This is the trip report area.
Well we had a good time on this weekends backpacking excursion on the Florida Trail in the Ocala Natl Forest. Let's see, we had people join and leave at different times:
On Friday: Me, Mark, Ed, Brendy, Pat, Loren, Michelle, Akiba, Sushil, Ericka
On Sat: Tracy and Mark
On Sunday: Wendy, Tangle, and? (sorry Wendy, terrible with names)
Anyhow, we camped at Hopkins Prairie on Friday, figuring to get an early start on Sat morning. Yeah right! I would say we got on trail around 11:00. And enjoyed a rather warm day(I would say otherwise, but this is a moderated list). I ran out of gas somewhere around 3:00pm. Thank god I had a package of Powergel spooge to tide me over. Picked up water that I had left at SR 314 and off we went.
We camped Sat night at a site somewhere off the trail. Nice site. Most seemed a little tired, and a few took a nap. Had a fire and Marshmellows. Not sure who brought them, Ericka?. We got a laugh as some tried to hang packs, and food. It seems that a food bag makes a nice splat as it falls from 20+ feet to the ground. Never saw any critters that night (other than the ants) invade the camp.
Sun morning; Ate breakfast and hit the trail. We only had about 4 miles to the vehicles and then were going to set shuttle again. But in the meantime, we all decided that we needed a swim. So when we got to the cars, we jumped in and drove back to the Deep Sink by Hopkins Prairie for a a frigid swim. And chilly it was. We then headed back to back to set shuttle and hiked into Grassy Pond. Might have been a nice place to stay, but there were a few too many Rednecks there for our tastes. So we headed out on the trail to find a place to stay. It seemed that everyone wanted to stay in a different location, but we finally settled on a area about a mile from Grassy Pond. Set up camp. Me, Mark, Pat and Sushil had just been sleeping out under the stars and thought that this night would be the same. Well, it seemed that Mother Nature wanted to say something about that. So when it started sprinkling, me and Mark headed back to the car to get tents or a tarp to build a shelter. Along the way, we decided that since a forest service road ran right past the camp, why not drive and make the trip back easier. And drove back we did. We constructed a nice shelter for nothing, as no more rain came. Hada nice fire w/a downed pine tree providing all the firewood we ever could have wanted. After going to sleep, the skeeters set in. And chewed and chewed and chewed. I ended up sleeping in the cab of the truck, while Mark, Sushil, Pat and Loren (banished to the tent vestibule cause of bad B.O.) swatted away. Pat said he never really heard any skeeters. I guess the earplugs I had given him to drown out the snoring, also silenced the skeeters.
Monday morning came and we broke camp. We had planned on going to Rodman dam, but being spontaneous, decided that breakfast at the Square Meal was a better option. Headed back to G'ville.
So that's about it. Had a good time, although I think I will loose a toenail of my small toe. Any other injuries? Had a small dog fight from Brendy and Tangle. It seems that Brendy doesn't care to have her butt sniffed.
Thanks again, and I look forward to doing more of the trail in the future. ANy other comments? Feel free to post them.
David Davison