Dates: December 26 – 28, 2013
Time: started 12:30 pm on Thursday afternoon, finished Saturday
at 9:15am.
Weather forecast: days
in the mid 70s, nights mid 60s. Rain
40%.
Introduction:
After some time off, we are finally back to hiking the
Florida Trail. This was to be our first 4
day/3 night trip. We originally wanted to
hike the Green
Swamp area of the Withlacoochee State Forest. Since it was hunting season, they didn’t
allow camping on the trail. After much
looking we ended up settling on the portion from Econolohatchee to Joshua
Creek. This was the first time for me to
hike this portion of the trail. James, Shawn,
and Debi had hiked this portion, in several trips, before. Our last trip started from Joshua Creek and
went south (sorry, no blog for that one yet).
The forecast was also for rain so we were a little excited about
that. We hadn’t had a trip with a lot of
rain on it. We got close,
but nothing has panned out for us yet.
 |
| Map 1 |
The Trip
(1)
We started out hiking the Florida
Trail (redline on the map) in the Little
Big Econolockhatchee State Forest north to south. We have camped multiple nights in the “Econ”
before. These were simple
overnighters. This area has a lot of
college kids there at night partying throughout the night (ie: little fire wood
available and even less sleep). Our plan
was to make it through this area and get to the other side of Snowhill Road before we start to look for
camp. This entire area is a great
example of what Florida landscape is like.
Within the first mile or 2 we encountered two pairs and a group of hikers.
(2)
Even though this area is heavily used, it is
still quite pretty. Some of the trail
follows the Econolockhatchee. The difference
in elevation between the trail and the water can be 10 feet at points. Kind of intimidating when you think about the
alligators in the water.
(3)
Before we cross the Econ River, we took a
break. There is a good size bride there
as well. Years ago, after Tropical Storm
Faye had drenched our area, the water levels had risen everywhere quite
dramatically. James had the chance to kayak
down this same river and said the water was just below the hand rail on the
bridge. That had to have been 25-30 feet
above the current river! Also, to the
north of the bridge there are some large pilings for an old bridge. It was even higher than the current bride. I didn’t understand why that one was much
taller and, obviously, much older.
(4)
We turned south to follow the trail. This part of the trail is quite straight and
flat and is referred to as Flagler Road.
When I heard that name I asked if there was any correlation to the
Flagler Railroad System built back in the early 20th century that
brought tourism and development to Florida.
Shawn wasn’t sure. Well, looking
at this
(see Natural Features), it confirms that it was used for the railroad. That is pretty cool. I need to get my wife and kids out here.
(5)
As we turned off of Flagler Road, it went back
to the typical narrow trail. There were
4 bikes at this location, so there were some other people out here as well. This portion of the trail is a lot less
used. It is probably because it is not
close to parking area off of Snowhill Road.
(6)
We encountered 4 young people walking back
towards Flagler Road. James thought it
might be the owners of the bikes but I thought they were too far away from
there bikes. Also, one of the girls
asked if there were any spider webs. My
response: not anymore!
(7)
I saw the head of a bicyclist on the bike trails
in the Econ area. I didn’t realize that
the bike trails came that far south.
(8)
Snowhill Road crossing.
 |
| Breaktime somewhere along the FT. |
(9)
Camping site Night 1. After approximately 6 miles, we called it a
day. The total miles for the trip was
less than about 18. We jumped off of the
trail and onto a forest road. There were
a lot of small trees that had been recently pushed over so it gave us some choices
of “clear” areas to hang our hammocks. We
found an area that we all could be really close to each other.
Since rain was a concern we all ended up putting up
or rainflys. At first, I was going to
risk not putting one up that night but I was convinced otherwise. On previous trips, my choice of rainfly has
changed. For the
first trip, I used an old rain fly from a dome tent. That didn’t work too well but thankfully we
didn’t get any rain until we headed out.
I have also used my oversized poncho as a rainfly before. Actually, it was used as a wind break. This time I brought a 12x12 tarp. Basically the same material as those dreaded
blue poly tarps. It was bulky but after I
set it up, I was sold on the size (may a smaller one of 12x10). The tarp had no problem covering both ends of
my hammock with plenty of overlap. Not sure
what I would do if the rain was driven in from that direction except maybe
attach my poncho to it. It staked the
corners and middles and attached the tarp to my ridgeline by using 2 tarp
clips. These tarp clips are very
handy indeed. I need to purchase anther
4 – 6 of them. Idea! Use the clips to attach a poncho at the end
of an opening to block any rain!
 |
| First night setup. Some refer to it as the Taj Mahal. |
Wood was plentiful in the area (one of the reasons we
chose this site). We gathers some wood
and cut some of the bigger pieces with the saws. For dinner, Chili Mac was on the menu.
Shawn and Debi turned in around 8:00pm because they are
getting old needed to recapture some
lost sleep from nights before. James and
I turned in just after 9:00pm. In the
distance, I saw some kind of critter on the ground when using the “bathroom”. I thought it may have been a raccoon, but James
mentioned that it was more likely an armadillo.
