first restaurant choice in a town, but we just didn’t get that this time. The trail comes off into the town a bit here to go around a lock structure and then back up onto the dike.

Once back up on the dike we started going back into a wilder scene and for the most part it was a nice jaunt along the lake. The lake becomes more marsh and cypress swamp on the edges, but there is still the deep channel for boats that parallels the dike at this point. We saw a very nice yacht-ish boat and thought of our friend Snack Attack and his drawing in Connecticut and it being a fancy place. We decided Lake Okeechobee is a fancy place. (which it’s not. At all.) We stopped for a quick break at one of the water control structures and talked to one of the people working it. He’d told us of a few people who’d come by so we could gauge who might be ahead of us.

We were also excited about being able to stop at Uncle Joe’s Fish Camp for an afternoon soda break. Some other snacks can be bought here and if you wanted I think you can tent or rent a little cabin here.

We continued on our merry way.

Not too many alligators were seen but when we did there were a few larger ones!

Every few miles or so there are some nice covered benches to rest along; we stopped at this one for a few minutes but it was too early to stop yet.

A few miles later we found another one that was more appropriate for camping at and set up for the night. No trees to bear bag here, and mostly we’d be concerned about mice and raccoons, so we hung it on the covered area and hoped for the best. At least if anything we were going into Moore Haven the next morning to resupply.

Sunrise the following morning.

I think this was listed as a designated campsite, but really, you can camp just about anywhere down at the base as long as it is flat.

In Moore Haven we are forced to get off the dike and roadwalk up and over the bridge across the Caloosahatchee River. For some reason we cannot go through the lock. But, at least we get to go into town and so we were able to eat Burger King for breakfast and run into the grocery store to pick up a few snacks to get us to Okeechobee for our resupply. On our way out of town and back to the trail we ran across and RV park on the west side of the lock. Apparently anyone can have a $5 brunch on Sundays. Dang it! Or was it Saturday? I dunno, it was the weekend and there was brunch and we missed it!

The woman manning the RV booth told us there was a couple biking around the lake just ahead of us and we saw them in the distance for several miles until they just faded away.

We thought we were in for a roadwalk when the trail left the levee but we were glad to see that a sidewalk helped us get around Fisheating Creek. For dinner we stopped at a gas station on the north side of Lakeport near the Harney Pond canal and got sandwiches from the deli which we carried out for dinner. Good place to stop and grab snacks if needed!

Another night along the lake. We were not too far from 78 at this point, it was just across the canal and so traffic could be heard. It was also a hunting weekend and we heard many gunshots from the airboats on the other side of the levee.

And now we leave our last photos for awhile.

The next morning Chris was having some problems with his ankle and foot so despite our 3pm deadline to get to the Okeetantie recreation area to meet a trail angel for resupply, we had to take a few breaks to rest the foot. Along the way we stopped at another covered bench to meet a volunteer working for the Corps of Engineers who was refurbishing the bench. We had lunch at the lock at Buckhead Ridge where we chatted with the lock lady for a good while. She didn’t really know about the Florida Trail running through here so we talked about it for awhile and general chit-chat about the area.

Luckily we weren’t terribly far from the Okeetantie rec area so we were there early. We had to narrowly walk across a bridge over the Kissimmee River to get to Okeetantie. Originally we thought we might eat at the restaurant there, but we were starting to get stinky. We’d downed some sodas and were sitting on the covered porch of the general store when our ride came.

Turns out we’d met her at the FTA gathering at Oasis the week before so it was cool to see her again. It was nice of her to drive out from where she lived, towards the beach on the Atlantic side, to drive us a few miles into Okeechobee for a resupply. We tried to be quick in the Publix and I’m fairly certain we came out with too much food, but we were going quite a ways with our resupply, six days or so because there were no easy resupply options in the next bit. Our trail angel let us out back at Okeetantie and told us to be careful stealthing on the Kissimmee River levee area as it was heavily visited by local fisherman driving up and down the dirt road.

We’d packed out food for dinner so we ate that at the rec area and then walked a half mile or so up the Kissimmee River and pitched our tent just around the bend and out of sight of the main traffic. No problems overnight.

The next morning dawned cloudy and we knew there was potential for rain that day. I think we set the alarm a little early to get some miles in before the rain. We followed the dike north, careful to take the left when the dike split, passing a group of fishermen at the splitting point. After a short break we ended up on our second road walk, north on NW 128th Avenue past S.R. 70 to N.W. 56th Avenue. This is a very quiet road walk along mostly ranches and homes on a couple of acres. No high speed traffic, but our feet had started getting to us on the constant pounding of the levees around the lake and river. For lunch we made it to a park at the end of 56th Ave where the Kissimmee River is in a more natural state. We’d just gotten our lunch out when the rain started. Dang it!!! Somehow we’d covered 15 miles by lunch, mostly because we were trying to avoid the rain and had limited stops, but here we were trying to eat and it started raining. I threw my rain jacket on and tried to find the fullest live oak as possible to sit under. Thankfully it didn’t start a heavy downpour and we were able to eat our lunch and mostly relax. A group of, well, I’ll just call it like they were, rednecks, came by with their pontoon boat to set out on the river. They were a crew of a couple of men in the 20s or 30s with I guess wives or girlfriends and at least two young boys and they did not play very women pleasing music. In fact I was disgusted by what they were playing in the vicinity of their children. Ick. Their music continued drifting through as they motored down the river and finally they were gone. *phew*.

