Juniper Springs to
Alexander Springs, Ocala National Forest
Location: Juniper
Springs to Alexander Springs
Date: February 15
– 17, 2013Time: Started 1:30 on Friday afternoon, finished 10:30 am on Sunday morning
Weather Forecast: Day1 (upper 60s/low 54) Day2 (upper 60s/low down to 34) Day 3 (50s as we hike out)
Introduction:
We had a quick 2 week turnaround for this trip. More importantly, this was to be Shawn and
Debi’s first two night backpacking trip.
We were back in Ocala getting very close to finishing the eastern
corridor of the Florida Trail.
The Trip:
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| Map 1 |
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| At the start, we are all smiles. James, Ken, Shawn, & Debi |
1.
We start out the trip heading out from Juniper
Springs. We met two men that were
dropping off a car so they could hike the Florida Trail from Hopkin’s Prairie
to Juniper Springs like we had done in
the summer. Also, the end of this
trip was also the same ending spot of the other three’s really cold backpacking
trip last
year. We were planning on doing about 6 miles to
camp. James has already hiked this
before so he has a good understanding of what to expect for this part of the
trail. As we started out I noticed that
the terrain was already more dense than that on the other side of the
park. This was to be a repeating theme
throughout the first day’s hike.
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| Me at the begining and some Rainbow People. Okay, those are actually Shawn and James. |
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| Sign stating that we have already gone 1 mile! |
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| Juniper Srpings Park boundary sign, south side near Hwy 40. |
2. After we carefully crossed State Road 40, the vegetation had changed.
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| James relaxing or is it catching his breath? |
3.
We came to a wooden boardwalk of decent length
(60 feet or so). In the past, Debi has
had a problem with these. She really
doesn’t like the ones without hand rails.
Of course, this one didn’t have them either but the area below was dry
so it didn’t appear to bother her one bit. She seemed to handle it like a
hiking pro.
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| Debi getting ready to take on one of her nemeses. The other is, of course, the sand hill crane. |
4.
As we continued through the forest, several
things became really apparent. The
vegetation varied in many ways. From
prairies, to clear forest, to thick forest.
Quite surprising to me because I always think of Florida as being
generally the same. Another thing that
was apparent was that there was a lot, and I mean, A LOT, of bear scat. Most of it looked old (to our uneducated eyes
at least). We were a little cautious but
knew that we tend to talk while we are hiking so that gives any bears ample
warning that we are coming.
5. As we hike, it seems like we keep going up, and up in elevation. Yes, I know, as I had previously blogged it is “Florida Flat” but we seem to have these little hills to contend with. Made me thankful that we were not in the mountains.
6. As we are going up one of these “mountains” I turned to check on everyone but, to my surprise, they were not there. Now, on a previous trip I was on point (lead) and veered off course while they kept on course and laughed at me when I turned around to see my mistake. (I have a tendency to look at the ground near me while I hike. Lately, I have been trying to look ahead instead for several reasons). I turn to head back towards them and after several steps I could hear them. Then I could tell they were coming my way. So what was the hold up? They stopped to take a picture of a bear print. A big bear print [picture]. Now I was on edge because of all of the scat, now prints, and I was on point! I turn and walk when seconds later I hear a BUNCH of noise coming from my right. It of course, was a TURKEY. We had scared it enough that it flew off in a hurry. I jumped (probably screamed) while the others got a kick out of it.
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| Great looking group of guys |
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| Bear prints (frong and back). Picture by Shawn |
7. We came to Forest Road 599 and we noticed a lot of prints in the sand. BIG BEAR PRINTS! [picture] It was apparent that this big bear was heading in the direction that we were coming from so that was of some comfort.
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| Map 2 |
8. Soon we were on the northern edge of Farles Prairie. That is significant because this is where we planned to stay the night. We ended up with a site that couldn’t have been better. The area was cleared, trees were spaced properly for our hammocks, there was already a place for fire, and there was a lot of wood near us. After setting up camp and getting fire wood we were able to relax for the night. Shawn did get hit in the hip by a log while pulling on some firewood. Looks like the log definitely won.
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| Camp before we took it over. |
I had some concerns about my sleeping arrangements. It was supposed to be cold but, thankfully, not as cold as the last camping trip. I reworked some things and, thankfully, slept really good (7+ hours).
