[at-l] florida trail report

[Phillips <gammara1@mediaone.net>]

Here's a brief report of our weeekend outing on the Florida Trail in the
Ocala National Forest:

Day 1: Thursday- early morning wakeup , got Matt( 15) into car, who went
promptly back to sleep. Even dog went back to bed, crammed in with all
the hiking gear in the back seat. About a 5 hour drive +/- to Eustis and
then into Forest. Got to Alexander Springs about noonish, parked car in
secure area, checked in with rangers, who told us that there were a lot
of hunters around, so be careful. Map said 0.5 miles from check in to
start of trail north- actually it is 1.2 miles of crummy road walk. Dog
kept getting spurs in her paws, so we put on her booties, and she was
much happier. Trail turns north through an open pine scrub forest. Nice
easy level walk. Eventually gets into a little more dense forest with
some nice fan palms bordering the trail. The trail is very very easy,
smooth sand base. Some clear cuts on both sides. About 5 1/2 miles later
you come to cut off for Buck Lake, which after meandering through nice
forest for another mile you come into primitive- kind of- campsite- no
fee, but looks like people live there for a while. Pit toilet, good
water from hand pump. We just walked to the far end and found a little
grass to put our tent up & where we could have some solitude.Matt went
for a swim, Dog went to sleep. I cooked dinner on our esbitt and set the
tent up. Left the fly off, since it was in the 80-90's during the day,
how cold could it get? Big mistake, around midnight while we were
admiring the stars thru the mesh, we realized we were freezing, and Matt
was nice enough to go put the fly on, which immediately raises the temp
in the tent about 20 degrees.  Night time low about 50, which wouldnt
have been bad had we brought anything at all warm! We had skipped the
bags for a light weight nylon blanket! oh well.

Day 2:

Leasurely morning, waited for the mist to burn off the lake. Got going
about 10:30 toward Farles Lake, where we were supposed to meet Flamingo
& Cricket. Never could quite understand where the "Oak Hammock " was, so
after wandering around both sides of Farles Lake for a couple of hours,
we gave up and walked back to Coon Hollow or actually a small pond just
north of there. Pretty site-we were totally alone. THe entire 3 days we
did not see any other campers. Lots of people at Buck Lake and Farles
Lake, but none on the trail. The trail from Buck Lake to Farles and Back
to Coon was nice, dense forest, almost at-like, of course the cactus on
the side and the moss draped from the trees was a wee bit different!
Nite two we froze- temp in my tents vestibule was 40. we kept warm by
hugging the dog. Made vanilla pudding that was so bad, even the dog
wouldn't eat it.From now on, i will stick to instant chocolate pudding.

Day 3:

Beautiful morning, with mist rising from the lake. Very very pretty. Hot
apple cider was terrific! Nice walk back to Alexander Springs- around 6
miles in 2.3 hours. Checked into Alex Springs campsite- actually a very
nice, civilized campsite- lots of space between camp sites, hot hot
showers, and lovely springs. Lots of people swimming- too cold for us
southern boys- water temp is only 72 year round! $ 13 for the nite- not
bad. Next morning -wakeup and drive home.

Its not the AT, but for a relaxing long weekend in Florida- it beats the
hell out of Disneyworld.....Poutine Jim

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