Joshua Creek to St. Nicholas rd

                                                Waiting on Mike

So we set off on another adventure on the Florida Trail. And to be honest im glad we did for a few reasons. The first reason is to be out there of course, but there is more. We got the chance to meet a couple of Kens friends that are just starting out on the trail. Mike and Gavin ( sorry if i spelled that wrong) . Gavin is 15 i think and his dad ( or step dad im pretty sure ). So there was a "normal" missing from our group. That was James, he had other things to do and was missed out there.
 We planned on meeting at 10 am and drop the car off and start at Joshua creek trail head, well all of that would have happened on time but it didnt LOL. We all got a little late start, but no worries we were alive thanks to my expert nascar driving skills. We did make it in one piece. We met Ken, Mike, and Gavin at about 1030 am at St Nicholas rd , and sat there waiting on Mike to get his gear together, he felt bad but like we always say we are not on a schedule so take your time. We head off to Joshua Creek trail head and get to walking about 1130 or so. We came across a family that appeared to be on a outing of some sorts with some young kids. I thought great for them.
 We get off the blue trail and start heading south, Ken was in charge of the trail book and thank God he was. (It seems that the book was off a lot on this trip). We happened to see a whole bunch of cow poo all along the trail, i am not to keen on cows so this maybe a issue LOL. This has got to be one of the prettiest areas we have be in between the oaks and the palms there were spots of dense ferns.
 As always we had fun, lots of laughing and cutting up. But i think we havent learned all that is needed to learn. I say this for a couple of reasons. First as stated in other blogs Ken is normally on point but he has a habit of looking down while he is walking, i understand you have to see what your stepping on but the ine thing about that is there are some obstacls to keep a eye out for like spider webs and other low hanging things trees. Yep he did it SMACK right into a palm tree! all i could do was laugh, but only after we made sure he wasnt cuncussed.
 The other thing we havent learned is speed, our pace was fast, probably to fast. Debi had a hard time keeping up with us. I dont know what it was but we were moving. I dont know how hard it was for Mike and Gavin, but from the looks i got from Debi i know how hard it was on her. We did slow down, and i would hang back with her, but there were times when Ken and them were waiting on us.
 We had a hard time with the book and where we were. At times i felt very lost. We did get to christmas creek and it was time to eat lunch and take a break. Mike and Gavin seemed to be enjoying themselves so all was good, Deb was wearing down and ready for lunch.

We headed off to get a few more miles in before the next break, all we could do was judge our progress by time because at this point i wasnt sure the book was helping much. We came across some interesting ways to cross barbed wire fencing, but the book didnt mention some of them and we thought we were at a spot that we werent near yet, this is a big let down thinking you are closer than you really are.

After deciding we are in a certain spot we knew it was only a few miles to the blue spur trail then the campsite that we " had " to stay in. Well that all came to a stop when we got there and nope no blue trail, we are all ready to stop and then there is no campsite. I drop my bag and head down the trail to check if its up there, Ken and Gavin head down a dirt road to see is it down there. I walk about a 1/4 mile in, nope no trail but i find a spot that would make a good campsite. Ken and Gavin have the same luck with the spur trail. We make the decision to stay at the place i found and call it home for the night. There are oaks and palms all over so hanging a hammock wouldnt be a problem. Fire wood wasnt a problem either.
 We gather wood after hanging out hammocks, Debi starts the coffee and i see Gavin starting the fire using a flint, all i could think was good for him. Mike hands him some lint ( i think it was dryer lint ) and Gavin goes to town sparking and sparking then POOF flame!! I was proud of him. We all sit around and talk, While drinking coffee and complaining about the book.
 After dinner Mike and Gavin head to bed and Debi heads off shortly after, Ken and me sit up for a little while talking, then we hear a owl hoot pretty loud, then another then another, but this one is different, it was much different. I have heard it before but Debi hasnt. I hear SSSSHHHHAAAWWWNNN!!! what was that??!!! in her concerned voice. I explain it was a owl but i think its a older owl, well evedently that wasnt good enough cuz out of the hammock came Debi . She figured it was safer by the fire. You got to love her!
 It was a cold night, about 50 degrees or so, Debi was cold most of the night, i didnt seem to be near as bad as her. We didnt winterize our hammocks, we both thought it wasnt needed but we were wrong. We wont make that mistake again.
 Debi got up first and tried to make fire but the dew made it hard, Ken came in to save the day. I peeked out of my hammock to see if the fire was started before i got up ( i didnt know Debi was up already ). I rolled out of bed and headed to the fire Ken got it going pretty fast with paper, Debi had coffee started. All was good in camp. Mike was still snoring and Gavin was still asleep, they got up about 8 or 815.
 It was time to start off on our way. My phone was dying so not to many pics this time.
 We had a great time as always but this trip was pretty uneventful. We saw a few armadillos a bunch of birds, and they say some deer. I enjoyed my new backpack and Mike and Gavin.