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| Me and James getting the fire started |
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| Fire and the sky |
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| Pretty good match of the fire, huh? |
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| Fire = warmth and good conversation. |
As we all got out of bed, we got a fire going and I found out that the others had various problems sleeping. Later on, since I slept good, I was nominated as the motivator for the day. I was fired within minutes for, apparently, doing my job.
We see these plants all over the place but have no idea what they are (moss/mushroom/etc). We call them Florida Snow. They are very nice for getting a fire started. (edit: found out it is called Deer Moss.)
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| Florida's version of "snow" |
I had something new for breakfast, stuff for breakfast burritos.
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| A little watery but tasted great |
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| Me eating my breakfast. Notice the hair? Combs weigh too much to bring on the FT. |
As we were finishing breakfast, we could hear some dogs in the distance. We weren’t sure what, if anything, they were chasing. One of the dogs lagged behind and got lost as the pack turned. It went around a thicket, traveling in circles several times. Poor thing. It eventually went off and found the scent of the others.
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| Our camp site |
9. Not too long after leaving camp we came across these trees. Kind of neat.
10. Every once in a while, we could hear dogs out for the hunt. If you look carefully at this picture you can see evidence that the dogs were through here recently. Can you spot it?
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| Do you see it? |
Did you notice that the dogs left their bark behind? I know, I know, someone must have let me off of my leash but dog gonnit, I thought that was a funny joke. I hope you don’t have a bone to pick with me because of it. I guess that joke was all bark and no bite. What a tail! Okay, I am going to flea now. Moving on…
11. Our next long stop was about 3 miles away at Farles Prairie Campground. They had drinking water and that is always a priority, especially when you are in Ocala. We took a nice break here getting some food, water, and a bathroom break. We met a couple of day hikers that were looking for Buck Lake. They had overshot it by a couple of miles. Later on we noticed that the blaze marks were either missing or very difficult to see. (Edit: emailed the Florida Trail Association about the missing blazes and their response was that they no longer maintain that particular spur trail. This is because the Forest Service doesn't want hikers from the FT to go to Buck Lake.) Also, met a recently retired, county sherrif deputy that was very nice. We asked several questions one of them being what are they hunting right now. He replied with fox. Then with a smile said they hunt fox at night and spend the day time looking for their lost dogs!
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| Interesting water source |
12. As the spur trail met up with the main Florida Trail, a dog suddenly appeared around a corner scaring me pretty good. We had seen a hunter sitting in his car honking his horn as we left our break area and apparently this was his dog. The only problem was the dog was afraid of us and would not pass us to go towards his owner. We tried but he didn’t want anything to do with us. He had a tracking collar on him so we weren’t too concerned.
13. We came across a large deer on the trail that, of course, didn’t want to wait for me to take a picture of it.
14. After traveling 3 more miles, we hit our second location for a long break. The others decided to have a coffee break which required pulling out the stove for water. Kind of neat sitting in the woods, while having a coffee/food break. This area was another nice location to camp but was about 3 miles from where we needed to be to keep the last day pretty short. This is also where we were “passed” by a day hiker who had to be 102 years old according to our guestimates.
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| Coffee Break |
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| Map 3 |
15. After the break we had to get going so we could find a decent place to stay overnight. While on the trail the biggest black racer I had ever seen decided to get out of our way and into the scrubs. Me being startled at all of the wildlife became a running joke for the others since they liked to see my reaction. They were having fun at my expense of being on point.
16. As we started to look for our next camp site, the terrain was not very accommodating for us. Our choices were very dense forest or small scrub trees with no space for a fire. We pressed on where we finally found a forest road but nothing there seemed promising. We kept going to another forest road that was used more than the previous one. We dropped our packs and looked up and down the road and found one pretty close to the trail. After a little bit of clearing we all had some nice places to stay for the night.
Shawn, Debi, and I setup our hammocks that night a little different than the first night. It was supposed to get much colder (mid 30s) and the wind could be an issue. I ended up using my poncho as a lean-to on the wind side. I slept with my pad between my sleeping bag and a solar blanket. I also used another solar blanket on top of my screen. This would create a little bit of an oven affect as well as help repel and chilling wind. This took me longer than normal but, thankfully, James and Shawn had already gotten a lot of firewood.
