Hiking Dude Blog

I traveled about 25 miles today.
Walked the rest of the way around the western side of Lake Okeechobee - never did see an actual lake. Just as we finished by crossing the Kissimmee river, we caught up to Devilfish and Carl. By the way, the bridge over the Kissimmee is Treacherous!!! Absolutely no shoulder. Reports from hikers ahead have been that the Kissimmee river section of trail ahead is waist deep and higher water. This is all cattle country around here. Not wanting to swim through cow piss, I arranged for Mike, a great trail angel, to give me a ride north, skipping this flooded part. Talking with Mike was the highlight of my day. He has done a little hiking and is enjoying meeting the folks hiking the FT this winter while he drives his camper around. The picture is where Mike dropped me off at the beginning of the Three Lakes section which started with a 2 mile walk on a diet road. As soon as I stepped off the road onto the trail it was all water. I took a side trail back to the road which parallels the trail and will walk it through here instead. I expect when I reach the Green Swamp west of the town of Kissimmee that I'll encounter more flooded trail, but I have my fingers crossed. The walk this evening was very nice - just me, a couple deer, and some birds. Finally away from fast traffic and it is very quiet out here far from anyone.

I traveled about 25 miles today.
This beautiful day graced us with many miles of safe walking, much of it along very unsafe roads. The levee around the lake is being worked on so we were diverted. Walking right beside 65+ mph semis isn't much fun. Once we got back on the levee, we ran into these three WARRIOR HIKE participants. It was the highlight of the day to chat with them for a few minutes. They are all hanging on hammocks and say it's very comfortable. We also meet a couple nice ladies at Becks Store in Lakeport. They let us get water and use the restroom, and chatted about the area. Other than that, it looks like we might finally be out of the sugar cane fields. We caught a glimpse of the lake rather than the miles of marsh that surrounds it. Saw, and heard, an airboat. And met my first lock tender - a guy that opens the lock for boats to pass.

I traveled about 6 miles today.
Yes, just 6 miles today. Severe weather was forecast for this morning so I spent the night in an old hotel in Clewiston. Good choice. The weather was bad with intense rain, high wind, and tornado warnings. It all blew through by 10 am. I met up with my hiking buddy, Bennett, and we did a couple hours along the levee around Lake Okeechobee to an open camp space called Liberty Point where we're resting now. The wind remained strong all day, but it was nice and sunny. Just a half mile farther is a place called Uncle Joe's fish camp. Since we had so much daylight left, we walked there to check it out. Quite a dive! The reason we did such a short day is that tomorrow has a very long road walk with no place to camp because of this conduction on the levee. We didn't want to get stuck in that and plan to do it all tomorrow. Well, the wind has stopped, the sun set, and the mosquitos are swarming around my safe but tiny bug shelter so I'll say 'Good Night'.

I finished hiking for today. You can check out my current location on the map and I'll post about my day when I am in coverage.

Not much to tell, but here's a quick update.
Yesterday and today are spent visiting relatives off the trail in Florida. Lots of food, rest, and showers, and I'm itching to be walking again. Thunderstorms are forecast for late tonight into tomorrow morning, so my plan is to drop Josh at the airport so he can get back to school and then stay in a hotel in Clewiston until the rain diminishes on Sunday morning.
I'm hoping to hike out of town with a friend I met on the trail. If it works out, we'll part ways in a few days when he heads east and I take the Western Corridor route. The word from the trail is that the excessive rain around here has flooded the trail in many places, so there may be more walking along roads than paths in the days ahead.

I traveled about 13 miles today.
An uneventful walk along levees and roads brought us into Clewiston, the sweetest town, due to its huge sugar industry. We did play tag with a white tail deer for almost a mile as he was stuck with us between two wide ditches. And, this turtle was on the path. We're taking tomorrow off and then Josh heads back to school while I continue on north. Looks like we'll miss some bad weather. I'm hoping to run into other hikers heading north and hopefully join them for a few miles or days. We'll see.

I traveled about 23 miles today.
I watched a documentary about some guys that hiked across a desert. Just sand for days and weeks. This was our view today as we walked due north without a turn for 23 miles. I can't imagine how mind numbing the view of sand would be for days. We did get to visit with some cows, horses, birds, and dogs as we walked. And, the flat miles changed between some sugar crop, cattle range, and swamp. Both yesterday and today, there has been field burning on the horizon. Probably about 20 different fires set which only last a few minutes, creating a huge cloud of smoke and then black bits floating from the sky. Maybe we'll be closer enough to see one tomorrow. A treat today was a chunk of cane from a field. Sweet juice as we walked along for a couple miles. We met Devilfish near the end of the day and walked with him a bit. He's moving farther tonight as we stopped by the 'Lone Palm' spot which actually has two palms, so maybe we're some where else. Anyway, just a spot along the canal for the night.

I traveled about 16 miles today.
Good evening from atop the levee somewhere out on the drained land of Florida. This was the first night of our trip where we could just stop walking whenever we wanted and set up camp. Didn't need to reach a park, campground, island, or any designated spot. So, we found a wide spot right at the only bend on the levee for 40 miles and called it good. Tomorrow we will walk a line straight north all day. We're low on food and bad weather is coming Thursday night (supposedly) so we'll see how things shake out. Our friend, Bennett, stayed behind while Joey moved on ahead so it's just the two of us now. A great day to be out walking and we saw a few alligators, many birds, a raccoon, and a turtle. Oh, and a few herd of cows. It has been really chilling off at night and my fingers are getting cold entering this, but not cold enough to kill off the mosquitos that still swarm at dusk.

I traveled about 20 miles today.
The highlights of today were seeing the alligator and this snake. Now, if I can see a panther, that will be all three I was hoping for. Our 4 miles out of the swamp was much like the last two days but gradually easier as the water changed to mud then dry land when we neared Alligator Ally I75. Wonderful trail angels provided us with snacks and water and a very long rest break in the sunny breeze. All my gear had a chance to dry out so tonight I'm very comfortable in a chill breeze blowing through Big Cypress campground. The 16 miles of walking after the swamp were easy but wearing on legs and feet already fatigued. It was a wonderful day to walk.

Hey, look what we just saw.