In 2002, I arrived at Lake Okeechobee for the Big O Hike in November, not knowing exactly what to expect. My good friend Sunny Piskura had bugged me for years to join her on the annual walk around the lake, and I thought she was crazy.
Then I got two book contracts in which I needed to walk around the lake to write about it – Along the Florida Trail and the Florida Trail Official Guide.
So I made plans. But unbeknownst to all of us, Sunny’s cancer returned and two months before the big hike, she died. It was a shock for many of us, especially to be present on the opening day and to watch her granddaughters spread her ashes on the dike at South Bay.
That year, that hike, I made fast friends, folks I’ve hiked and traveled with all over the country, folks who I count as some of my closest people in my life. I came to love the Big O Hike, all 9 days around our massive Lake Okeechobee, its subtleties and its splendor. I returned again and did the whole thing twice, then life took me in other directions and I only made it back for work reasons, or to do the kickoff and head home again.
In 2007, I vowed I’d be there for the whole nine days, and I did it unplugged. I’d thought of blogging from the trail, then thought better of it. It was the most relaxing week of hiking I’ve ever had, and it flooded back reminders of why, despite the assumptions people make that “walking on a dike is boring, the view never changes” this hike is anything BUT boring. So read these journal entries and plan to join the hike yourself next year! You’ll find all the logistical details you need in the Big O Hike section.
Day One
SATURDAY NOV 17 – Kickoff! 100 plus hikers milling around waiting for the event to begin, plus two reporters – our old friend Willie Howard from the Palm Beach Post plus another new face from the Sun-Sentinel, Maria. They joust for interviews with Cliff Moody as the throngs sign in. Paul Cummings sticks to his… [Continue Reading]
Day Two
SUNDAY NOV 18 – Resolving to beat my issue with energy drain the day before, I reflect on the fact that I am here to slow down and relax … I’m utterly unplugged, having left my laptop at home, and the cell phone is firmly shut off. I am ON VACATION for the first time… [Continue Reading]
Day Three
MONDAY NOV 19 – I took it all on today, figuring the mileage, just shy of 10 miles, was doable I started early, too, and well ahead of the bulk of the pack – for it sure feels like a race sometimes, when you’re out there hiking with 30 plus people on a broad track… [Continue Reading]
Day Four
TUESDAY NOV 20 – Taking a different tack, I talk Betty Loomis and Ginny Detzner into a 7.5-mile “half-back” hike from Buckhead Ridge to Okeechobee, and what a delight. We arrive at dawn to find a not-locked-up portalet at the trail access point. Hooray! Walking through tall, dewy grass, past monarch butterflies sleeping on waving… [Continue Reading]
Day Five
WEDNESDAY NOV 21 – Time to relax. A short walk today, perhaps 4 or 5 miles, to see sunrise over the marshes of Eagle Bay, from Parrott Avenue to the edge of the ranch, where the trailer parks begin. Ginny and I encounter unexpected delights- the sounds of birds stirring, the whir of wings above,… [Continue Reading]
Day Six
THURSDAY NOV 22 – THANKSGIVING! I decide upon a 7.4-mile yo-yo from the Marina RV Park in Moore Haven to the S-5 water control structure near SR 78 and back again on the Moore Haven coast. And I enjoy the most awesome experience I’ve ever had on a Florida hike: savoring a spectacular sunrise by… [Continue Reading]
Day Seven
FRIDAY NOV 23 – I toss and turn in a bed, so unfamiliar after a week of sleeping on my air mattress. But my husband has come to join me for Thanksgiving at the Clewiston Inn, and his father too, and to spend time with them, I opt to stay at the Inn. They’ve renovated… [Continue Reading]
Day Eight
SATURDAY NOV 24 – A walk to Torrey Island is in order. Ginny joins me this morning, and we leave before daybreak. This despite my hike the night before, an after-dark foray in which a dozen of us watched moonlight play across the Rim Canal and illuminate the royal palms of Ritta Island as we… [Continue Reading]
Day Nine
SUNDAY NOV 25 – Sunrise at Pelican Bay. The moon hangs tall and heavy over Kreamer Island’s waving royal palms, which beckon entrance to a slice of Florida long forgotten. Ginny and I departed from Rardin Park in the dark, moonlight illuminating our steps on the dike above Bacom Point Road. The morning has a… [Continue Reading]