This being a long days hike, we all had aches and pains. Mostly foot related like sore feet. Even though we all had tired written on our faces, we were able to muster some energy go get the fire going and have dinner. Soon after this, we coined the terms Ow-cala and Ouch-cala. Instead of Ocala, these new names seemed more appropriate. We have had many trips in this forest and they were not kind to us. Still, we have enjoyed them all.
The wind seemed to finally be dying down after blowing pretty good most the afternoon. The fire was very inviting like it always is on cold nights. Dinner, again, was something new for me: Chicken Fajitas. I used the same wraps as before. This has got to be my favorite meal so far. Enough to make three wraps and it was very tasty.
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| Before |
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| After "cooking" |
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| Ready to eat: YUM! |
James and I stayed up a little later than Shawn and Debi. We hung up the food with Shawn cheering us on from his hammock. That was the last we heard from Shawn that evening since he was snoring not too long after that. He was pretty sore from taking on that log and loosing plus the long days hike. As James and I were getting ready for bed, the wind picked up again. Even thought it was not unexpected, it was unwanted none the less. We had to douse the fire with dirt so it wouldn’t be fanned un-expectantly in the night.
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| This fire was really needed because the temperature was dropping and the wind was cold. |
After the typical but shortened wrestling match with the sleeping bag, I was off to sleep. I had a couple of unwanted bathroom trips in the night though. This probably because I am used to going to bed much later at home so my body is still on that clock. We also had a vehicle pass our area on the fire road at 3:45am per Debi’s watch.
After a decent night’s sleep (not as great as the night before), I was the first out of bed for once. I got the fire started. Isn’t it amazing how quickly others get up on a cold morning when there is already a fire going? J
17. We broke camp around 9:30 again and were off to complete our trip. It was very cold still and most of us still had long pants and long sleeves on. The wind was also gusting pretty good as well.
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| Yes, it was that cold. I hiked out in this, minus the stocking cap and jacket. |
18. We left the main Florida Trail for the spur towards Alexander Springs which meant we were only ½ mile from our vehicle.
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| Me, and we are almost there. |
My Lists (Thoughts
and Ideas that may help me for future trips):
Food (I tend to
keep it light on the trail but spoil myself at camp. Also, notice how this is at the top?): · Day 1 Lunch wasn’t eaten, just trail mix, water, and some drink.
· Dinner – Spaghetti. Not bad but gave me a lot of gas. Almost felt bad for the others when I was on point. Almost.
· Dessert – too full from dinner.
· Day 2 Breakfast – something new, Breakfast Skillet. Pretty tasty. I believe I didn’t follow the directions and drain off the excess water. I noticed this while making my dinner that night.
· Tuna and crackers – a really nice, easy meal while on the trail.
· Dinner – again, something new, Chicken Fajitas. Very, very good. This is my favorite dinner so far.
· Dessert – again, too full from dinner.
· Day 3 Breakfast – couple of leftover Newtons and drink.
· Misc – Sam’s Club trail mix, Mio (flavors: ice tea, fruit punch, and orange), Fizz tablet from Shawn to help with electrolytes, cliff bars, gum (very refreshing), rootbeer barrels, and soda.
De Ja Vu (If I
was to hike this area again):
·
Can’t think of anything at the moment.
What I learned:
·
Make sure your tree straps are packed. While packing my bag after the first night, I
was waiting on James to come back from the “bathroom”. When I saw him, I left what I was doing to go
do the same. I came back and finished
packing but noticed one of my straps was missing. I figured I had already packed it since it
wasn’t on the tree or the ground. Later
that day, when setting up camp and couldn’t find it. James asked if I was looking for
something. I had to, begrudgingly, admit
that I couldn’t find one of my straps.
He mentioned maybe someone picked it up but I said something like not
likely. There is a history to his
because on the Toshohatchee trip, I had left my tree straps but we found them
because we just happened to drive back to the same bridge and I noticed they
were still attached to the bridge! Well
after letting me stew for a couple of
What I learned, again
(I know I knew this before but forgot via aging or just plain stubbornness):
·
Due to the tree strap “incident” above, James,
and Shawn, are definitely my brothers!