We had about six miles to go to get to camp and we were excited to be going through a few natural areas on actual trail, something we hadn’t seen since Big Cypress. Finally we ditched another dirt road and emerged into a pine area that hadn’t seen much visitation and eventually to Yates Marsh. We saw evidence of recent camping as an another had been matted down in the shape of a tent. This area was really nice, walking through oak hammocks and we passed a designated campsite. It was cloudy that day and I got seriously confused on which direction we were going, but eventually we came out to another road which we had to take north to get back onto the trail again. At the next stile we had to go over we found an unopened bottle of Dr. Pepper. Sweet! Trail magic?? Didn’t matter, Chris took it and drank most of it and shared a bit with me in another oak hammock up the way. We passed another designated campsite but we were trying to get as close to the blue blaze around Chandler Slough as possible.

I’d heard about Chandler Slough the previous year when a hiker died in the slough. We later found out it was Chuck Norris’ crew that found him last year. Apparently there was not a stile over the barbed wire fence to U.S. 98 yet and it appeared this guy had been extremely tired and cold and well, the real facts are just probably not known, but he died. The trail angel who’d picked us up had told us they were closing that section temporarily because of the water and the amount of mud that was in there. So, after crossing a cattle field we came to the blue blaze cutoff and tented there under an oak tree. I guess our big question was why was this section of trail even open if it wasn’t deemed complete? Especially last year with no real way to get over very tight barbed wire?

About a mile or so before the campsite it started spitting rain again. It was only 3pm when we got to the split so we had time to lounge under the tent while it started raining a bit. There was a group of teenage boys with a rifle and dogs. We weren’t sure if they were just scouting or out for hunting but they passed by. Other than that our only company that night was a skunk that ran from the cattle field to a patch of saw palmettos. We had a nice video and photo of it, but alas, that was eaten by the SD card. It was the first skunk I’d ever seen that wasn’t squished on the side of the road.

We did the short road walk around the deep water section and then down a bit of U.S. 98 to pick up real trail again in an oak hammock area of Chandler Slough. This was a really pretty section, some dry cypress area, cattle pastures and oak hammocks. We thought we had to get back on the road but the trail ends up paralleling the road for a good ways. It was pretty difficult to walk on, though, with tall, knobby grass mounds. This could definitely handle some maintenance. A jump back to the road is needed to cross the Kissimmee River again (not our last time either!), and then back into the woods for a mile or so north of the 98. Right at the trail head there is a house or now I can’t remember what it was, but there is a water pump complete with jugs to prime the pump to get some ground water. We stocked up since we really did have a road walk later in the day. This was a very pretty section and we were hoping that it kept going and for some reason we wouldn’t have to get on the road, but alas, we did. Seven miles down the road we went.

Luckily 98 isn’t terribly busy but there is a lot of truck traffic from the orange groves and farms around the area and so we were forced to stay on the grass medians instead. It felt strange taking lunch on the side of the road. As cars whizzed by at 60 miles an hour, we were eating our tuna/pepperoni on tortillas.

Then, finally, we’d made it to Hickory Hammock! I remember our first time in this area was to get a geocache at Bluff Hammock to the north of Hickory Hammock. We were actually camping at Highlands Hammock State Park sometime after we’d moved to Miami, I think it was for Thanksgiving one year. Such a very neat area to visit.

A new parking lot, ‘backcountry’ camping spot, bathrooms and boat ramps have recently been built on 98 so we followed the trail in from that direction. Chris filled our water up from the boat ramp area and after a little snack we went on our merry way through the hammock. One of the best things about this section is that abundance of citrus trees. In winter you can pick as many sour oranges, tangerines, grapefruit and the occasional lemon for a treat!

I would like to know, if someone ‘in the know’ is reading this, why on earth have they massacred the saw palmettos in this section? There were giant sections of these ancient plants just chewed up. It was very disturbing considering this is a natural area. It’s not like a burn where they come back, these look like they were intentionally killed. We were none to pleased to see this.

(ohh, a photo that made it!) At the Hickory Hammock campsite we stopped in for a second to read one of the few trail logs on the FT. There we saw that Love it or Leave it wasn’t that far ahead, maybe a day or two and then, we found Speaker! The little sneak had just appeared. He has a habit or not signing logs so that is why we didn’t see him down south in the other logs. Well, at least we knew he was on the trail, but we weren’t sure of ever catching him.

A couple more miles were to be had to get to the bigger campground that allows RVs, has two privies and a water pump where we were going to stay for the night. We were trying to get as close as possible to the southern border of theAvon Park Bombing Range as it just so happened that we had to be through the entire area of the range by 7pm the following night. We weren’t keen on a very short day the next day so we were going to try a longer day to get through it.

Quiet prevailed at the campsite, thankfully, and though we tried to tell the host RV that we were there we couldn’t find them. Only one or two other RVs were there so we just pitched the tent next to the picnic pavilion and settled in the for the night. I remember it was a full moon and when it rose later that evening it shone through brightly in our tent. We woke the next morning to some light sprinkles and while eating breakfast under the pavilion it let loose sending us scrambling to drag the tent under the covering so it wouldn’t get wet. It was just early enough that Chris’ mom or dad might not be up, the people we often called to get a weather report. We knew his mom might be up earlier than his dad so we tried her. After she looked the weather up she said that it was going to clear within the hour and there wasn’t any other worries for the day. Thank goodness!

