The day started off cloudy, but warm and humid. The early part of the trail is through open grasslands with sparse shade, so I was grateful for the hazy cloud cover. I startled a deer in the first couple of miles, actually it was a mutual startling, and he bounded away before I had the presence of mind to grab for the camera. Today was the first time while hiking in the Green Swamp and Richloam swamp areas that I have actually encountered other hikers on the trail. My first meeting was with a Boy Scouts of America group out for a five mile hike. We arrived together at a trail junction, and thinking these young men, unencumbered and only day hiking would be travelling at a faster pace than me weighted down with backpack and about 20 lbs of spare water I stopped for a brief drink break and let their group get ahead of me. That was a mistake, as I was soon on the heels of and practically falling over their slower members. Fairly soon I got the opportunity to put on a burst of speed to re-pass them. My next encounter was lone day-hiker who passed while I was taking my lunchbreak in a shady, breezy spot slightly off the trail.
As the day got hotter the sparse shade and high humidity was very draining, and I began to wish I was day hiking. The forest road portions of the trail were on sandy roads, and the lack of rain in this area for the past month or so made for some slow and dusty slogging through the sand.
Early afternoon the trail crossed Ranch Road. This was the road that I thought may have been accesible by car, but had decided not to risk as it was marked exactly the same way as last week's fiasco at Main Line Road. Of course, having not tried it the road was indeed accessible, and there were lots of cars on it! The really bad part was that it was HORRIBLY dusty, and I had to walk along it for about 1/4 of a mile. Every car that went past kicked up a big cloud of choking dust. Several of the more courteous drivers slowed down when they saw me, but it didn't lessen the dust much. I was very thankful when the trail headed back into the woods. The next hour or so was through a beautiful deeply shaded wood of massive mature oaks dripping with spanish moss. It was wonderful cool relief after the sparse shade and the dust. I scared up a very fast black snake that was lazing in the trial, but again the encounter was too brief for the camera.
Mid afternoon I arrived at the Foster Bridge campsite, my home for the night. As soon as I arrived I collapsed on the bench and stretched out for a cool break. The mosquitos immediately homed in. There were enough of them out in broad daylight that I realized I was going to have to get my camp all set up and dinner, etc. completed before the sun went down so I could take refuge in the tent when the bugs really came out! I set up the tent, but it was warm enough and with little enough chance it would rain that I decided to forego the rain fly tonight so I could be out of the bugs, but hopefully get some breeze relief from the humidity too. Next chore was to go down to the river to refill my water bottles and take a cool dip if possible. As I set off for the river I immediately came to another recently burnt area. The wildfires have been quite bad recently due to all the dry weather we have been having. I had walked through so many burnt out patches today I had just not noticed the burnt smell here. As I continued I noticed that the fire here had been very recent. In fact, several areas were still smoldering. My tent was now set up less than 1/10th of a mile downwind on this smoldering burnt area, and it was extermely breezy. Knowing that, I used my hiking pole to rake through smoldering patches until they were no longer smoking. Around the next corner was a fallen burnt out tree, not just smoking, but actually burning with 3 small fires. I used an unburned log I found nearby to beat at the burning areas, and my hiking pole to rake through the dropped embers until the fire was out and nothing was smoking. Eventually I made it down to river to refill my water and wash up, which was even more needed now I was black and sooty! On the return to the campsite I checked all the previously smoking areas and the burnt out tree, but there was now no sign of smoke. I seriously considered repacking my tent and moving elsewhere to camp, but the next marked campsite was a further 6 miles up the trail, and I was not sure of the non site camping restrictions here. Knowing that it was turkey hunting season made me not too keen on remote camping, and seeing as the underbrush in this area was already all burnt out I decided to stay where I was. There are so many burnt out patches in this area anyway, and I hadn't noticed this one smoking until I was almost on top of it, so it is highly likely that anywhere else I chose to camp may also have the same danger anyway. So I set up my own small fire in the fire ring to cook dinner, and enjoyed the early evening. My assumption had been correct, and as soon as the sun droppd the bugs began to increase, so I took refuge in the tent. The wind has also died down a lot, relieving my fire fears somewhat. Not having the rain fly on increased my visibility outside too, and as it got dark I took another careful look out into the darkness for signs of flames, but there were none. I pottered around in the tent for a while then tried to settle down for the night. It was hot and sticky, and the whining sound of mosquitos was all around the tent.
Of course, a night without the rain fly is a guaranteed drought breaker, and I was awoken by the first shower a little after midnight. I scrambled for the rain fly, jumped out of the tent to attach and stake it out. The most persistent of the mosquitos who had hung around waiting for me to leave the safety of my mesh cocoon were rewarded by my few unprotected minutes outside the tent, but I was fortunate not to let any back in there with me. The rain continued lightly for a while and I must have drifted back to sleep, but was awoken at 3am by an outright downpour accompanied by lightning and thunder. It was hot and humid in the tent, but I was dry and the rain was cooling the tent down rapidly. I got inside the sleeping bag for the first time and eventually managed a couple more hours of broken sleep.
The rain had stopped by the time I got up, but everything was soaked and very muddy and it was extremely humid. The areas around trhe campsite that had looked drab, dirty and dusty yesterday were now somewhat brightened by the overnight soaking. I am fascinated at the way the palmettos recover so quickly after ebing burned and this morning is no different. I had noticed the new green growth yesterday, but this morning it seems liker all the re-growing plants had sprouted the green beginnings of flowerheads. Maybe they had been there before and I just had not noticed. The contrast between burnt black, rust brown damage, and vibrant was beautiful. Anyway, I couldn't resist a few pictures.
I soon reached and crossed Main Line Road, and was now hiking the same area we hiked last weekend. Today however, it is still early, and I have time to enjoy the views and take short breaks on the buffs above the Withlacoochee. On one such break I took off my shoes to dangle my feet in the river and find a tick that has embedded itself in my toe! Nice! Another break was at a small rapid on the river. There was a Cypress growing against the bank with all its roots and knees exposed and hanging out over the river. I climbed out onto the exposed roots and sat 15 feet above the rapid watching the water flowing underneath me. A much nicer experience than the tick removal.
Despite the rain last night the swamp areas are still very dry, thought there seems to be much more grass than last week. It is above knee high in a lot of places, and I do not remember that from last week, though it seems like it couldn't have grown that high just since last night! There is one little stream crossing on this stretch, and surprisingly the water level actually seems lower this morning.
My final stops for today are along the river loop trail. I'm not sure which river this is, it didn't seem to have enough flow to be the Withlacoochee, but more likely a feeder. The swamp area around the river was a vibrant mas off green grass carpeting around the Cypress trees. The river was serene and clear and seemed to have a good amount of flow. I could hear children's voices and expected to see a canoe appear at any time, but never saw the actual source of the noise, nor anyone for that matter.View more photos in my Picasa album