Critter Count:
·
Small hawk· Turkey
· Deer
· Black Racer
· Vampire class - ticks and several mosquitos (thankfully none made contact with us)
· Many dogs but those really shouldn’t count do they
People Count
[total for all trips]:
·
Backpackers: 0 [7]· Day Hikers: 5 [16]
· Other: Saw multiple people in Farles Prairie Campground area. Mostly hunter’s, one person out for a drive, and two on a john boat in the lake. One of the day hikers also had a dog with him. Dog was friendly, hiker wasn’t.
Miles:
·
Day 1: 6· Day 2: 11
· Day 3: 3
· Total Miles Traveled: 54
Cravings (as silly as it sounds,
when you get away from “it all” you miss certain things like…):
·
Nothing of noteGadget Corner (discuss a new item, or a trusted, regularly used item):
· Hammock – I have mentioned several times in this blog that I sleep in a hammock instead of tents. Why? Hmmm, because that is what the others do as well! Okay, the truth is that it is way cool too. Seriously though, after Shawn and Debi’s first overnighter they realized that they didn’t want to sleep on that hard, nasty ground after a day of hiking. James was already using a Hennessy Hammock and loved it. They looked around and settled on the Hammock Bliss No-See-Um No More. The latter is a little more for the budget conscience but after adding the rain fly and the dreaded shipping and handling, they become pretty close in price. In addition to that, the use of tree straps is an absolute must. These make attaching to the tree a lot easier, give you flexibility in the distance between trees, and protects the tree’s bark from damage.
· Advantages of using a hammock
o Off of the wet ground.
o Can possibly get a little more air circulation
o Can be less weight than a 2 person tent split between 2 people.
o Less clearing around trees needed below.
o Ground doesn’t have to be level.
o Being separated from your spouse.
· Disadvantages of using a hammock
o Need trees of course! Yes, this seems to be a no brainer but there are stretches of the trail that do not have suitable trees to hang from, see Shawn’s Alexander Springs trip.
o Colder weather creates challenges because cold air is all around you.
o Mosquitos can, and do, bite you from below the lightweight parachute material.
o Being separated from your spouse.
o Does require some trial and error on how to have access your stuff while in the hammock.
· Also, in Gadget Corner from the last blog, I discussed different ways to charge your cell phone while on the trail. I am leaning on going towards a solar panel/battery combo and explain another choice. Shawn and I did have much better success with our phones this time. We put the phones into airplane mode. I did try to remember to turn off the airplane mode while taking pictures so I could geotag them. Unfortunately, the geotag didn’t seem to work this time since it is putting the pictures in the wrong location.
Medical (general physical
condition of this blogger during and after trip):
·
Slight blisters, again, on the pinkie toes. My feet had less than 2 weeks to heal from
the last trip. After the first night, I
put mole skin on them and that seemed to help.
I was using double socks (wicking against the foot with wool ones on top). · Feet were of course sour and left ankle had a little of a pain to it while hiking but it was bearable.
· Legs are sore the Monday afterwards, mostly the outside left leg. Must be from the continued use of the Ocala Wobble.
Next time… (things I’d like to do differently):
· Binoculars – I have a small set and they may come in handy.
· Need to get a decent rainfly setup. I was using my poncho and that isn’t big enough. I need to find the right size so I can also create a shelter/lien-to if needed for bad weather.
· Again, need to spend some time playing with my hammock setup. I put in a ridgeline inside of the hammock but need to get the location of items fixed so they are easily located in the dark.
Links:
·
Shawn’s
Blog· Debi’s Blog
· Florida Trails
Conclusion:
What a fantastic trip.
Even though this trip had several new elements to it (2 nights, 10 mile
hike, and “mountains”) we all had a great time.
The weather was bearable, the terrain and vegetation had a multitude of
variations, and we saw some wildlife unlike our last trip. It was mentioned by one of the other guys
that it is amazing that when we get to camp we all know what we need to do without
talking about it. You can tell that we
are all getting comfortable with our gear. This was my favorite trip so far in this journey.
We also have 3 other pairs of people that are interested in
joining us for some of our trips so that is great news!
