The Marshall swamp section is beautiful, with lots of tall trees, high palmetto and spring flowers. There had been some rain the previous day and the mosquitos were out in force early in the morning. Of course, I had forgotten my bug spray! As long as I was walking the bugs basically left me alone, but as soon as I stopped to look at something, or take a picture I became a stationary buffet.
After The Marshall Swamp trailhead ends the Florida Trail section of the Cross Florida Greenway, and requires a 3 mile road walk, the highlight of which is the crossing of the Oklawaha River on the Sharps Ferry Bridge. It was hot walking so I spent a short break sitting by the bridge with my feet in the water. The bridge itself is an old metal mesh construction, so the first couple of cars that went over at high speed made me jump a little. It was interesting watching the shadows of cars on the water as they passed overhead though, but the noise was not too conducive to relaxing. Good thing I only had time for a short break. Back on the road, on the other side of the bridge I noticed the speed limit was supposedly 15MPH!
Where the trail disappeared into the Forest is less than a mile from the intersection of SR40 and CR314 at Nuby's. Having not passed anywhere to resupply with cold water and have lunch I opted to walk up to the corner Gas stations to do so. I also managed to catch a ride back to my car at Baseline road to relocate it here, giving me an easier ride or walk back to the car when I get finished for the day. Thank you Trail Angels.
So I was back on the trail at 1pm. The next couple of miles were the roughest of the new trail section, a little boggy in places, and a little slow, but nothing too bad. The trail cuts the corner between the two highways so you are rarely out of the sound of traffic. As I sighted SR40 the first time I thought the cut through was either shorter than advertised or I'd taken a U turn. There was a little blue car visible parked at the end of the trail. Thinking it was mine, but absolutely sure it couldn't be, I approached it to take a look. It wasn't. However, there was a fruit stand across the road. If I had known that, I could have saved myself the extra walk to the gas station and resupplied here. However, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to relocate the car (and enjoy it's air conditioning for my lunch!). Continuing, the trail on the north side of SR40 was a dream: Wide tread, well maintained, a good mixture of sand roads, trees, scrub and brand new boardwalks. After about an hour I came across a couple of puddles that required skirting, then a swampy area about mid calf deep through cypress knees. I was almost done for the day anyway, so just slogged through without worrying about getting my feet wet. It only lasted about 1/10th of a mile, then I was back on dry ground, and very soon reached the trail crossing at 145th Ave, where I had already decided I would stop for the day, having completed 16 miles.
At least, I was hoping I would not have to walk any further today. My options were either to somehow get a ride back to my car, or double back the way I had come, an additional 8 miles back to the car. As I took a break and considered my options, I noticed a sign on the trailhead stating that the trail was closed! "Hike at your own risk". I thought this was a little extreme as it had mostly been some of the best and fastest hiking of my day. However, it has been very dry here, with the exception of the little rain last night. In wetter conditions I assume the swampy area may be harder to deal with. I've since learned that a bridge is planned for this area, but has not been engineered yet.
My decision was that I would not rehike the trail, but instead take the road walk back to SR40, then to CR314 and my car. I had no signal on my cell phone, but by staying on the road hoped to spot a pay phone or impose on someone at a house on the road to call a taxi for me. As I hiked, several fire trucks came roaring past with sirens blaring. With the forest this dry I was sincerely hoping that there was not a big fire nearby. About half a mile down the road was a small country store. I went in to grab a cold soda, and got talking to another trail angel who offered me a ride back to my car, as long as I didn't mind dogs, and his dog Buddy didn't mind me. Buddy had a good sniff (I was pretty sweaty) but didn't seem concerned! Thanks George for the ride back to the car.
During a hot night sleeping in the car I tried to decide how far I'd hike the next day. My options were a little more limited for the next stretch, as I'm headed deeper into the woods and would not likley have any opportuniies for rides back to the car. My choices seemed to be a shorter hike to an intemediate trailhead, with the hope (but not much) of finding someone there willing to give me a ride, a hike to the same trailhead and double back to the car, or to push all the way to Store 88 where I knew would be several people who would drive me back to the car. Looking at the mileage I realized that it was about 17 1/2 miles, almost exactly the same as I had force marched friends Dick and Olga last year on April 1st on a short day hike gone wrong! So I decided to hike the whole thing in their honor.
