Hiking Dude Blog

I traveled about 18 miles today.
Rain all night and then it stopped at 7:30am so I packed up in the lull. The lull wound up laying all day so I had a wonderful last day on the trail, ending my Florida hike at the Santos campground east of Ocala. The hike was much like yesterday with similar forest and few animals. The most angelic of trail angels, Sue, and her son Chris, picked me up. Sue is the scoutmaster of Chris's special needs troop. We've been having a wonderful visit and I got to have a potluck dinner with their while troop. They made me an honorary member of their troop and gave me a troop shirt. All the guys are good scouts and their parents offer wonderful support.

I traveled about 30 miles today.
I finally got a 30 miles day. The paved bike path north from Inverness was a pleasant walk for many miles even though it is very busy. After crossing the beautiful Wthlacoochee River at Dunnellon, the trail braided with horse and bike paths through sand and pines. Today, I met only the second person on this trip that was not a joy to chat with. A surly convenience store guy in Holder, FL. So, after leaving his shop, I purposefully stopped at a small produce place called Snows Country Market and bought some really great fruit. The staff there was great and I got to chat about my hike with them. I took a blue blazed side trail tonight to the Ross Prairie trailhead where I'm tenting in the ' scout camp area ' back in the trees. The bathroom has hot shower and cold potable water so this place rocks. Rain is expected tonight and all day tomorrow so my last hiking day looks soggy just like my first day.

I traveled about 22 miles today.
Cold enough last night to have my water bottles freeze! I thought I was hiking in Florida. Thinking ahead, I kept my water filter close to me all night so it didn't freeze. It was a chilly start and I was misled by my Florida Trail app, but then i got to hike 15 miles with my cousin's son (anyone know what that makes us? ) and it was nice chatting with him since we just met. Clear sky, very dry burned out pine forest, and smoke in the air made for a very different hike than past days. Tonight, I met troops 302 and 459 in Inverness. I presented a bit about my hiking and am resting at their very nice scout hut. The scouts were a great audience, asking questions and being polite.

My tracker battery died. The map won't be updated until I find a store to buy new ones.

I finished hiking for today. You can check out my current location on the map and I'll post about my day when I am in coverage.

I traveled about 27 miles today.
Oh, what a day! I have way more to post than anyone would want to read all at once, so just the highlights. These two kids are Sunshine and Trail Mix, thru hiking the FT. I met them as I hiked into my home for the night. It was sooooo nice to have company. They've both worked at Northern Tier for the boy scouts. We chatted well after dark since no mosquitos were out and the full moon was lighting the jungle. My morning started with the all too familiar road walking, but after holding my 'To Trail' sign out for 10 miles or so, Sarah stopped and gave me a ride to the Van Fleet bike trail. Sarah is a real gem - completely living life on a positive, up beat tone. She does a bread ministry and is an angel at heart. After miles of dodging cars, the serene paved bike path was soothing. So quiet and peaceful, i relaxed and enjoyed the stroll through swamp with bits everywhere. And then came the Green Swamp. I was ready for slogging through mud and water and whatever was to come, since the trail has been so wet. But, as soon as I started following the blazes off the dirt road, it was exactly as I envisioned the Florida Trail to be. I walked miles through Palm fronds, vines, grasses, and exotic trees. It was great! My feet got pretty wet, but only up to my ankles. I ran into Don't Panic on the road - he's a southbound thru-hiker. I dodged most of the rain by waiting at a hunter check in station. While chatting with some good ol' boys there, another hunter brought in a 140lb hog. So, I got to watch my first hog butchering - very interesting. I did notice lots of ground churned up from hogs rooting around, and I'm pretty sure a hog was crunching through the brush by our camp tonight. Oh, I also met a deer hunter. As I was coming out the trail onto a diet road, he stopped his truck and got out carrying a big rifle with a big scope. He said he just saw a big buck go that way - pointing right where I had come from. I'm glad i hadn't hiked a minute slower.

I traveled about 24 miles today.
Nothing but road today. I think this guy has the right idea, but he is really hard to see! A guy doing some surveying on the road hollered at me, 'I like your hat! ' as I walked by. I got to walk down the Old Tampa Highway and it was made of bricks for a couple miles. I saw a live baby alligator and two dead snakes. At the end my day, I met Jon at the Ramada Inn front desk. He was friendly and curious about my hiking gear and where I had hiked. It was nice talking with him. 20 more miles of road tomorrow before I reach the Green Swamp. There's also supposed to be rain and lightning quite a bit tomorrow. Oh, my spot tracker ran out of batteries today so there will be a long gap in tick marks starting tomorrow.

I traveled about 28 miles today.
I really enjoyed the 9 miles of walking through the wildlife area. Saw a handful of deer and plenty of birds at first light. After that, the picture describes the rest of my day. After about 14 miles of that, a couple fishermen offered me a ride to town. That's how the last few miles went so fast on my track. They were nice old boys and we got to chat about fishing a bit. Once I got to St. Cloud, I walked 5 more miles looking for a hotel with room and wound up here at the Riviera. It sounds better than it is, but it's a cheap place to stay where the only 'campground' doesn't allow tents and is actually a retirement place. Tomorrow (later today I guess since I just woke up to post this) will be more road taking me out of town. Oh, I did see one alligator today - about 15 feet from me in the water by the road. Yikes.

I traveled about 25 miles today.
Walked the rest of the way around the western side of Lake Okeechobee - never did see an actual lake. Just as we finished by crossing the Kissimmee river, we caught up to Devilfish and Carl. By the way, the bridge over the Kissimmee is Treacherous!!! Absolutely no shoulder. Reports from hikers ahead have been that the Kissimmee river section of trail ahead is waist deep and higher water. This is all cattle country around here. Not wanting to swim through cow piss, I arranged for Mike, a great trail angel, to give me a ride north, skipping this flooded part. Talking with Mike was the highlight of my day. He has done a little hiking and is enjoying meeting the folks hiking the FT this winter while he drives his camper around. The picture is where Mike dropped me off at the beginning of the Three Lakes section which started with a 2 mile walk on a diet road. As soon as I stepped off the road onto the trail it was all water. I took a side trail back to the road which parallels the trail and will walk it through here instead. I expect when I reach the Green Swamp west of the town of Kissimmee that I'll encounter more flooded trail, but I have my fingers crossed. The walk this evening was very nice - just me, a couple deer, and some birds. Finally away from fast traffic and it is very quiet out here far from anyone.

I traveled about 25 miles today.
This beautiful day graced us with many miles of safe walking, much of it along very unsafe roads. The levee around the lake is being worked on so we were diverted. Walking right beside 65+ mph semis isn't much fun. Once we got back on the levee, we ran into these three WARRIOR HIKE participants. It was the highlight of the day to chat with them for a few minutes. They are all hanging on hammocks and say it's very comfortable. We also meet a couple nice ladies at Becks Store in Lakeport. They let us get water and use the restroom, and chatted about the area. Other than that, it looks like we might finally be out of the sugar cane fields. We caught a glimpse of the lake rather than the miles of marsh that surrounds it. Saw, and heard, an airboat. And met my first lock tender - a guy that opens the lock for boats to pass.