RE; [ft-l] Need Some Boy Scout help - Trail SegmentRecommendation??

[jspruill@cfl.rr.com (Jerry Spruill)]

Well,

After many ***great*** responses from all you good FT members out there, we
(me and my Boy Scouts) have decided on a trail segment for our March
Backpacking Trip!  We chose the Central Florida Greenway Trail.  Specifics
are TBD at this juncture, as we met today to decide.

I'll be looking for some good "scoop" on how to have a great ~ 16 mile'ish
backpacking trip with my crew.    Ordered my FTA trail maps today.

I am basically going to follow the plan provided by Deb (Thanks!!)

Deb, I'll be in touch.

Again - many thanks to all!!!
Jerry


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From: "Deb" <dblick@cfl.rr.com>
Organization: Florida Trail Assn.
Reply-To: "Deb" <dblick@cfl.rr.com>
Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 01:00:19 -0500
To: <ft-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Subject: RE; [ft-l] Need Some Boy Scout help - Trail Segment
Recommendation??

The Ocala is always a good choice.  Another suggestion for a
nice bp trip is the Cross Florida Greenway.  I think you
will find that with the Greenway you don't have to go north
to find great hiking.  I've hiked about 2/3 of the FT in the
last 2 years and this section has got to be one of my
favorites.

I would recommend between the Pruitt Trailhead and the Land
Bridge Trailhead.  That would give you about 16 miles. The
trail is really interesting because it is routed along the
diggings from the 1930's for the Cross Florida Barge canal.
Sometimes you are on top of the diggings, sometimes you are
on an intermediate plateau and sometimes you are hiking
along at ground level.  You also cross the Land Bridge over
I-75 which is a sight unto itself.  I sent 5 friends out
there last weekend and they had a great time.  They said it
was a magnificent addition to Florida hiking and a nice
break from the Ocala since the terrain and vegetation are
both more varied.

There are a few open meadows, but most of the time you are
in hardwoods and it's very pretty.  You'll have to watch the
blazes carefully going through those few meadows and perhasp
scout the far side of the meadows to find the blazes again.
There is some kind of a water source at each of the
trailheads altho it is not always potable, so take your
water filters.  Also, no fires are allowed anywhere on the
Greenway - take your stoves.

You need a permit to camp along the Greenway, but it is free
and basically you can camp anywhere away from the few road
crossings - you just need to tell the Greenways
approximately where you will be camping.  Contact the
Greenways office for the permit at 352-236-7143.  The
Greenway is open to the public.  Since the trail is linear,
you'll need to drop a car/cars at the Land Bridge Trailhead
then go to the Pruitt Trailhead to start your hike (or vice
versa).

If you decide on the Greenway, you can contact me or Ken
Smith privately for more detailed info.

Deb