The trail continues north through the oak hammocks and eventually follows the fence line of a private property to the west and to the east begin marshes that lead to the Kissimmee River. Along this section are a lot of wading and migratory birds to which we saw eagles, hawks and sandhill cranes. Then we come to a high bridge that goes over a side tributary of the river and then a section of boardwalks that lead to Bluff Hammock. We encountered a few fisherman here.

Once we were north of the Bluff Hammock trailhead the maintenance conditions deteriorated. Thick over grown brush, some wet areas in need of a bog board or two and then a seriously overgrown Mosquito Hammock campsite. After our break at the campsite we headed north to another boardwalk, which could also use repair, and here we saw our first otter of the trail! Exciting! It was leisurely sunning itself on the boardwalk and even stayed for awhile as we inched closer. I am sad that the photos and video did not work because I am pretty sure the photos would have been awesome.

The trail then goes in and out of some wet areas as it follows an oak hammock north. Lots of overgrown brush on many of the small boardwalks. Whoever maintains this section needs to get out there and do it. I remember it being semi-overgrown last year when we were there, but this was bordering ridiculous.

In the sand we saw LOL and the date of the day before written in the sand. Love it or Leave it had just been there. Sweet! Finally off to the west I saw the long row of eucalyptus trees that I knew signified the boundary of the bombing range. Soon enough we saw the tall fencing and stile to get into the range. There is an information board and a usually forms to fill out, but we used the same piece of note paper that LOL had written on to write our names down since the official papers were empty. For the most part in this section we walked under the oak hammocks and out of the sun, but one section brings out around a hammock and I think a small wetland and into the sun.

For lunch we stopped at an area of citrus trees we’d remembered from the last time. Chris managed to find, oh, at least a dozen or more oranges and squeezed the juice into his Gatorade bottle. Fresh squeezed o.j. on the trail? Yep! Finally it was time to move on and once we passed the campsite we’d had lunch at the previous year, everything was new territory to us. We were looking forward to the Fort Kissimmee campground as the book stated there was a privy and solar shower! It was pushing on well over a week at this point and we’d started sweating heavily in recent days so things were getting smelly. Well, we found a campsite and were disappointed to find neither privy nor solar shower.

As we kept walking down the dirt road we discovered that this was a much larger campground that thought, so our hopes were not dashed yet. And then, finally, we saw it! A port-o-potty and then—what?? There it was, the solar shower! Separated into men and womens sections in a concrete structure, the solar shower provided showers for the hunters on the weekend. Not a soul was in sight so Chris went in and tested the shower. Cool, but refreshing!

It was nice to rinse the dirt off and try to rinse our socks and shirts of dirt and salt. A well tap also provides fresh water to refill on here. The dirt road continued north through more campsites and then passed an old cemetery. Eventually we got back onto trail again and a few points it got a little confusing to following as some sections were over grown and blazing wasn’t clear. We found the north exit only to see the stile in pieces on the north side of the barbed wire. Gah!!! We looked at each other for a minute and then I spotted a metal gate about 500′ east so we followed the newly tilled fire buffer (sand. ick.) slowly to the gate, jumped the gate and walked back. A minor annoyance, but still frustrating. We walked to where another designated campsite was listed about a quarter mile north of the boundary to be a safe distance from the range.

There were loose cattle in the area so we shooed them and set up camp. In the night we ‘enjoyed’ listening to a family of squirrels shrieking through the night and cattle running by the tent.

The next morning we meandered through the Kicco Wildlife Management Area (Kiss-o). This was a similar terrain as we’d been walking through, oak hammocks, pine trees, some scrub areas. Very peaceful and seemingly remote out here.

At Tick Island Slough we saw our second otter swimming carefree in the water remaining near the bridge. Again, another video and photo was had, but that didn’t transfer.

A very nice bridge has been built over this slough, thankfully, so no one had to get wet. We really enjoyed this section as it follows the outer borders of hammocks and eventually we ended up at the old Kissimmee ghost town along the river. We’d just sat down for a small privy and snack break when another hiker comes out of the trees. It was a section hiker who was in the military and was out for a few weeks before having to go back to work. We chatted with him for awhile about hikers he’d seen and told us he thought that LOL had gotten off in Avon Park, or so was told to him by a trail angel. Our section hiker friend was taking a zero in the woods that day due to his feet hurting him a bit so we bid him goodbye as we left the camping area.

We walked in the woods again for awhile until we followed a road east to a road that parallels the river. Now we were in open, blazing sun and it started getting quite hot. A stop for water was mostly futile as pumping was difficult and the intake valve kept wanting to get mud and silt in it. Chris got enough to get him to River Ranch and I had enough water but was in saving mode since it was so hot. The trail followed the road back in towards hammocks again but at one point we got very confused at some old blazing and ended up inside a cattle fence and then on the wrong side of the fence when we saw more blazes. Luckily we saw a South Florida Water Management District employee working on his truck and he informed us of where we needed to go. Once back and following the blazes we were on yet another dirt road until it ditched the road and threw us in an open, scrubby palmetto thicket. Ugh.

Hot palmetto thickets aren’t fun. They are hot.

