Ocklawaha River

Because of Hurricane Irma, we decided to move our annual 10,000 Islands trip to another part of Florida.  I chose the Ocklawaha River because it's been on my radar for some time now.  There is a lot of fascinating history surrounding this river.  In the early 1800s, it was proposed to build a shipping canal across Florida.  Later in the 1930s, the US government starting looking at options to do this.  The plan was to start the canal at Yankeetown on the west coast and have it join the St. Johns River and go up to the Jacksonville area.  There was obviously a lot of push back on the project from environmentalists.  The Ocklawaha River would have been one of the main rivers dredged for the project.  Luckily, the idea was abandoned in the 1971 and officially cancelled in 1991.  Many dams, bridges, and other structures had been built already, but the remained on the land was given to the state to use as recreational land.  Read more about it here.

We drove up to the Ocklawaha Canoe Outpost near Fort McCoy, FL and car camped there for two nights.  The first full day of our trip, we went on a 7 mile hike along the Florida Trail in Ocala National Forest from Store 88 north to Lake Delancey.  Along the way we saw red-cockaded woodpeckers which are fairly rare.  

  

Alec, myself, and Auz on the Florida Trail 

Red-cockaded Woodpecker

The next day, we packed up our gear and got shuttled to Silver Springs State Park.  We quickly loaded up the canoes and headed down the Silver River.  We saw tons of birds: green herons, ibises, great blue herons, night-crowned herons, tri-color herons, wood ducks and many more.  Because the manatees were trying to avoid the cold water in the winter, we saw them in the clear blue spring water as well!

Auz and I on the Silver River

Wood Duck

Manatee

Silver Springs was a privately owned park from 1852-2013, when it became a Florida State Park. It was featured in many of the original Tarzan movies and was the filming location of The Creature from the Black Lagoon.  The park had many different owners over the years.  In the 1930s, the owner wanted to create a Jungle Cruise and purchased a troop of Rhesus monkeys.  He placed them on an island in the middle of the river and shortly after discovered that they are excellent swimmers and he watched them swim away.  They thrived in the wilds of Florida and today, it is estimate that there are about 200 of them living along the Silver River.  We were fortunate enough to see them!

Wild Rhesus Monkeys

That night we camped along a pretty area of grass on the river, where we forgot to photograph the campsite.  Oops!  The next day, we headed out around 10 AM.  Hurricane Irma has knocked down many trees into the river which made for some interesting paddling maneuvers.  

Thanks, Alec!

Our original plan was to camp for two nights on the river since the total trip was 26-28 miles.  Unfortunately, after we stopped for lunch at Gores Landing on Day 2, we failed to find another suitable campsite.  Around 4 pm we found ourselves back at the canoe outpost, where we opted to car camp for another night.  I would highly recommend paddling the Ocklawaha River.  We did see crews out there trying to clear the downed trees and it should be mostly cleaned up by next year.  There is typically an option for a side trip along the Dead River, but we were told it was currently impassible.

 Gator

Bald Eagle in a front yard on our way home

Florida Trail: Tamiami Trail to I-75

This past weekend I joined a group of hikers for a 3-day backpacking adventure through the section of the Florida Trail that crosses Big Cypress between the Oasis Visitor Center on Tamiami Trail to Mile Marker 63 on I-75.  We were a group of 10 hikers with 2 others joining us just for one night who were then heading back to Oasis.  The weather had been pretty warm leading up to the trip but temperatures dropped quickly a few days before, which meant we wouldn't have to worry about bugs!  We met early on Saturday morning at the Oasis Visitor Center and finished some quick packing and making sure everyone was prepared with proper footwear and hiking poles.

We finally started hiking around 8:30 AM.  The trail was a lot easier than we thought it would be with water never being higher than ankle deep.  We stopped for lunch at 7-mile camp.  After eating, one member of our group who had hiked this section over 25 times took us into a cypress dome nearby to see the remnants of a Marine Bomber plane that had crashed there in the 1940s.  On the way there, we saw a Fish & Wildlife officer on a swamp buggy and invited him to join us in the dome.  It must have been a bad plane crash since pieces of the plane were all over the dome.

