Florida Trail: Day 2
Overview:
The group created a plan for today, the previous evening, wake up around 6:30 and be hiking by 7:30. Wellllll…. That didn’t happen. I heard her alarm go off, and we both sat up at 6:30, realized how dark it was and how many mosquitoes were swarming and decided to “snooze” for another 15 minutes or so.
Eventually, we girded our loins and gathered our courage and started the morning. As a group (aside from Ghost, who is aptly named) we had a fairly leisurely breakfast. Finished packing up (with everything damp, tent, sleeping bag, etc.) and set out for the day. I melted a couple brains when I mentioned I was planning on having a late lunch at 13-mile camp (really at mile 16.something) and then finish the 13 miles of hiking at Oak Hill Camp. Yes, we hiked 13 miles and passed by 13-Mile Camp.
The only hiccup is that the last two miles was in the “toughest traverse” of the Florida Trail per FarOut (or for you nostalgic-types, Guthook). And those last two would be non-stop water with warnings about not expecting to go any faster than 1 mph. So there was a little pressure to keep up the pace.
The miles felt slower today compared to yesterday, but I think there was more of the slippery and sucking mud. The micro-adjustments that I had to make in each step to keep upright was just tiring. My hip flexors and rhomboids in particular were starting to ache (I don’t typically rely on my trekking poles for that much stability).
Any time I found some deep-ish water with a non-silty bottom I tried to rinse out my shoes. Didn’t take off my socks, just swished them around in the water. It helped, but still felt like I was carrying an extra pound on each foot.
After 5 hours, I made it to 13-mile camp (actually at mile 16.9, none of the mileage markers were correct in Big Cypress). Saw Out and About, Biff, Kelly and Matt there. They were ready to get started toward camp, so I had a quick lunch and rest break, then continued trekking.
The next two miles felt like they flew by, between the need to get them done quickly and the trail being a little bit dryer, I was back up to averaging 1.75 mph. I ran into Mike and Kelly just before the swamp section and we hike the rest of the way to camp together. At one point we also caught up to Out and About. The first mile was surreal, different, exciting and felt like we were making decent time. The last 0.8 miles into camp though really started to slow down. My shoes were filling in with sediment again and each step was painful. The awful “swamp orthotics” as Kelly dubbed them caused pressure on the ball of my foot and if I swished my toes around it would migrate to under my arch. There was no winning.
Eventually, though we made it to Oak Hill Camp where I met Jiffy Pop and Wayne (from Massachusetts, Go Patriots!). We managed to shove an unreasonable number of tents into a tiny area, but everyone had a spot. Unfortunately, we were surrounded by poison ivy, so we had to be careful with each step as we ate dinner. The mosquitos weren’t terrible, but it was quick to bed as soon as the light was gone and time for another day.
Rating the Day:
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Weather
⭐⭐⭐ Difficulty (Last two miles was continuous water)
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Physical Energy
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Scenery (More cypress sloughs and bromeliads)
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Mental State (A little worried about keeping up with the group, considering I didn’t want to do the last two miles of swamp walking by myself)
High Point of the Day:
Realizing the swamp wasn’t quite as bad as I feared, and for me how alien everything was, from the saw palmettos to the cypress trees with Spanish moss hanging off of them
Low Point of the Day:
The sucking mud, the silt, the clays, the slipping and sliding. Objectively the swamp is pretty, but I realized that I’ll never want to do this again.
Basic Stats:
FT Miles: 9.5 to 22.7
Distance Walked Today:* 14.6 miles
Steps for the Day:* 22,127 steps
Trail Conditions:
Temperature (Perception): Today felt a little cooler, and walking through water helped with temperature control as well
Wind (Perception): Slight breeze on and off all day, helped keep the sticky, humidity feeling away
Cloud Cover: Light fluffy clouds most of the day
Precipitation: None
Trail Surface: Sticky mud, silty mud, slippery clays, knee-deep water with the previously stated surfaces, and some firm dirt in the pine and palmetto savannas
Terrain: Pine savannas, cypress sloughs and palmettos
Water Sources: Swamp water when leaving 10-mile camp, just before 13-mile camp (lunch spot) and from the murky water surrounding Oak Hill camp
Wildlife Observations:
A lizard
Tiny, thumb-sized, frog
Minnows
Crawfish
Turkey Vultures, circling overhead
People on the Trail:
For the most part the same cast of characters as yesterday:
Out and About
Biff
Ghost
Peaches and Trout
She-Ra
Matt and Kelly
Missing Person
One Bar (a hiker I met going in the opposite direction who told me that the water was between chest and waist deep)
Jiffy Pop and Wayne (met them at Oak Hill Camp)
Cheers & Jeers (Gear, Food, etc.):
Very concerned about my down gear (packed my down sheet and down quilt), I have to pack it damp in the morning which is terrible for its longevity. I might have my pit crew send my synthetic quilts up to Okeechobee.
After running into One Bar, I started getting nervous about my hip pack, I shifted it to the top portion of my pack and placed my GoPro in my cell phone holder, but that shifted the balance of my Hyperlite. Something to ponder.
What did I Listen To?
Sounds of the swamp (too worried about footing and wildlife to deal with any distractions)
Photo & Video Stats:
Number of photos for the day: 115
Total time-lapse sequences: Camped on a pine hammock (complete tree cover, very humid, surrounded by poison ivy)… no time-lapses
Number of video clips: Two per mile, plus two at the beginning of the day