We were making good time and were planning on hitting up River Ranch for a late lunch but we needed a food break anyway. Chris and I argued about time, he was peeved we’d turned a 15 minute break into 30 minutes, but I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. Then he jokingly said that he thought there should be ice cream at Ice Cream Slough which wasn’t terribly far from our break point. We crossed a bridge over Ice Cream Slough and found only murky water and no cookies and cream or rocky road.

Again, we were really enjoying this section of trail in the hammocks and finally we made it to the front entrance of the WMA where there was a port-o-potty and a wildlife check station. The inside of the privy was miserably hot and I made an effort to hurry and upon exit I saw that Chris had been talking to a wildlife officer who was kind enough to give us each a bottle of very cold water! Mmmmmmm! He then provided a copy of his menu for the general store restaurant at River Ranch to which we were happy to see a good selection.

Leaving the check station we followed another dirt road north to River Ranch. Now, River Ranch is this very strange retirement/vacation resort place in the middle of nowhere. It’s very strange. But, there was food so we didn’t care. We found the general store and was delighted to see so many things to eat, a deli, sodas, and a nice set of sofas to relax on while watching some tv. We ordered sandwiches and sat inside for several hours cooling off and relaxing. You could resupply here, or at least supplement your food supply if needed, but I am fairly certain that you could do a mail drop here.

Finally we decided we needed to leave as we had four miles to go to our stopping point for the day.

But that adventure will have to wait until next time!

So, the Florida Trail….before we started we spent four days in crowded civilization called South Florida. Having exited the state of Florida a year ago to hike the AT it was going to be fun to see some old sights and see friends. Our first stop was to Bass Pro Shop to purchase backpacker meals, fuel and some other essentials as well as to eat at the really yummy Islamorada Fish House for lunch.

After lunch we drove an hour south to see our friend Christine who was leisurely working that afternoon. We chatted for a good while about all sorts of things from hiking to local geocaching gossip before we left to try to see Marc and Eliana. We dropped by their place but only heard the cacophony of dogs from behind the door and left a note. It was sad that we did not get to see these two but our schedules just did not mesh this time around.

Finally, before heading back to Fort Lauderdale, we stopped by our old Publix in Miami to get our food to start the trip. Ah, I forgot how expensive Publix is—-but I love that store! Randy and Kathy were kind enough to host us during our stay, letting us take over their living room with our proposed boxes from our friend Chris (FootTRAX in the geocaching world) and feeding us delicious food and taking us to meet their friends. You should really check our Randy’s website as he has some awesome food to cook and Kathy has some nice photography, too!

Chris had to get a swamp walk in at Fakahatchee Strand.

Alba clamshell orchids were on the sightseeing agenda.

Finally it was the day we set off for the trail, January 8th. We knew that at least Chuck Norris and crew were ahead of us by a week and that Love it or Leave It was somewhere in a closer range than the other crew. Our friend Speaker, well, we didn’t know if he was ahead or behind us at all. We wouldn’t know that for a few hundred miles.

Loop Road has seriously degraded since I was last on it. The Park Service blames the hurricanes several years ago but that’s a farce. I was on that road after the hurricanes and the damage was not that great from it. Sure, maybe a little, but the real reason is the constant flooding every summer from holding too much water in the north and letting it go and eventually it runs over the road and causes massive potholes. Alas, the road looks like crap and unfortunately we’d taken Kathy’s small car down the road and it does not have much clearance. Needless to say it was slow going.

But, finally we arrived at the southern terminus of the Florida Trail. I can’t imagine ending here. At least at Fort Pickens it is an easier ride out; here you might have to have the mosquitoes carry you home. Or a panther.

The first orange blazes and a fairly dry appearing trail…

We’d done this section before and it was bone dry, but we knew we’d encounter some water in Roberts Lake Strand.

This is a very quiet section. You will most likely encounter people on the northern half of the 8 miles as they come from the Oasis Visitor Center, but if you want to be remote, this is a great section to be remote in.

Chris in Roberts Lake Strand

Through Big Cypress there are mile posts so you can get a fairly decent idea of where you are. When you are coming out of Roberts Lake Strand the mile posts are vastly off and I remembered it being off from the last time. We met a park ranger who’d been leading a group of day hikers to the strand for the day as we came out, everyone sloshing through the mud.

We were excited to see this as we came out at Tamiami Trail—-potential food! Alas, it was our first night out and our hiker hunger had not set in, but it would be nice to talk to some FTA folks and eat some food other than trail food.

Luckily there is a water hose at Oasis that they let everyone use to wash their shoes off, so we sat on the picnic table for awhile and cleaned everything off, putting our boots and fresh socks on. Two FTA volunteers came over to ask if we were thru-hiking to which we affirmed and they invited us to camp inside the gated area with the whole group for the night. It was their first night to start a week of trail maintenance in the area.

The following morning after breakfast we said goodbye to the last bit of civilization for the next two days. It is about 28 miles to I-75 from there and we were planning on going to 13 mile camp that evening, which is 13 miles from I-75. We were concerned about more mud and water but were pleasantly surprised to see that the trail was mostly dry. We walked through pine forests mixed with cabbage palms and some open prairie type scrub areas. The last time we’d walked through here there was no water, not even in the cypress domes. Such an extreme type situation this area can have—tons of water or none at all. This time it appeared it was just the right amount as we found some in the domes but none covering the trail—-at least in this section!

