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Trip Report - Day 1- FT - Lake Butler to White Springs - Entertainment Version. Ok, I'm finally writing something up on my
latest backpacking adventure with Rick Gushe (Vagabond). This is the
entertainment version, the regular version has too many numbers and is a little
boring. So, here goes... a true story... some of the names may have been
changed to protect the innocent.
Day 1
The trip started not like any other I can
recall, in the back of a Lake Butler City Police car! We were not
fugitives on the run, oh no. In order to pick up the trail in the Georgia
Pacific Forest Land we needed to leave Rick's vehicle in Lake Butler (in the
Library parking lot to be specific). Instead of walking an extra 1.5 miles
to pick up the trail, Rick decided to use his experienced and seasoned
"yoghing" abilities to get us a ride. The art of
"yoghing" is one of the less talked about skills of a
backpacker. It is commonly described as the act of getting what you want
from someone (a local, car camper, etc.) without directly asking for it.
Rick is one of the best yoghiers I've seen! Maybe someone should do a
workshop on yoghing sometime?
So we threw our backpacks into the trunk
of the Police car and tried to fit ourselves into the backseat. Have you
ever tried to fit into the backseat of a police car? Well, I hope many of
you have not, but I'll tell you they don't exactly give you any knee room back
there! Anyway, we really appreciated the ride from the Lake Butler City
Police -- Thanks guys if you're out there! It made the first day about 10
miles instead of 11.5 which was well worth it.
We saw a couple deer that morning, obviously hiding out on
private land to avoid the hunters. Towards the end of the day we took a
side trip to Lake Palastine. We had to mark the forest road the previous
day with shotgun shells to mark the turn to the lake. The lake was heaven
sent! They had tables for us to cook on and garbage cans and a boat ramp
so we could easily walk into the lake and get cleaned up. There's almost
nothing better than to get clean after a good day of backpacking! A little
cleaning, a hot meal, the sunset and it was back into the wood a little-way
where we had set up our tents. To some people the lake would have looked
like a good camping spot, but the amount of night hunters (trucks and dogs)
coming down to the lake at night would have kept us up all night. Also,
with a possible storm approaching, the winds might have been very strong near
the lake.
Well, I thought we were far enough of the "main"
road, but I guess not. At about 8:30pm a big truck (sounded like a Ford
from all the squeaks) drove right by my tent. Luckily, it kept on going
and didn't stop. "They" were probably night hunting
illegally. All in all, a great day backpacking on the Florida
Trail!
Day 2 tomorrow...
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