The plan was for an early hot oatmeal and strong coffee breakfast. I was up before light and out of the car to start up the stove. However, the local contigent of B52 mosquitos was out doing a pre-dawn re-enactment of the "Battle of the Flesh Eaters!", and I appeared to be the primary target. I quickly abandonned the fire idea, grabbed the stove and took refuge once again in the car, with two bottles of green tea, a breakfast bar, some apple slices and almonds. It would have to suffice. I was on the trail at 7:20, just light enough to see the blazes, and with 3 quarts of water. The trail continued in pretty good shape, but a little overgrown with ferns in places, so not quite as smooth as yesterday. Actually, that may just have been me that wasn't so smooth and fast! There are several new boardwalks, lots of blazing (too much?) in some places, some highly ambiguous blazing in a couple of parts, and some missing blazes in one recently burned patch. I lost the trail for a while in this area, partly due to the burned trees, but also the sun was up and very low on the horizon, making it rather difficult to ditinguish color on the trees. I finally spotted a blaze and bushwacked a little through some burned palmettos to get back on the trail. I was soot streaked for the remainder of the day from that little jaunt!
I saw the bony remanants of some creatures dinner. I'm not good at bone identification, it could have been a deer, or a dog, but it was dead, so I moved on. Shortly after that I heard the sound of a shotgun fairly close by. That's not my favorite happy sound while hiking! It prompted addition of my blaze orange bandanna wrapped around my hat desert style for a couple of miles. But soon I was north of CR314. Past the halfway mark for the day, away from the sounds of traffic, and beyond the point of no return. I didn't expect to see anyone, person or car for the remainder of the hike. The trail is beautiful though: nicely shaded, mostly wide, clear, and fast paced, a few small ups and downs, and lots of beautiful trees. One of the amazing things about hiking deep in the trees, is the breeze in the trees, and the sound of the trees talking to each other with rustles, creaks and cracks. Shortly after my lunch break I startled a whole herd of deer who had been grazing before my intrusion. No sooner than they had moved out of range I heard another sound in the woods; a sound I remember well from last year's Ocala hike. Not the bounding of deer, but the stomping crash of bear. Not near as close an encouter this time, but off through the trees, and with a small cub following along behind. They were well out of range before I even had a chance to get the camera unhooked for a shot.
The absolute bonus of the day though, was the sight of a tree falling. I don't recall ever seeing a tree fall in the woods before. It was awesome. First was a long creaking groan, followed by two very sharp cracks that echoed though the forest, a melange of cracks and an extended whoosh and whoomp. Then a moments silence, as the surrounding trees shuddered, attempting to fill the gap in the sky where one of ther own had sacrificed itself to the wind. I sat a while to let the forest settle. The tree fell to the side of, not actually on the trail, but close enough that I had a good view of it, and I wanted to make sure that no others were ready to immediately follow its example.
Very shortly after that I came upon the Junction of the East and West connector trails. It may just be me, but this sign just doesn't seem to have the presence that I would expect of such a momentous place. Here is where a hiker makes the decision that affects the next 300 - 400 miles of hiking. Go East, through wilderness, springs, very little access to services for 100 miles or so, then ultimately through through the outskirts of Orlando, or go West, shorter remaining forest, across the Cross Florida Greenway, and almost continuous access to services and resupply for the most part, but a 60+mile road walk. It seems like a big decision. Hopefully, most who make it have already determined their path before approaching the very understated sign!
The very best thing about the sign is that it is less than 1 mile of hiking from the 88 Store. I had not had to ration water or go thirsty, but it had been very hot, and I had consumed all but a couple of ounces of my now warm water. A cold beverage was defintely welcome. I stumbled up onto the deck, enjoyed a cold one while the breeze cooled and dried me off. Barmaid Julie provided the final trail angeling of the trip by volunteering husband Gary to drive me back to my car.
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