We actually found this section to be in great maintenance and were curious why they were even doing this section. Well, this dry section to 13 mile camp. The maintenance the following day was a bit worse, blaze wise.

Lunch at 10 mile camp was leisurely as someones fire from the night before was left smoldering. At 7 mile camp we’d just passed the site where the campfire was still burning and a few hundred yards down the trail we met the folks who were leaving their camp for a day hike and were miffed they’d left their fire burning. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR FIRES BURNING!!! Gahhhhhh!

It was getting a bit warm in the afternoon, hotter than I was expecting and suddenly I was spooked by this large eastern diamondback rattlesnake! Ahhh! This is only the second one I’ve seen and it was even larger than the first one I’d seen in another area of Big Cypress. It rattled and battled for a bit but we moved around and let it simmer down in the sun again.

Another orchid. We were getting closer to camp when we pulled into a cypress dome to fill up on water. We had brought a filter and Aqua Mira this time around but we needed a pump for the water in the dome. While a lot of the water in Florida can be clear, even in cypress domes, it is usually tannin stained. Not dirty, just looks a bit like tea. Sometimes it can be silty which is why we brought the filter, plus we knew we’d be filtering out of canals, too.

There are some pumps at a few of these sites, but they do not work. We were quite disappointed by this our first go-round out here!

Taking socks off to dry is a must when I get to camp!

We set up and made dinner. The log book here is in rotten shape.

Chris had gotten in the tent and I was wrapping up my bedtime routine when I heard some very loud noises from the cabbage palms to the north of the campsite. We got nervous it might be a bear trying to rip open a cabbage palm to get the heart, but finally after closer inspection we found a very raucous vulture making the racket. Gah!

The next morning we knew we were probably in for mud and water but we weren’t sure at what point. Chuck Norris and his crew had reported on this nastiness and we anticipated it. The first three miles were good and then it got to the point that avoiding water by going around puddles and side stepping bushes was not going to work. Goodbye boots, hello water shoes. Right where we put on our shoes we found a pair of Rayban sunglasses….ahhh, perfect! We kept these until Orlando when we met the rest of the hikers and turned out it was one of theirs!

The water was cool but not too cold to walk in and ranged from ankle to calf deep for the most part. We sloshed around in the mud, walked by a cottonmouth that was patiently blending in on top of a cypress stump. We poked in at the Oak Hill campsite before going into a deeper slough on the northwest side of the hammock. Again, this was bone dry when we walked the last time. It was probably as deep as just above my knee and didn’t last but a few hundred yards. I kept an eye out for alligators as we walked around the deeper section that contains the alligator flag (a plant, associated with deeper water).

The trail returned to mud and shallower water when we encountered two guys resting on the side of the trail. If you aren’t used to slogging through mud or know what this section can hold, it can really tire you out. We kept going knowing that another campsite was ahead, stopped in the wrong hammock (potential campsite on the map) for a quick break and then stopped at the real campsite to rest a bit. The trail started drying out as we got further north and returned to more of a pine trail. Eventually the trail dried up well and we entered a forested part of the trail and noticed sap running from a pine tree. It appeared to be evidence of red cockaded woodpeckers but we didn’t find a hole or the bird itself, but we wondered if there were colonies in the area.

At about two miles out you can see the cell tower on I-75 signifying the rest stop. We stopped here to clean up from the last 8 miles of mud, drank a few sodas and ate some candy and got a few weird glances and a few people we knew what we were doing. We didn’t hang out too long because we needed to walk about mile north to get back into the woods.

We made camp in a flat area on the side of Nobles Grade. We’d done the blue blaze around this orange blazed route a few years ago. It’s a nice section on that blue blaze! The trail follows Nobles Grade, an old road, along a canal for a few miles before turning into another grassed road that leads into the Big Cypress Reservation. We’d gone down to a pond to get water when we heard an ATV pass by during our morning break but other than that we saw no one on the trail.

Once through the forested area we began our first true road walk on the trail on West Boundary Road. At this point it is just a hard packed road of limestone and passes a property that I got to know very well during my job in Florida. Soon after passing this property I saw a white truck coming our direction and I knew it looked like a Miccosukee wildlife officer truck. They passed by and I gave a wave, but due to the tint on the truck I couldn’t tell who drove. Not much later they turned around and rolled down the windows and it was two officers I knew from my job! It was nice to chat with them for a bit, see how they were doing and what was going on at the Tribe. Not too much after though we saw someone else walking our way. A thru-hiker???

Sure enough, it was Plugger who’d started the first of November at Fort Pickens. He told us he’d gone 900 miles without seeing another hiker, well, except one or two day hikers in Ocala National Forest, but he seemed like it’d been a quiet trail. He was relishing the thought of finishing up in a few days but we warned him of the upcoming mud and water. It was exciting to see someone else out there on the trail!

It was noon when we arrived at Billie Swamp Safari for lunch. We’d done 13 miles and had been very excited to accomplish so many miles before lunch. We’d blow that out of the water by the end of the trail. I’d eaten at BSS once before and so we walked into the very bustling place full of workers on the reservation, tribal members and tourists all eating lunch. The fare is standard greasy and fried fare but has other options like Indian tacos. You can even go for a swamp buggy or airboat ride from here. Oh, it should also be noted that we saw showers in the restrooms, so if you are hiking and are in need of a shower you can stop in here. We were going to stay at the chickee huts that you can rent but opted to continue on to the RV park on Snake Road and have a longer day instead.

