It wasn't fun, but it had to be done.
The Western Corridor of the FL Trail has a 60ish miles of road walk where the trail is not yet complete. I had made the choice to hike the Western Corridor because it is close to my home in Tampa. I have hiked all the real trail, ie non road sections during various weekend and day hikes, but I need to cover the road walks too, to eventually claim the End to Ender status of having hiked the entire length of the FL Trail.
I haven't had much luck talking anyone, even Ian, into hiking the Western Corridor with me, so I know that persuading anyone to walk the 60 miles of road is just a pipe dream, so I'd have to hike it alone. I had some free time this week, and the weather is not too hot, though still rather uncomfortable for carrying a backpack, so I decided I'd break this big roadwalk into daily chunks and get it done. Not having a hiking partner meant I would have to do the hike out, and get back to my car myself. The plan for this was my bicycle. The good part of all this being road is that it can be ridden on a bike as easy (or actually easier). It doubles the effort, but I have found that if I bike out a reasonable distance to hike, chain my bike to a tree or fence, then hike back to the car, I can get miles covered fairly painlessly. It appears to be much better to bike first as my legs get much more tired, and distances harder to reasonably judge, when hiking. This tactic is especially useful along the roads as the traffic is generally lighter earlier in the day, when it gets busier during the day I can just walk on the grassy banks beside the road wherever possible.
The route took me from the southern point of the East/West split at Three Lakes, through Kissimmee, around the north end of Lake Tohopekaliga, then across country (via road) to the paved Van Fleet state bicycle trail and on to Green Swamp. In general the trail was not very well blazed, but well described in my data book, and therefor easy to follow. I was rather disconcerted to find that the East/West corridor split at the south end here is not really marled at all. I thought that the decision point at the north end in Ocala was poorly marked, but it at least was marked. I know most hikers that come to either of these points in their hike have already made the decision on which route to follow, but in this case I doubt most would even be aware that the other route had split off at this point.
It was gruelling, but it's done. There was quite a lot of construction on this section, and the roads were extremely busy in places. I felt particularly vulnerable to traffic on the southernmost road section while biking, and most loathed by traffic while cycling through the construction heading into Kissimmee, but my closest brush with a vehicle was just short of the Van Fleet trail when a church van nearly side swiped me on an otherwise clear road. I have found that of all vehicles to not pull over to give a cyclist room, even when the road is completely clear, church vans and mini buses seem to be the worst!
Some of the nicer parts of the hike were the interaction with grazing cattle, who for some reason are not bothered in the least by 60mph trucks zooming by, but appear confused and then terrirfied by a cyclist or hiker. Passing through Kissimmee on a bicyle/pedestrian path was nice, especially as there was a hot dog vendor and kiosk to provide refreshments. And the very brief section on the Old Tampa brick highway was neat for the history, the quirky "citrus" marker, and the cool shade provided by the overhanging trees.
View more photos in
my Picasa album
How much fun could my first weekend of retirement be? We paddled out to Makinson Island, with a tailwind, no less. I actually cruised for a while, with my paddle held up as a sail. The island is remote, open, the grass cut, and a nice pavilion for rain cover, picnic tables, and porta potties. Perfect.
