It was suggested to me that Florida's Ocala National Forest would be a great place. to hike. I made plans with a friend to go out this weekend, but something on his side prevented him from going this weekend. Well I was already pumped to see what Ocala had to offer. I packed my day pack and drove on down.
I passed the Alexander Springs park entrance and saw a sign on the side of the road for access to the Florida trail. I turned off to a small parking lot with a large informational sign to the trail. Half the sign told a little history of the trail and the other half was a photo of a black bear and a description of how there are plenty on the trail and to be careful. Bla bla bla, bears... Who cares, they are so rare! Well I walked onto the side trail and found a long patch of sand leading to the Florida Trail. In the sand where horse, deer, raccoon and... and... bear tracks. It was early in the morning and no one else around. OK, now I was a little nervous.
Well I walked 5 miles in and back that morning. Great walk. Nice and quiet.
Since Little Talbot Island State Park is so close to home, and I really enjoyed it. I decided to take the family out on a day hike. We got all prepared. Water, food and anything you could need for a day on the trail with the family. Well nearing the trail the kids started to seem tired. We decided we would not do the hike but rather just walk up the beach side a little. Well a little turned into allot and we said what the heck. Of course, the missus left the water and food back at the van. Great! Luckily the well prepared "New Backpacker" had water.
This Saturday I decided to take a stroll around Little Talbot Island State Park. It's a 4 mile trail with half in the woods and the other half on a secluded untouched beach. It's a great little hike. The trees swallow you up. They are so thick i could not get a reading with my GPS most of the time.
On the trail I came across a snake. The snake was in the process of eating a small bird. I captured a little on film. It's not for the squeamish.
Once I arrived at the beach, I came upon a beautiful view. There are whole trees washed up. The appear to have dies right there on the beach. Of course it only looks like that because the sand has them partially buried.
Merry Christmas to me! I received a new GPS on Christmas morning. The Garmin eTrex Legend. It was an all inclusive kit that had the Legend, clip on case, lanyard, car mount, car adapter and serial cable for your PC. It also comes with a VHS video tutorial of some of the basic features. I believe you can purchase this on DVD on Garmin's website.
Cons
My first issue was that this is not a USB device. So I had to crawl under my desk to get at the back of my PC and screw the serial plug in. This also prevents me from plugging it into my Apple PowerBook which does not have a serial port. I also think they need to work long and hard on the windows95 like software. Even after I updated it to the newest version. It works OK however.
Pros
Well, it's lightweight and the batteries seem to last a good while. Of course I will need some trail time to see if it will suffice. It's supposed to be water resistant up to 1 meter. I stood out in the rain with it on Christmas morning taking some reading and it held up so far. The Legend has lots of features. I have it in my car now to test the features and find that after a little trial and error it isn't to hard to master. I do not think this is a great car navigation GPS. It is a little hard to read and setting a waypoint to route is something I would not want to attempt on the fly. But if you set it up before you leave, it certainly will get you there.
In the morning at Torreya Park, I went down to the Apalachicola River shore to get some water and wash some plates. Because I had no other footwear with me I wore my hiking boots unlaced. This made them a little more comfortable to my sore toes, but they felt heavy. Also, I ran the risk of getting them wet near the river. They ended up caked with a mud/cement that has yet to completely come off. The river was down a little rocky hill and there was a rock formation jutting into the river. It would have been impossible for me to get down there with something on. I was thinking, wouldn't it be great to have a lightweight sandal that was very comfortable and provided enough all around foot protection from the sharp rock. I have been reading on the hiking forums about these things. They seem to be the in camp shoe on most trails now days. Now I know why. I went over to Dick's Sporting Goods and put down $30 for a pair.
OK, don't say it, because I know. I was at the bar one evening and saw this dude dressed in very neutral colors. However, on his feet where the most hideous yellow clog looking things I have ever seen. I said some nasty things to a nearby friend about them. Who would have thunk I would even think of buying a pair. Well I have and I love them. I bought a manly "Army Green" pair and will NOT be wearing them to the bar anytime soon.
Size / Weight:
This is a great home video that gives some idea of why I love the outdoors. It also shows why I would love to live in Colorado. This was filmed around Lake Navajo in Colorado. Sadly I did not make this video. It was made by a lady who goes by the name Nobbin. If your into hiking and would like to see some great scenery, I recommend checking out more of Nobbin's home movies.
Well this Thanksgiving weekend we decided to do an overnighter. We headed back to the Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park and do a longer hike up along the Suwannee river. Well I learned something new about hiking in the US as opposed to Newfoundland, Canada. Even hiking you have to reserve a campsite. I guess I am just a small town guy. Down here they call them primitive camp sites *groan*. Well, it seems that Thanksgiving weekend is very popular for campers. All of the sites there where booked. The rangers pointed us to Torreya State Park.
Torreya was about a 2 hour drive past White Springs. So we got on the phone with the Torreya ranger and booked us a "Primitive Camp Site". Upon arriving there where some groups of teens booking sites. Luckily they didn't want to do any hiking so they where all located in the regular sites. We grabbed a map and headed out on the trail. The trail we where to take was called the Torreya Challenge. It is about 7 miles to the site up and down a moderately hilly path. No, it wasn't an AT Thru-hike, but for a couple of web developers, it was plenty of fun. I recall getting to the top of on hill and saying, "Here is a great place to stop and eat lunch".
When we got to camp we say the Apalachicola River to the right of us. What a view. The photo below through the trees was the view from the campsite. A short walk down the hill brought you to a rocky peninsula. Since your basically in the river, I got some great shots from there. I also filtered my water from there.
I would love to move to the Rockies. That is my goal right now. I found this great site that even makes me want to go more.
Anyone out there live around the Rockies? Where to and do you like the area? I have a family that will also be coming along and may not enjoy the hiking and camping aspect as much as I do. I have to find somewhere they also will love. Denver sounds like a great town.