Eventually the dirt road becomes paved and as we walked someone was riding their bike up and down the road and passed us several times. I felt slow. The sun started coming out and it got quite hot and we were glad to reach Snake Road and see a small restaurant open .1 off the trail. I ordered as smoothie and Chris grabbed soda. It was a nice perspective to be watching the traffic go by on Snake Road rather than how I normally viewed it, as a passenger or driver on it. The RV park is right on the trail at the junction of the two roads and since it was so hot we were very happy to hear it had a pool. Plugger had stayed there the night before and gave us a two thumbs up. The ladies who checked us in were very nice and gave us a chickee all to ourselves in the back. The RV park is obviously full of RVs but it was nice and really quiet.

We set up the tent and then took showers. Chris jumped in the pool before his shower; laundry was done. We had dinner under the chickee and dashed in the tent before the mosquitoes got bad. The tv in the common room was on so we got to check the weather and were delighted to see a cold front coming through. We weren’t interested in walking on the roads and levees in the blazing sun. Some colder air would be nice!

The next morning we got up and packed up quickly to make it to the common room so we could meet our Chris/FootTRAX who was bringing our first food drop to us. Turns out we could have mailed a drop to the RV resort had we known this was a possibility. It worked out though and Chris brought our resupply before he headed off to canoe at Fisheating Creek for the day.

The start of the roadwalk was ok as there was a decent ATV path alongside but eventually that ran out. Snake Road is quite busy with trucks in this section from the local farms and ranches so we made an effort to try to walk along the side of the road as there was no shoulder. The wind was howling from the north but the sky was clear and bright. Finally we turned off the main road and to the east along another road heading for the water conservation areas. We were able to walk along a levee to the south of the road, though a bit sandy, to avoid the road traffic. For lunch we found a shady area of Australian pines to sit by.

This is where we’d gotten our green bean trail magic! Mmmmm!

We continued down another road that turned to dirt and eventually it led to a construction area in the vicinity of the Holeyland and Rotenberger Wildlife Management Areas. Lots of Everglades Restoration here. A small gate house keeps traffic out but the woman manning the booth waved us through. Then we made our turn north on the levee. We had no idea how far we were going to go for the day or wouldn’t know exactly where we were so we had to estimate based on a 3mph pace. We passed a few water control structures before dropping down to a road that paralleled the levee. We were surprised to see houses out here! Normally we viewed this entire area from U.S. 27 and it consists of sugar cane fields for the most part, so here we were tucked several miles from 27 and a couple of houses were there. We eventually saw a tent and two packs set up at 3pm. We couldn’t figure out if they were other through hikers or what, but didn’t bother going up to the tent and asking and never did find out who they were.

We made camp for the night in a flat spot on the west side of the levee away from sight of the road. We ate our green beans but got in the tent pretty early as the wind was cold.

A sugar cane field burning at sunset. The levee and the road we walked on.

The next morning it was pretty dad-gum cold! The wind was blowing steadily from the north and we decided to drop down on the road again to see if the wind would be blocked at all from the levee. We had to watch for the numerous sugarcane trucks that were breezing down the road, but eventually we crossed another road and the levee became just a levee. It’s a little silly here because the trail follows the levee north, then east and then back south to the same road not that much further from where we’d passed it, but the book warns that using the road as a cut off is dangerous because of the lack of shoulder and high speed traffic. We took lunch at this road junction after just passing another sugar cane burn. It’s quite interesting to watch how efficient they are at burning, only burning particular blocks at a time. Birds circle looking for charred mice or other nibbles for lunch.

My hips started hurting pretty badly in this section, bad enough to wonder if I could keep going. We had to continue along some more levees going east and a few times we had to lift up and over some gates or rocks and I could barely lift them up without it hurting pretty bad. We took several breaks to help the soreness.

Finally we reached Lake Okeechobee at John Stretch Park. We had to dash across U.S. 27 on the divided highway, but made it safely. We weren’t quite sure where we were going to camp but we knew that tap water and a bathroom could be had at the park. It was our longest day thus far, 21 miles.

We made dinner on the picnic table by the bathroom as passerby’s came to use the restroom or a few people walked up to the levee to see the lake. No one asked what we were doing, I’m guessing they probably thought we were just homeless or just weird. It is a strange area in this area by the lake, full of immigrant workers, so we could have been up to anything. That night we chose to sleep behind a gated area near the water control structure. No one bothered us.

Next up we’ll head around the Lake and through the Kissimmee River region.

We are home in Texas.

We finished the Florida trail on Thursday around lunch time. It was very anti-climactic. There was no wooden sign, no three hour-4K foot climb, just the last blaze painted on a piece of wood and a three sided display board about the Florida Trail. Nothing to say we were done. We stood at the edge of the parking lot looking for a stray blaze, seeing if perhaps it would take us to the top of the Fort or maybe the water, but when I looked at the little paper on the board that outlined the mileage for the section it stated that mile 0.0 was on the eastern edge of the parking lot. Yipppiee. Something more interesting should be there. A northern/western terminus sign or congratulations or I dunno! Something!