Debi Ken Gavin and Mike

Then me ( cuz i was cut out of the other one )

Juniper Springs to Alexander Springs

                                                            OUCHCALA



After the last hike we were craving more outdoor fun. It had only been a week, and after realizing we werent going to be able to hike in the Smokey Mountains, we decided to do a 3 day 2 night hike Debis and my first 2 nighter. To be honest i was nervous. My thoughts were how are we going to do it, we almost always carry too much weight. And now we are going further and longer. The other thing that bothered me was im normally the one to look at the maps and figure out were to start and stop for the night and so on.
 I called James who has more experience than i do at this stuff. He confirmed what i thought we should do and he knew some of the are having been out there before. We get Ken on board with us and we thought there would be more people but they had to back out.
 So me and Deb had to get different stuff for dinner and what not, but we had to do it the day before we left so we could get packed up and ready to go. Yea well that didnt happen after a hard day at work and Debi having a headache. So we thought why not just go in the morning on the way up to Ocala. The weather didnt look as good as it was looking all week, with another front coming in. No worries we can handle it. We stop at Gander and get a few things and the grocery store. Then were off, knowing that we have to still pack our stuff for the hike.
 We get to Alexander Springs around 11:45 just ahead of James and Ken, we jump out of the truck and start packing our stuff. James and Ken show up about 15 minutes after us, and now we are only half packed. Now anyone that knows me ( and the rest of us ) we dont like to be the ones that are holding everyone up. But James reminds me that we are on vacation and we have no time frame, just relax. That made me feel better and i needed to be reminded of that. We had plenty of time, but my thought was we have 5.5 miles to walk today LOL.
 Well it all worked out, Debi was carrying more weight and so was I but not more than we could handle ( yea right LOL ). So let the games begins. OF course there are always laughs when we get out there and most of the time before then.
 When we get to Juniper Springs everything looked so familiar ( we have been there before hiking and canoeing ) but this time we were going North to South. There were a few first for me and Debi on this trip. The 2 nights and getting water out there. I was excited about not having to carry all of that water with us ( which is one reason for going south on this trip ).
 We start walking and the conversations start, who really knows everything we talk about we just talk.

Looks like Debis saying good bye to someone

The beginning

There were some interesting areas on this trip but the one thing that i stands out were the hills. I dont care what anyone says there are hills in Florida and i think we found them all on one trip LOL. It seemed that everyone was excited to be out here and that we were looking forward to some of the unknowns. Me i was still a bit nervous about a few things, first thing was Debis feet and blisters, and water. Was really hoping that we werent to far behind in time to be able to get to the campsite that James remembered from years past. He said it was a nice campsite, but the way he kids there was no telling what we were in for LOL.
 As we normmaly do me and Deb were in the back but me and James normally swap places, Kens speed and mine are very close at a normal walk so its not a hard pace but i like to stick with Debi and James likes to keep a eye on her too.

I love being out there for the quiet and for the lack of people. The best part of being out there is the lack of agenda. There is a small agenda like we wanted to do about 5.5 miles Friday and try for 10 on Saturday then finish Sunday. But that was about it, we like to be done with the day no later than 4 pm just to give us time to set everything up and it looked like we were right on time, there were a few little stops, i love looking at the animal tracks and figuring out what they are and where are they going ( which way, but thats not that hard look at the direction the toes are pointing ) . But i think the one thing that keeps me on my toes are the bear signs, i dont think i have seen this many signs on the trail, plenty of scat around and then we started seeing paw prints, not just toes but the whole front paw. They are amazing to me!
 The other thing i love out there are the signs ( some time the lack of signs ). Its like they have been there for ever and they are just put in the middle of no where. We had a hard time when crossing forest roads because there werent any numbers on the roads, so we kind of had to figure ( or guess ) on which one we were at. That made it a little bit frustrating at times, but James is good at distance and time so doing the math we knew we were in a general area so no worries.

