[at-l] weekend florida hike

[Jim Phillips <gammara1@mediaone.net>]

Friday: Matt got home from school kind of late so we only managed to
push off at about 4 pm from FT Lauderdale, got up to Yeehaw Junction and
headed west on route 60 for about 19 miles, just after the bridge we
turned left into River Ranch REsort and went past security- you just
tell them you're heading to hike the florida trail. after a short 5 mile
drive we got to the parking lot, as the sun was setting. Since it was
kind of dark, we went thru the fence- big mistake, figuring thats where
the trail would be, and started walking, using our headlamps and finger
light to kind of see the road, and scan for the orange blaze that we
knew had to be somewhere. anyways we walked along the shell road for a
mile or mile and a half, and actually matt and I kind of liked hiking in
the pitch black, the stars were nice. I'm not sure what Peter and David
thought, except that they had loonies for friends. After a bit we
spotted an opening near the road and decided it was time to stealth
camp. Setting up the tents in the pitch black was a new one for Peter
and DAvid, but we helped them, and got situated after a bit, Dinner was
soup, linguine,and sloppy joe mix leather, with dried hamburger meat.the
candle came in handy.i slept pretty well- my new stearns matt, blew out
the air plug twice, ive got to look at that piece of equipment better.
anyways the thrird time was the charm and it held until morning. however
the light weight blanket from campmore was big enough for two of us, but
not warm enough for 50-60 degree temps- too bad- another piece of
equipment to be chucked! matt swears he is never listening to me again
about blankets and sleeping bags- hes probably right-ive frozen him out
on the last two trips.

SAt Am- woke up about 7 am- dry breakfast- granola bars, bagel chips,
cup of hot apple cider. stated walking, found the first orange marker
and took a right into the woods. according to peter, the woods were part
of an old abandoned nursey with many exotic and rare plants- looked just
like typical green florida woods to me. anyways the walk was nice-
typical flat florida trail, i like the moss hanging from the trees
though- thats pretty. we started to get a little low on water- i was
sure we could eventually find some, but the temperature gauge on my pack
read 95 degrees and the rest of the group was starting to wilt. i felt
pretty good, but then my pack was only 17 lbs without water, 27 lbs
with. anyways i walked another 2-3 miles and found some water- the dog
got somewhat spooked when she saw some small alligators in the water,
and drank really quickly.i filled up, but peter kept telling me that
giardia was the least of my problem in this area, the chemicals from the
run off was the real problem, so i used this water to pour over my head.
at this point peter had slackpacked up to reach me, to tell me that the
boys refused to move, david had just crossed paths with a large rattler
and was freaked, and matt refused to budge. so we turned back and walked
back to the car. mileage for the day about 12- 13 miles. matt and i got
back to base camp about an hour before peter and david, matt set up his
hammock and went into shlufie mode. i just kind of took a nap after
setting up the tent for the dog. eventually peter and david showed up.
peter was a real trooper hauling around close to 70 lbs without a
wimper, hopefully he will take less on the at.anyways, here we are back
at base camp when 2 cars of young ladies drive up to hike the trail, and
point out that the trail entrance is not 1.5 miles awy like we thought,
but rather about 20 feet away, which of course we missed in the dark the
previous day.oh well- they were nice enough to give us a juicy
grapefruit which we enjoyed-and we had a nice dinner of tomoto sauce
leather on elbows with dried beef jerky, and a nice chicken soup-(knor
from israel makes a very good kosher one-for those who care!).
so impression of this trail- nice but wow theres a lot of cow poopy
everywhere- its flat and boring, but well at least it is hiking in
florida-its bloody hot in florida-wow thats news, but the nights can get
chilly. the directions could be a little better- poutine jim

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