The trail leading up to it was nice. We had about 30 miles of beach or nearby beach to look at for the last two days. We even walked along the beach for several miles on the final day, walking past thousands of pearlescent blue bodies of Portuguese Man o’ War and finding a small, dead, juvenile green sea turtle. And some tar balls here and there from the oil spill. BP and it’s clean up crew are still active on the beaches here with complete crews in some of the parking lots. The area appears mostly clean except for the tar balls but I am sure the turtle stranding will be of note, especially since we did not see any obvious sign of trauma on the outside. We did also see a large drum (fish) washed up.

As for the Florida Trail, it is certainly not a the AT. I didn’t expect it to be in the sense of scenery or hills and mountains, but I did expect more from much of the trail maintenance and well, I was really disappointed to find out about how much road walking we really did have. On the AT we ran into many people who gave disparaging comments on the FT in regards to the road walks and we would defend it and say there wasn’t that much. But, really….there is. A lot.

We do plan on writing a letter to the FTA with some of our comments and critiques, particularly on road walks, some areas with poor maintenance, areas with crappy blazing (sometimes you will find these double blazed poles and then someone puts arrows in addition to the blazing and will, there is no need for arrows if you blaze correctly!). In total we trespassed three times to stealth camp along a roadwalk. Camping along side the right-of-way is just as dangerous, who knows what kind of people might come harass you or a cop could kick you off, so ducking into the trees is a must. If the FTA is working to negotiate a real trail through any of these private lands, at least they could negotiate several approved camping areas until real trail could be built. It’d be much nicer to camp in approved areas than stealth. Also, we did find an approved campsite along the beach walk in the UWF dunes that was not on our map or listed in our book. It was an Escambia county approved Leave No Trace campsite! If we’d known that we would have probably arranged to stay there instead of a hotel an extra night with Chris’ dad. So, things like these will be mentioned to the FTA, as well as other issues like the horrid trail conditions of the Lake Butler Forest, areas that could use bog boards and areas of repair.

We did hike a very brand new section of trail on our third to last day out. Our map had a proposed trail section but it wasn’t completed so when we saw a turn off a roadwalk we got very confused. Chris called the FTA and they said it was open, gave us a mileage (which we thought was too short, really thought it was several miles longer) and off we went into a new trail. The first part was pretty good but the maintenance started getting worse and there were all of these windy little trails that just seemed ridiculous and a few of them could be straightened out. And things like not cutting trees across a trail and making you duck under them. Really? Not something you see on the AT—-at least very often. But, it was nice to be in the woods after another road walk.

As you can tell the Florida Trail is very much a trail not finished. Sometimes I wonder if it ever will be. I guess I also wonder at the motivation of the FTA to have it done and what their main desire is, to have it more as a day hiker/weekend hiker trail where those people enjoy it in the wooded areas, or if they really want it as a AT/PCT thru-hiker type of trail where a couple hundred folks come out and hike it every year. Those road walks really do scare people off. We met a guy at a gas station on Pensacola Beach who’d done some hiking on the AT and said when he saw the map of the FT the road walks just kinda scared him off.

That being said, northern Florida and the Panhandle is super, duper nice in the forested sections. Pretty much everything from the Suwanee River and west was beautiful…of course some exceptions like clear cut areas in San Pedro Bay WMA. Hiking in clear cuts sucks. We were very surprised in Eglin Air Force base to see crystal clear spring fed creeks running through there. And hills—-yes there are hills in Florida. Some of the hills had switchbacks, not necessarily needed but they were there.

In a few days I’ll start my comprehensive write-up like I did on the AT, so stay tuned!

So many things to write about. I blog in my head often but I never get around to writing it, being at a computer once every two weeks!

A few days ago we hit 3,000 miles of hiking this year. We’ll wrap up the trail in about 11 days, or 220 miles left for the year. Shortly after it will be a year since we started this crazy hiking adventure on Springer Mountain. How can it be a year already?

Since White Springs we have had beautiful weather. It’s supposed to stay nice until the end of the week and then it looks like a few rain days may be around—crossing fingers for night rain! There’s nothing better to getting out of the tent to clear skies and the sun coming up. That said, it has been warming up to the 70′s during the day, which is nice, but it has been more sweat inducing.

We had a plesant three nights along the Suwanee River. Then we walked through some pretty unpleasant logging roads, but I was glad to be on them since the rest of the area was quite flooded. Then we took a good jaunt down the Aucilla River which goes under ground for a bit and is visible through sinkholes along the rest of the way it follows the trail. In St. Marks NWR we got wet in the first mile trying to enter the area, and it was cold water! Brrrrr! Numb toes are not nice. But it was really nice to walk along the levees out there and get within a mile or two from the Gulf of Mexico. You could see the waves *farrrrrr* out there. That morning we detoured to the Visitor Center to get our backcountry permits and then hitchiked across the St. Marks River. Yes, we had to hail a boat to cross the river! Luckily it didn’t take too long and we resupplied at the tiny grocery store and had lunch in the town that reminded me of Everglades City a bit. We had one more night in St. Marks before hitting Appalachicola National Forest. After dealing with some of the colder water crossing we’d decided that wading through 2-3′ of cold water in Bradwell Bay was not going to be fun so initially Chris and I were going to take the trail up to Monkey Creek and ditch. We called the USFS to find out the current water levels in that section and then were told they’d just did a controlled burn in the area and we were to stay out. So, we managed to bypass Bradwell Bay by necessity! WOO! I wouldn’t mind doing a swamp tromp under normal circumstances—warmer water, no pack on my back—but it just seems so ridiculous that there are all these other opportunities to avoid water and then they just send you right through it. It’s almost like the FTA needed a hard section and this was it. So, perhaps one day we will come back and hit this section up and actually take our time and enjoy it.