We headed on for the last 3 miles to 10 mile camp, some of which had some very sticky mud that wore us out.  10 mile camp was very large.  It was nice, flat pineland with many scrub palmettos with many tent sites available.  We pitched our tents then headed to the nearby cypress dome to filter water.  We were able to collect lots of firewood for that evening since we knew it would get down to around 40 degrees.  We had a relaxing evening around the campfire.  Because the site way fairly open we were able to view the stars and watch the moon rise.  We were all in bed by 9:30 though.

Relaxing at 10 Mile Camp

Our tent

Being fashionable at camp

Sunset at 10 Mile Camp

The next morning we got a bit of a late start at 9 AM.  According to our maps, we had 12.2 miles to get to Oak Hill Camp.  The plan was to stop at 13-mile camp for lunch.  13-mile camp is actually 7 miles north of 10-mile camp but is 13 miles from I-75.  The first bit of trail was very muddy and wet.  But the whole morning we were in and out of cypress/mud and pines/grass.  The neat thing about hiking in shallow mud is being able to see all the animal tracks.  We saw panther, coyote, deer, and raccoon tracks all along the FT.  At one point we were on dry land for quite a while which allowed us to pick up some speed.  We got to our lunch spot at around 1 PM.  13-mile camp is quite overgrown and not very large.  It is dry, though, with some palms and pines.

Heading out from 10 Mile Camp

Trail at start of Day 2

We were under the impression that it was only another 5.2 miles to get to Oak Hill Camp with a halfway point at what was marked as "Barbed Wire Fence" on the map.  Leaving at 1:45 PM we figured we would get to camp in plenty of time.  Unfortunately, we did not know what type of terrain lied ahead.  I ended up hiking mostly with my dad in the afternoon and the first section wasn't too bad but we kept wondering why it was taking so long to find the fence.  We finally got there around 3:30 PM.  That meant we still had 2.6 miles to go with sunset being at 6 PM.  After leaving the fence, you find yourself in complete cypress forest walking through knee deep, uneven sticky mud and water.  

Very wet trail

This slowed us down tremendously.  I had chosen to wear Keen sandals which was not smart since the mud was pulling them off my feet every 10 steps, slowing me down even more.  We were already tired from hiking so this section just sapped the rest of our energy.  What else was frustrating was that the sun was slowly getting closer to the horizon and there were no pine trees or dry land in sight.  Finally around 5:45 PM when we only had about 15-20 minutes left of day light, we saw some pine trees up ahead.  We figured we could at least stop there and retrieve our headlamps to navigate in the dark.  You can imagine our excitement when we realized that this was our campsite.  2 others from our group had already arrived and had the fire going.  However, there were still 6 other hikers way behind us.  We collected water and tried to have things ready to help the others when they arrived after dark.  The last group finally arrive at 6:15 PM.  Just as the last rays of sun disappeared.  According to our trip leader's GPS, we had hiked 14 miles that day, without ever leaving the trail.  This meant that the map numbers were not accurate for that section.  Exhausted and dehydrated, we ate dinner and sat around the campfire.

Relaxing at Oak Hill Camp

In the morning we were able to appreciate the beauty of Oak Hill Camp.  There are oaks, palms, and many other types of trees on this small area of raised land in a sea of cypress swamp.  There are a few tent areas with a main trail going through the "island".  The best place we found to collect water from was right on the trail.  There isn't a whole lot of privacy here and when nature calls you end up having to bushwhack through some brushy areas.  Luckily, the weather was chilly because had it not been, this would have been mosquito heaven.  Overall, I would recommend camping at Oak Hill Camp, but if coming from 10-mile camp, make sure to get an early start.  On our last day, we packed up camp and got a bit of an earlier start at 8:30 AM.  Our pickup time at I-75 was set for 3 PM and we didn't want to make anyone wait.  It was 7-8 miles back to the highway.  We agreed to meet at Ivy Camp for lunch.