That would make more sense.
 |
| One of the many reasons I wear a hat while on the trail....my bush of hair. |
Next morning, I awoke to the others up with Debi
working on getting a fire started. It didn’t
get as cold that night as I had thought.
The weather kept changing throughout the week with the nights being
about 10 degrees warming than I thought it would be. I also had a new sleeping bag. It is rated for 10 degrees but that didn’t
seem like it was going to get tested this trip.
We only had to go 6 miles or so we didn’t get started until 9:30 or so.
 |
| Map 2 |
(10)We hadn’t been walking for
10 minutes when Shawn stepped OVER a snake.
Just as he did I yelled snake.
Thankfully it was a garter snake and it seemed to be a little sluggish
(possibly hadn’t had his morning coffee).
Shawn did get a picture of it.
Oh, I didn’t snap many pictures this trip. My cell phone battery is awful I was saving
that for encase it was really needed. I am
hoping to get some pictures from Shawn and Debi. A lot of people are concerned about
hiking/backpacking and running into snakes on the trail. Is it a concern of mine? Yes.
Do I worry about it? No. I can only recall seeing 3 while backpacking
since I was in Boy Scouts. Since I am typically
close to the front of the line, they are usually scared off before the others
get there.
 |
| The Garter snake Shawn almost stepped on... |
(11)As we travel out in the
middle of what would appear to be no-where, we would occasionally see someone’s
house. There was one that looked to be
huge. Along with the large pool, they also
had volleyball and tennis courts.
(12)We often wondered how land
was created for the trail. Some areas looked like someone’s backyard…
(13)…while others looked like a
field between properties.
(14)We found a tangerine tree
next to the trail. A little beyond it
was an orange tree. Even though wild
citrus is usually sour, I tried the tangerine and was pleasantly surprised that
it wasn’t that bad tasting. Shawn went
after some oranges. I offered a
tangerine to Debi and, well, it must have been real sour because her face
puckered up and her jaw locked up. Who
knew that I would like sour stuff? While
chasing down an orange for Debi, Shawn fell and luckly caught his fall with a
tree trunk. Unfortunately, that trunk
was to the orange tree and it had some large spikes on it. Shawn yelped and, when he appeared, hand now
had a red, puncture wound to it. We left
but not before I grabbed another tangerine.
(15)There are multiple raised
walkways in this area due to the high water in the summer. Made for an interesting deviation until you
hit a wobbly board.
(16)We stopped here for
lunch. It seemed like a great place
because there were 2 picnic tables there and a big tree. The tables are dedicated to some Florida
Trail works. Shawn brought Summer Sausage,
cheese, and crackers for lunch. I got in
on the action and determined that was a nice change of pace. Hopefully, we remember that for next time. We tried not to loiter too long since we knew
that the rain was coming and could, possibly, beat us to our campsite.
 |
| Lunch time! |
(17)We made it to a dirt road
and started on a trail a little different than we normally go on: pavement. Not only was there no sidewalk but the road was
pretty flat and, with the exception of one bend, very straight. At this time the clouds started to get a
little darker and we would feel the occasional rain drop.
(18)After getting a little
ahead of the others, I turned into the west entrance of Charles Bronson State
Forest in Chuluota. Then it started to
sprinkle a little harder. This location
was a significant location for us because this is where we dropped off 9
gallons of water. We saw numerous
locations to camp for the night but we were all getting low on water so we knew
we had to get to this location. After a
break, and some planning, we topped off our water supply and headed off down
the trail. We ended up caring all of the
water with us. We figured we could just
dump what we didn’t need out in the morning and pack out the remains of the
plastic jugs. Well, the added water weight
to the packs was quite a sight since our packs were suddenly 10+ pounds
heavier.
When the weather forecast says 60% there will be no rain,
but when it says 40% you are going to get rained on. –James, Dec 26, 2013
(19)Searched for a campsite
south but I honestly have no idea where we were at. The aerial picture doesn’t help me much. Again, it was off of the FT, and, again, it
was on a forest road. We like the forest
roads because it gives us a nice place to make a fire without leaf debris
causing us issues. It also had plenty of
firewood as well.
Speaking of trees, at first, there seemed to be a lot
to choose from to hang the hammocks but my first option was a no go due to a widowmaker. I found a nice spot but it was away from
everyone else. Probably the furthest
distance I have been from others. I set
up my hammock and rainfly. Since rain
was imminent, it put my poncho on the ground underneath the rainfly. This was to keep my gear up off of the ground
and dry. I also have a thicker ground
cloth that I use to sit around the fire with.
Yes, I could have reversed it but I didn’t want to put on a dirty poncho
when it eventually started to rain.
Since we arrived to camp early we kind of chilled out
for a while. Dinner was chicken and rice
and was quite filling. Shawn and Debi
were party animals that night and didn’t go to bed until around 9:00. This was surprising because they both had had
difficulty sleeping the night before. Occasionally
it would mist but around 10:00 it got a little heavier so James and I decided
to call it a night.