The rest of Appalachicola was pretty nice after Porter Lake. We had some water crossings, these ti-ti strands (tie-tie is the pronunciation) that would be every 1/2 mile between nice dry pine areas and eventually Chris and I gave up taking our boots on an off and wading across and just put our water shoes on for the rest of the day.

Right now we are coming up on a roadwalk. A nasty one. It’s worse than the 30+ one we did a few weeks ago. We’ve done 10 this morning and will do 44 in total by tomorrow. We’re planning about 30 tomorrow, which will now be our longest day ever. Do-able but probably not enjoyable. We actually have very little natural areas left to hike in, Econfina Creek WMA and Eglin Airforce Base being the two more prominent ones, a few small pieces including the beach at the end. But other than that it will be roadwalks and private land.

Here are a few photos:

Where the Aucilla River goes underwater. A pile of logs and other debris on the surface.

Sinkhole on the Aucilla River

Sunset on the Ring Levee campsite at St. Marks

“The Cathedral” in St. Marks, a lot of old cabbage palms. Pretty cool!

Shephard Spring before the Wakulla Field Campsite in St. Marks. Small gator in here.

Walking the forest roads around Bradwell Bay Wilderness to avoid the burn area.

At Porter Lake in Appalachicola we met three people who were just kinda living in the woods. More on them later when I do my big write ups.

Speaker and his pancake experiment

“Ridley” relaxing at the Vilas Campsite in Appalachicola

Through Shuler Bay in Appalachicola. One of the few areas with bog boards. Bog boards are needed in many more areas!!!!

Not sure if I will update again or not before we finish. We hit a few more towns but I don’t think we are planning to stay in any of them unless we are caught in a roadwalk again and have to.

Looking forward to a haircut, a pedicure (lost two toenails this trip) and food. My hiker appetite has just kicked in—of course, 11 days before we finish! Gah!

Rain. *bleeping* rain. So, yesterday was a day reminiscent of the day we stayed under the bridge with Cubbie and Dilly Dally in Pennsylvania. Cold, cold, miserable rain. There are practically no shelters on this trail, however there are a couple in this section and thankfully we ended up at one yesterday for lunch where we could actually eat lunch instead of stopping for five minutes to shove a few bars down our throat and continuing on with our heads down. If we hadn’t been close to town it would’ve been a place we’d of holed up in for the day.

And then we white blazed into down. That’s kinda a blue blaze, but sometimes there are alternate white blazes around really bad parts of trail, in which that wasn’t really a bad part coming up, but it was going to cut about four or five miles off our day as the trail meanders around the Suwannee River there and avoids going through most of White Springs—and we were cold and soaked through so we said we’d just road walk into town. It was pretty miserable.

So, the motel we’re at we decided is a one step up from the Doyle hotel in Duncannon and a step down from the Relax Inn in Atkins. It’s more of a place that people live at than come to stay for a night or two. The manager debated for a minute where he could put us, then cleaned it then went to Dollar General to buy us towels and a rug. That’s how interesting it is. But it’s just fine for hiker folks!

There have been some trail maintenance issues in this section, particularly in a section called the Lake Butler Forest, which is really a timber plantation and sometimes the trail goes through these clear cuts with awful, awful rows and in between are full of water. Again we were nicely offered some white blazes down some other logging roads and we pondered why they bothered putting them in such a section to begin with. You could see the trail off to the side by the only pine trees left standing with the blazes.

We are supposed to be having better weather these next few days with a chance of rain on Thursday that I’m hoping is passing and not an all day event again. Then it appears to be sunshine, sunshine, sunshine—whoopppiiieeee!

As for the tent we’d already decided when we got home we’d order a new tent because our fly leaks. There is just so much condensation and rain and dew from the humidity here that it never dries out so some of the tape is delaminating. But then the other day we noticed a pole was cracking and that was it, we didn’t think it would last another month. So, we called up Travel Country an Orlando based outfitter yesterday and had them overnight a new tent to us and it arrived this morning. *phew*. So, hopefully we are all set for awhile.

Both Chris and I are kinda curious as to the last 500 miles. We really don’t know much about the Panhandle other than our short stint near Camel Lake in Appalachicola. We do know we may be wading in some water in Bradwell Bay and in the Appalachiacola section, but other than that we are kinda unsure about it as we never really explored this area. I do know we walk along the Suwannee for a few days before heading towards the Big Bend of Florida and St. Marks NWR.

Should be interesting. 500 miles, and sometime around March 8th we’ll be done. Not sure when we will have internet again so either I’ll post or get my brother to post for it. *thanks bro*

Camping in Lake Butler Forest—with Speaker.

Packing up yesterday morning in the rain.

A mural in an old building here in White Springs. It used to be a cafe but seems to have closed and is now something else. A lot of things in White Springs are different and more outdated than what the book says.

Oh, the highlight of yesterday was seeing our second skunk. It was kinda cute just toddling down the side of a dirt road, we let it cross the road before we kept going (didn’t want to smell like skunk and be wet!). No photo though.