First part of trail on Day 3

The last morning was by far the worst part of the trail.  I didn't know there were that many types of mud. Throughout the trip we hiked through sticky mud, dry mud, shallow mud, cottage cheese mud, squishy mud...you get the picture.  The 4 miles between Oak Hill Camp and Ivy Camp were through knee deep water with squishy/sticky mud and uneven ground underneath it.  Not being the front, you can't see the bottom so you have no idea if the ground you are stepping on will be 4 inches under the water or 12.  The best way to described it is that you feel like a drunk, blind person trying to walk on sand with bricks tied to your feet.  Normally, I only use one hiking pole but I think I would have been better off with two since I kept my pole in my right hand and was grabbing onto any small cypress tree I could with my left.  To fix my shoe situation, I had wrapped the tightening elastic around my ankles, which caused the plastic piece to dig into my skin which hurt a lot but it was really the only choice I had.  We were exhausted after 1.5 hours of hiking and found we were only doing about a 45-minute mile.  It tooks us 3 hours of non-stop hiking to get the Ivy Camp.  Ivy Camp was very small with almost no privacy but it did have to beautiful cypress domes nearby.

Stopped for lunch at Ivy Camp

Seven of us had our lunch there while waiting for the last three hikers.  After 45 minutes, we called them on our hand held radios and they said they were stopping at a previous hammock we had seen for lunch since they were too tired but would get back on the trail soon.  We told them we were going to head out and that instead of taking the trail the whole way, we were going to take a service road to shave off 1/2 mile.  The service road was mostly underwater but at least the mud underneath was a bit firmer and easier to walk on.  We were able to blast through the last 3-4 miles in no time.  The FT eventually merges with this road and we arrived at I-75 around 2:45 PM.  The 3 hikers in the back had only reached Ivy Camp at 2 PM due to water filtering issues and assumed the afternoon was going to be as difficult and radioed to us that they probably wouldn't be out until 6 PM.  We told them to take the service road since it was much easier and it wouldn't take them that long.  Unfortunately, they missed the road turnoff and followed the trail back, but got there around 4 PM.

We made it!

The Florida Trail makes the Appalachian Trail seem luxurious with all its shelters and picnic tables.  On the Florida Trail, you're just happy to have dry land.  This was one of the most exhausting trips I have even been on.  I haven't yet decided if I would do it again.  For anyone interested in doing this section, here is some advice:

Footwear:  Do not wear Keens or any other type of sandal that allows in debris.  The first 2 days, I wore Keens with no socks and I was constantly stopping to pull twigs and rocks out of my shoes.  These types of shoes also build up a 1/2" layer of mud between the sole and your foot.  On day 3, I wore socks with them and this kept out most of the debris but they were still full of mud.  Keens are just not built to withstand this kind of abuse since mine were brand new when I started and by the time I finished, a lot of the glue and stitching had come undone.  The hikers in our group who had no problem at all were all wearing minimalist sneakers.  Even my dad just wore a basic pair of Reebok sneakers and didn't have any issues with the mud.  Also, I highly recommend socks because we found that those without socks were getting bitten by black water beetles.

Pants:  Wear long pants!  Yes they were get a bit heavier from being wet, but if you don't your legs will be completely cut up from the sawgrass.

Weather:  Most of the campsite would be insanely buggy if it were not cool out, especially Oak Hill and Ivy Camps.  Make sure to pack bugspray if it is not going to be cold out.

Pack weight:  Walking on that kind of terrain already throws your balance of tremendously, so having a light pack is key.  No one in our group had a pack over 30 lbs and no one had problems with their weight.

