Hiking Dude Blog

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 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.

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 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 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 28 miles today.
I really enjoyed the 9 miles of walking through the wildlife area. Saw a handful of deer and plenty of birds at first light. After that, the picture describes the rest of my day. After about 14 miles of that, a couple fishermen offered me a ride to town. That's how the last few miles went so fast on my track. They were nice old boys and we got to chat about fishing a bit. Once I got to St. Cloud, I walked 5 more miles looking for a hotel with room and wound up here at the Riviera. It sounds better than it is, but it's a cheap place to stay where the only 'campground' doesn't allow tents and is actually a retirement place. Tomorrow (later today I guess since I just woke up to post this) will be more road taking me out of town. Oh, I did see one alligator today - about 15 feet from me in the water by the road. Yikes.

I traveled about 24 miles today.
Nothing but road today. I think this guy has the right idea, but he is really hard to see! A guy doing some surveying on the road hollered at me, 'I like your hat! ' as I walked by. I got to walk down the Old Tampa Highway and it was made of bricks for a couple miles. I saw a live baby alligator and two dead snakes. At the end my day, I met Jon at the Ramada Inn front desk. He was friendly and curious about my hiking gear and where I had hiked. It was nice talking with him. 20 more miles of road tomorrow before I reach the Green Swamp. There's also supposed to be rain and lightning quite a bit tomorrow. Oh, my spot tracker ran out of batteries today so there will be a long gap in tick marks starting tomorrow.

I traveled about 27 miles today.
Oh, what a day! I have way more to post than anyone would want to read all at once, so just the highlights. These two kids are Sunshine and Trail Mix, thru hiking the FT. I met them as I hiked into my home for the night. It was sooooo nice to have company. They've both worked at Northern Tier for the boy scouts. We chatted well after dark since no mosquitos were out and the full moon was lighting the jungle. My morning started with the all too familiar road walking, but after holding my 'To Trail' sign out for 10 miles or so, Sarah stopped and gave me a ride to the Van Fleet bike trail. Sarah is a real gem - completely living life on a positive, up beat tone. She does a bread ministry and is an angel at heart. After miles of dodging cars, the serene paved bike path was soothing. So quiet and peaceful, i relaxed and enjoyed the stroll through swamp with bits everywhere. And then came the Green Swamp. I was ready for slogging through mud and water and whatever was to come, since the trail has been so wet. But, as soon as I started following the blazes off the dirt road, it was exactly as I envisioned the Florida Trail to be. I walked miles through Palm fronds, vines, grasses, and exotic trees. It was great! My feet got pretty wet, but only up to my ankles. I ran into Don't Panic on the road - he's a southbound thru-hiker. I dodged most of the rain by waiting at a hunter check in station. While chatting with some good ol' boys there, another hunter brought in a 140lb hog. So, I got to watch my first hog butchering - very interesting. I did notice lots of ground churned up from hogs rooting around, and I'm pretty sure a hog was crunching through the brush by our camp tonight. Oh, I also met a deer hunter. As I was coming out the trail onto a diet road, he stopped his truck and got out carrying a big rifle with a big scope. He said he just saw a big buck go that way - pointing right where I had come from. I'm glad i hadn't hiked a minute slower.

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.

My tracker battery died. The map won't be updated until I find a store to buy new ones.