I picked up my ground cloth and headed to my
hammock. I replaced the poncho with the
ground cloth since it would be better to use as a floor mat. I figured this was my best protection from
getting wet and keeping my misc clothes/shoes from getting wet. I checked my pack cover, hit the men’s room,
and went to bed. I had been trying to
listen to a book on tape, Hope Unseen by Scotty Smiley, but for the 2nd
night I was drifting to sleep quickly after getting to bed.
Rain! I awoke
around 2:00am to real rain hitting my rainfly.
! I know when I am camping, rain
has an unsettling feeling when it starts.
A thousand things rush through my head.
Did I leave anything out? Did I cover
everything (nope, forgot to cover the firewood). Did I forget anything that could ruin my
trip? I did a mental check and fell back
to sleep. Around 3:00 am I awoke and it
was still raining. Instead of the mental
note, I decided to poke my head out and do a visual check: Ugggh!
The edge of my ground cloth was sticking out beyond the edge of the
rainfly. Several items that I left on it
were wet including shoes, shorts, a shirt, and my sweat pants. The sweat pants were the worst since they had
soaked up a bunch of water. The shorts
and shirt were wet but would dry quickly once I wore them. The shoes appeared to be unfazed. I guess I would have to deal with those in
the morning. I also saw a light coming
from Shawn and Debi’s direction but figured it was the dreaded midnight bathroom break but the rain storm edition.
Quote: Some days you are the windshield, some days you are
the bug. -Our dad
Morning. It was
still very damp but it hadn’t been raining.
I heard all 3 voices so I figured I would get up. I went over to them and asked how they had
weathered the storm. James had an issue
with his rainfly. It had the occasional drip
so he got out and made it lean in one direction so the water would stay on it
as little as possible. Unfortunately,
Shawn and Debi had fared much, much worse.
They have the same hammock that I do but
they had purchased the optional rainfly from them as well. Unfortunately, that it appears to be
undersized and the odd shape of a rectangle.
As the rain fell, unbeknownst to them, the rain was dropping between
their hammock and sleeping bag. When
they moved, the tarp would dump even more water. They ended up huddling under Shawn’s tarp
with the hammock removed. They have had
such bad experiences sleeping (more like not sleeping) in the hammocks that
they are going to try using a tent instead.
Due to the frustrations of not getting any sleep,
again, Shawn and Debi figured they should call it a trip and go home. After some discussions, we all decided to
call for our ride home.
Quote: We have learned to deal with the heat and the cold. Now we just need to learn to deal with the
rain. –Debi Dec 28, 2013.
We ate breakfast and packed our stuff to go
home.
(20)We were picked up at our
water drop-off around 9:30am.
My Lists – Thoughts and Ideas
Food (after a long, grueling day, I like to spoil myself at
dinner time):
·
Day 1
o
Lunch: trail
mix and stuff.
o
Dinner: Mountain house Chili Mac. A little spicy but filling.
·
Day 2
o
Breakfast:
Pop Tarts, Cliff Bar, and trail mix(I need to eat oatmeal but just can’t
stomach it or the thought of eating it)
o
Lunch: summer sausage, cheese stick, crackers,
trail mix, poweraide.
o
Dinner: Chicken and Rice. Package contained 3 servings and, therefore,
was very filling.
·
Day 3
o
Breakfast: 2 packages of Pop Tarts. Yes, they were crushed into different sizes
due to being in my backpack.
De Ja Vu (If I was to hike this area again)
·
Finish it!
·
There was a really nice campground 3 miles north
of the Bronson State Forest entrance. It
had a picnic table and benches around the fire ring.
Critter Count:
·
Snake (garter)
·
Birds (hawk)
·
Armadillo (possibly)
·
Many domesticated animals (dogs, cattle, and
horses)
People Count (an informal count to give an idea of how
“busy” the trail was) [total for all trips]:
·
Backpackers: 0
[7]
·
Day Hikers: 11
[33]
Miles:
·
Day 1: 6
·
Day 2: 6
·
Total Miles Traveled: 75
Cravings (as silly as it sounds, when you get away from “it
all” you miss certain things like…):
·
None. We did
have a long talk about BBQ on the 2nd night but that was it.
Medical (general physical condition of this blogger during
and after the trip):
·
I was really concerned about getting a cold
since the family had been battling it for the past couple of days. Thankfully, didn’t get anything.
·
No blisters but a little sore each morning. Only time I took Advil was before we started.
·
I had also lost some weight before the trip. Not surprisingly, it seemed to help with my
cardio and overall well being.
Next time… (things I’d like to do differently)
·
Need a real rainfly like this
one. Not crazy about the additional
2 pounds of weight but getting soaked is even worse of an alternative.
·
Sadly, I had forgotten insect repellant. Thankfully, they weren’t around long.
·
Need to take some pictures! I need a cheap camera to take pictures since
my phone battery isn’t cutting it.
Links:
·
Shawn’s Blog· Debi’s Blog
· Florida Trails
Conclusion:
Even though this trip was cut short because of the rain, we
still had a good time. This each day of
the was short due to the location. We were
shooting for a 3 night trip but only made it 2.
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