Florida Trail: Jonathan Dickinson State Park East Loop

This past Saturday my dad and I headed up to Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Hobe Sound, FL to hike the East Loop trail.  According to my guidebook it was listed at 9.8 miles.  We knew the weather was going to be hot so we arrived right when the park opened at 8 AM.  We started our hike by 8:15.  The first couple of miles are a bit challenging since you are walking on sugar sand.  Within the first 3 miles we started questioning the accuracy of my book's hike description.  According to the amount of time we had hiked, we should have gone farther than the books' description.  We assumed we were just making poor time due to the sand and kept going.  Eventually we reached a trail marker that proved we had gone a mile further than we had according to the book.  We headed towards the Scrub Jay campsite.  Because the entire park had undergone a prescribed burn about 7 months prior, most of the undergrowth was gone and there was almost no tree cover or shade.  This coupled with the sun's reflection off the sand made for a very hot hike.  We reached the Scrub Jay campsite, which consists of two large backpacking sites each with a picnic table and fire ring.  Here we stopped for lunch and discussed potentially camping here in the cooler months.  On our way out we passed a working water pump and a very fancy and clean solar powered privy.  Definitely a luxurious backpacking site!  At this point the trail split and you could continue on towards the Kitching campsite or head back to the parking lot.  We headed back to the front of the park.  While we had to cross over a lot of water obstacles, almost all of them had semi-hidden bridges off to the side.  Finally, we reached an ankle deep creek with no bridge.  We stopped to remove our shoes before crossing since the thought of hiking another 4+ miles in wet boots was unappealing.  The later part of our hike was much more challenging due to the 90 degree weather and lack of shade.  At one point, the trail joined up with a biking path and we didn't see any blazes for awhile.  Just when we were considering the idea that we had missed the turnoff, we saw a blaze ahead.  Just towards the end, the trail makes a sharp turn and detours you to walk along a really pretty lake.  We were definitely happy to reach the car!  Overall, this was a challenging hike due to the never ending sugar sand and high temperatures.  We will consider doing it again in the winter as an overnight trip.  Also, if you read a description about this trail and it is listed at 9.8 miles, this is incorrect!  It is actually 10.8 miles.  While the 1 mile difference is not that big of a deal, it created confusion during the first part of the trip.

Florida Trail: Loop Road to Mystery Dome and an Alligator Encounter

This morning I went on a very memorable hike that I will not be forgetting anytime soon.

My dad and I met up with the Florida Trail Association Big Cypress group to go on a short hike led by Christopher.  The plan was to hike 1.7 miles on the FL Trail then veer off and explore a cypress dome he saw on Google Earth.  For those of you not familiar with the term 'cypress dome' it is essentially a group of larger cypress trees that grow in a circular cluster with the tallest being in the middle, therefore shaping it like a dome.  It also looks this way from an aerial perspective.

Group with Cypress Dome behind us to the Right

We met up with the group at the Eastern Loop Road junction with Tamiami Trail to carpool to the trail head.  As we were leaving, Chris said something about not getting our hopes up with ideas of seeing bears or panthers.  Not 5 minutes into the drive, we spot a huge Florida black bear in the middle of the road.  These sightings are usually brief but the brush on either side of the road was so thick that the bear had no choice but to run away from our cars in the opposite direction until he found a trail to get into the woods.  This allowed us a clear view of him for at least one minute.

Florida Black Bear on Loop Road

We regrouped at the trail head and started hiking in ankle to knee deep water covering the Florida Trail.  When my dad and I hiked this section in February it was the dry season so the trail didn't have nearly as much water as it does now.

Florida Trail at Loop Road Trailhead

Butterfly Orchids on Trail

About 1/3 of a mile in, someone just ahead of my dad noticed an alligator's tail on the side of the trail.  The gator was about 6 feet long.  My dad wanted to get a picture of it but got a little too close and the gator jumped causing us to all jump.  This made the water on the trail completely murky and we assumed the gator had gone off the trail to get away from us.  I picked up my foot to keep walking and just as it brushed up against something bumpy that was not a log, Chris started screaming, "It's between your legs! It's between your legs!"  Somehow I had ended up straddling the alligator when we all jumped!!  I leapt far off the trail as the gator took off.  After we calmed down and even laughed a little we kept going.  A minute later we ran into another gator on the trail, this one about 7-8 feet long.  This one was in no hurry to get out of our way so we went way around it.

Gator #2

Hiking on this section of the trail was difficult enough since you usually couldn't see where you were stepping and the ground was made up of limestone riddled with holes for your leg to fall into.  On top of stumbling through the water covered trail, we now had to keep a close eye out for gators and venomous snakes.  We finally reached the turnoff and then what Chris had labeled the "Mystery Dome".  The inside of the dome was filled with sawgrass (ouch), large cypress trees, and beautiful bromeliads.  Cypress Domes are magical!

Inside Mystery Dome

We made our way through the sawgrass to a clearing.  Here, the water got deeper inside and some group members decided a swim was in order.

