Apalachicola National Forest - Part 2

We returned to the trail at Bradwell Bay to find that we have pretty good timing. Returning to the exact spot we finished hiking a week or so ago, we found smoldering brush and signs stating that the trail behind us is closed for a scheduled burn. There was also a lot of roadside water that definitely had not been any here when we left a week ago. I guess there must have been substantial rain here during the week we took off.

The hike was a good mix of forest and swamp. We hiked along the ravines of the Ochlocknee River, stretches of forest, everything from newly planted pines to established forest, and along sandy forest roads in between.

We have based ourselves at a remote campground at Camel Lake and we're continuing through the forest in perfect weather, clear blue skies with an occasional puffy white cloud, abundant sunshine and mid 70 degrees. The not so distant memories of cold starts, wool sweaters, buffs and gators are just that, memories. This was weather for exposing skin to sunshine!

We did have one day in the middle of this section where the weather didn't quite cooperate. We woke to dire predictions of tornadoes, high winds and lightning for the afternoon, so we opted to cut our day short. We were a couple of miles short of our end point, in a very swampy area with a 2000 ft puncheon bridge and lots of various types of Pitcher plants. It appeared that pitcher plants must not be frost resistant, as there were many fallen and dried out. It must have been impressive in here before the freeze hit. We did see plenty of new young plants though. As we neared the end we started to hear thunder and increased the pace a little. One of us must have some good karma built up, because we made it back to the car dry, changed quickly into driving clothes, and before we even got pulled away the rain was pouring down and trees bending over almost double. That was close.

This was a really great several days of hiking. Hunting season is over, so we have the forest back to ourselves again. I enjoy the woods much more that way. I did have a couple of little misphaps: One potentially nasty little fall when I stepped on a wooden log step up onto a bog bridge. The log was slick and my foot shot out from under me and I ended up turtle style on my backpack. The other was when I outhiked myself on one sand road. I managed to miss a turn blaze off the sand road while day dreaming and hiked a good ¾ mile before realizing my error. Lucky for me, by the time I doubled back and caught up to Ian, he had managed to single-handedly clear about a half mile of trail that had been covered by impassable blowdowns. How is that for teamwork?

Great hike, but now we're headed for some roadwalking for a couple of days again.

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