first of 3 paved roads we cross ( i think 3 )

just the first day and already worn out LOL

Love this sign

and of course Debis favorites 

notice the lack of hand rail? and the smiles on there faces 

break time

 The one thing we did very well was taking breaks, they were much needed at times and again there was no hurry , we knew we had a long weekend and we just wanted to soak it all in.Breaks were about every hour and they were about 10 mins each just to keep us moving. It seemed that there were aches and pains for all of us but we were still joking around and laughing, Of course at the 3 mile mark Debis hips started to ache, but when she started feeling it she would pop in her head phones and sing to all of us. It was funny to me cuz i would sing the songs in my head with her and it made me giggle.
 We were getting closer to camp and we had been seeing signs of animals all along the trail, but these seemed to be " fresher " to us. Very clear on what they were at times, and some droppings that were lets just say not so easy to identify. We were on high alert due to the freshness of the poo and the bear tracks we had been seeing, and of course it was the conversation like is it a bear cub? if so mama aint to far, then after talking and talking about it there was a loud ruckus in the bush probably about 10 yards from Ken! hearts were pounding people ducking and a few What Thes , and out comes this turkey flying from right to left, i dont know who was more freaked out Us ( mostly Ken ) or the turkey. It was so funny and cool at the same time. Its our first ocala turkey.

bear

bigger than Jamess hand

now thats a print

front and back paws 

We got to the camp sight that at around 4 and i was ready for a great night, and it was more than you could ask for.

The best campsite to date for us

setting up

were reday

sunset

let them feet rest

While Debi set up our hammocks i went to get fire wood then James and Ken came to help after they were done setting up, There was plenty of wood around so that wasnt a problem, They guys started the fire i drank coffee all was great.that nights sleep want great at all but i knew i  got some rest.I am glad we put my rain fly on due to the heavy dew that set in. It was so heavy i thought it had rained a little, but was assured it didnt.
 We sat around camp until 945 am or so then off for the long walk, 10 miles is a long way for us but we knew the rest breaks will help. We had already done about 5.5 miles the day before and now we were entering the unknown for me and Debi on this distance. But we could do this , a break about every 2 miles would do us good.
 We came across a lady that was doing the entire FL Trail at one time, impressive to me. She was going 15 miles that day meeting her husband at Juniper for supplies and rest. She only had a day bag so she was probably moving a good pace. Again i was impressed, but not interested in doing that.
 Our first real stop was water and "lunch" for us.

"a sitting log "

Spur trail to the water hole

fill er up

The water was clean and tasted fresh so no need to filter it or treat it. We had a talk with a retired police man, and saw a couple that missed the other spur trail to Buck Lake about 2 miles back. I felt bad for them but what are you gonna do we couldnt give them a ride.
 We still had a long day but spirits were still high and the laughing continued. I was looking forward to being at camp and resting, after not sleeping the night before and starting to feel the walking everywhere i was ready. We took a coffee break just past a pond that was needed, the coffee was just what the doctor ordered. We still had 1.5 hours of walking left ( about 3 miles ) i know debi was hurting and i was, I think we were all ready.
 Good thing was we were about a half mile a head of where we thought we were. so we all got energized again just by knowing it was almost time to rest for the night. We got to a point were it was time to start looking for a good campsite but there was slim pickings. Pines arent were we wanted to be, but we came to a forest road ( dont know the number due to the lack of signs ) and it didnt seem to be any better on the other side. So we stop there and search for a decent place. Not a problem, Its time to get set up. Knowing its gonna be cold we get the hammocks just right and the fire just right. I had a lot of aches so it was a early night for me after dinner probably close to 8 or so. I think i had the best night of sleep so far in all of my trips this night! but getting out of that sleeping bag was not as fun WOW was it cold. But my aches werent as bad.

 All in all i had a blast, i love being out there with Debi and seeing that relaxing look on her face. Ken and James are great out there, they both bring so much to the enjoyment there. It is so nice to get to camp and everyone knows what to do, between setting up and fire and breaking down camp it just works out great.
 This was probably my favorite trips so far, i dont really know why, but i know it feels like all of the other trips made this one work out so nice. We "fixed" Debis blister problems, we learned that we can do longer distance if needed. We also learned that we can sleep in the cold with no problems. Ill end it with this, Ouchcala is a great place to be even if it hurts!!!!!

Here is Debis Link to here blog http://jstmine225.blogspot.com/

Here is Kens Blog, http://wewanttoseeflorida2.blogspot.com/