Swimming in the Cypress Dome

By now it was starting to get very hot and buggy so we finished exploring the dome and headed back to the main trail to start the hike back to Loop Road.

Bromeliads just Outside the Dome

It was an incredible hike with a great trip leader.  Oh and my new trail name is Gator Rider.

Florida Trail: Oasis Visitor Center to Loop Road

This past weekend I finally convinced my dad to do a wet hike on the Florida Trail with me.  When I first presented the idea in the past he said no way because hiking miles and miles through water did not sound like his idea of a good time.  I chose the Southern terminus of the Florida Trail to start with.  Early Saturday morning we drove both of our cars down Tamiami Trail to Loop Road in the Everglades.  On the way down Tamiami we saw more birds than I could count along the canal.  We left my car down there and drove his up to the Oasis Visitor Center on Tamiami Trail.  On the drive back up we saw a few hunters participating in Florida Fish & Wildlife's Python Challenge.  As I'm sure you've heard, the Florida Everglades is having a bit of a problem with former pet Burmese Pythons that were let loose and have grown to mammoth proportions.  They have no predators of their own and have been eating all the wildlife, including deer and alligators!

We checked in with the ranger station and got a permit (they like to know who is out there in case you get lost/go missing).  The ranger warned us to look out for cottonmouths/water moccasins which are pretty prevalent on the trail.  On the way to the trail we saw a bunch of tourists photographing a small 8 foot gator, while on the other side of the road this huge mama sat unnoticed!

Unfortunately, there is almost no signage for Southbound hikers on the Florida Trail and we initially set off on a shorter trail designated for tour groups.  We turned around and had to ask a ranger to point us in the right way.  If you are doing this hike, head west on Tamiami Trail and keep an eye out for a very narrow path with an orange blaze on a skinny tree (we walked right by it a couple times).  Once we were on the trail the blazes were prevalent and we had no issues with getting lost.  Even though it is dry season, the trail is still very muddy and wet.

 Florida Trail near Oasis Visitor Center

You might ask, "What shoes do you wear on a wet hike?".  We pondered this ourselves for a few days before.  We figured that if we wore sneakers or hiking boots they would just turn into heavy bricks on our feet.  Crocs didn't seem like a good alternative either.  In the end, we settled on wearing water shoes (the ones with mesh uppers and rubber bottoms).  We knew it would be a gamble and weren't sure if they would hold up but they ended up being the perfect choice.

The first mile or so was through thick, shoe-sucking mud.  After that it was almost a relief to get into the shin deep, cold water.  I know this sounds like a terrible hiking idea, but it was really enjoyable.  The temprature was about 70-75 degrees and the water felt wonderful.  It was also crystal clear so you could easily see what you were stepping on.  This continued on for another few miles as the cypress trees thickened and we saw more and more Bromeliads on the trees.  Here is where we ran into 3 Cottonmouths all within a 1/2 mile distance.  They were prominently sitting on the trail, not easily missed.  We bushwhacked our way around them and gave them a wide berth.

Cottonmouth



Around mile marker 5 the trail heads east for a mile.  This East-West traverse was our favorite.  I can't describe it as anything else but magical.  The plants that grew here were different from what we had seen so far.

 EW Traverse section (Robert's Strand)

Around mile marker 4 the trail heads south again.  It eventually gets up onto dry land but I guess trail maintenance was due because we had to push ourselves through thick brush (and some sawgrass) to get through.  At one point we stopped for a quick lunch at the first bit of dry land we had seen all day.

Lunch Break

Just north of MM 3 there is a campsite called Frog Hammock Camp.  We explored it for a bit and realized people probably don't camp there often.  It was totally dry but the water pump seemed like it hadn't worked in years.





The last 3 miles were relatively dry and around 2 miles from Loop Road we saw a white-tailed doe.

2 Miles to Go



When we arrived back at the car, I went to rinse my muddy feet off in a creek and scared off a baby gator.  Overall, it took us almost 7 hours to hike 8 miles.  The mud and water resistance on your legs really slows you down!  We drove back up to the Visitors Center where we enjoyed a couple of beers my dad had brought in a cooler.  Great end to a long hike!

Baby Gator