Christmas was a cold walk in the morning sun. The buff covering my face from the frigid wind looked like a Rorschach test from the condensation in my breath. Merlot, another hiker, mentioned craving eggs and bacon, and I began thinking about it too much. A side effect of hiker hunger, burning more calories than […]
The flooding along the Florida Trail will not drown fire ants. Instead, their colonies emerge from the soil, form a loose ball, and float with the water until they reach a dry area or object they can hungrily crawl up on, and that could very well be your leg if you happen to walk into […]
We camped with Morning Wood, who offers assistance to hikers from his van, and who cooked cheeseburgers to lift our spirits. Then it was right back to the swamp and the underwater Florida Trail to hike in rain for most of the day. You hope to setup your tent during a break in the rain, […]
You are going to get wet. That’s the first rule of the Florida Trail, and something to take to heart, even in a normal year. Not only will you be hiking in water almost every day, but for Central and South Florida, this year’s El Niño is shaping up to be one of the strongest […]
We woke up to find a regularly scheduled trash fire burning behind our tents, welcoming the warmth as we packed, and hiked the Herbert Hoover Dike north towards Okeechobee. We’d hiked on and off with Forrest, who was hiking across America with his Gump for President message, suggesting to people that there was something wrong […]
There was a storm coming that had many hikers concerned about spending the night outside. Personally, I was more concerned that I’d finished the last of my water before we broke camp at the STA-5 water management complex. We’d be walking the levee along the canal, where water without agricultural runoff would be scarce if […]
At Nobles Campsite mosquitoes hung on the tent, waiting for me to emerge. I ate Crunch n Munch for breakfast, hiking through spider webs stretching across the trail, north towards the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation. On the first Sunday of every month, Big Cypress New Testament Baptist Church offers a free meal for anyone who […]
Twenty miles through the swamp took all day, with knee to thigh-deep water slowing every step. Unseen holes beneath the surface threatened to slow progress, or worse, bring you to an ankle breaking stop. Every step demands attention, pushing through knee-deep water while searching for solid footing. That alone will wear you out, but the […]
Long days of rhythmic, meditative footsteps across unfamiliar terrain allow for easy access to mystic-lite states of consciousness. Where the balance between the internal and external experience is a sort of perpetual motion, a physical reflection of the inner need for exploration, growth, and understanding. But then again, I’m a romantic. This idealized view of […]
It took two days to reach the southern most point of the Continental United States, only to then immediately turn around, hiking north on the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail. A new beginning, to see Florida again with fresh eyes. Two days more of pounding pavement, back to the Seven Mile Bridge, where cars rush […]