I’m so impressed with this product … but if I could only remember the coordinates! While speaking at Bill Jackson’s this Monday I had the inevitable question about what bug spray I recommend, and I immediately could picture the spray bottle in my mind, and the fact that neem seems to be the magic ingredient, but the name? It escaped me. I know it’s the “coordinates of Kathadin,” but that doesn’t mean much to anyone who isn’t an Appalachian Trail hiker or a native of Maine.

So I had to look it up. And order a fresh bottle, this time from Riverbanks Outdoor Store. As did a few more of the folks who attended my talk that evening. I’d forgotten mine on the kitchen counter when I left for Tampa on Monday, and my quick trip to Upper Tampa Bay Park convinced me that Deep Woods Off doesn’t cut it. I was swarmed by bayside mosquitoes.  Thankfully, Barbara brought me a bottle of the good stuff when Ruth’s ad-hoc hiking group met at Eagle Lake Park for an early morning walk.

I would have never made it through the day without it. This makes two weeks in a row I’ve hiked in a river valley so thick with mosquitoes that you can hear them on my digital recordings and see them on video. Hiking season is officially over, at least in the bottomlands! Unless you have a headnet, or 45N68W.  It beat back the hordes at Fisheating Creek, and that’s saying something. And Tuesday, it saved me from becoming lunch in another river valley. I’m still extraordinarily impressed with this stuff. Especially since it’s organic.

That said, you can check out the details from when I first tested it last summer and fall.
I just bought a new bottle from Riverbanks Outdoor Store and you can, too!

How DO you get poison ivy oil off your clothes? That’s a question I haven’t had to deal with in a long, long time, since little brushes here and there have never bothered me. I always wear long pants while hiking (ones that cover my socks) and don’t handle my shoes all that much.

But Tuesday was different. Talk about stepping in it. I was scouting the final hike for “50 Hikes in Central Florida,” second edition - a new and different place to explore - when I discovered that the trail on the kiosk map ended and flagging continued. Into the mosquito-filled forest I went, wading through some of the heaviest poison ivy I’ve been in, knowing that it was a danger zone. Curiosity kept me going, since I already had discovered Class II whitewater down another part of the trail … and this in Central Florida! No, I’m not talking about the Hillsborough rapids. This is far more intense, like Little Shoals. But I digress.

As the flagging got harder to follow and the poison ivy thicker, I turned around. And then my shoelace came untied. And then I realized … oops! I have a dangerous mess on my hands.

I finished the hike, another 3 miles or so, walking with an untied shoelace. Found an even better stretch of whitewater, so it was worth it. Fortunately, this was an overnight trip and I had spare clothes and shoes in the car. But how to change and carry my contaminated clothes?

Luckily, I was wearing zip-off pants, so I zipped the bottoms off and used them, inside out, to remove my shoes. Stuck the whole mess in a fabric grocery bag and changed shoes. Headed for home … and a drugstore.

I settled on a few tactics: Dawn liquid for soaking the clothes and shoes, since it’s great at cutting grease and oils. I found something called “Tecnu” on sale at Walgreens ($7.99 - $3 coupon!) that said it would work on clothes, but I wanted to clean my ankles and any other potential affected skin before I might break out. Finally, I got a tube of anti-itch cream, just in case, so I wouldn’t spread anything I missed.

When I got home, I carefully stripped off the socks and pant tops without touching them, washed off with Tecnu and took a shower.

The clothes and shoes are soaking and awaiting their own special trip through the washer.

This is the first time in a good 15 years I’ve gotten into a bad patch of poison ivy, so if this regimen was - or wasn’t - successful, I’ll be sure to share a follow-up!

The tragic death of an ill-dressed hiker wading the Chandler Slough section of the Florida Trail this weekend brings home the point that Florida’s weather is just as unpredictable as anywhere you hike in northern climes. I’ve been in dangerous hypothermia situations while unexpectedly wading along the Kissimmee River and in Myakka River State Park, and had my water bottles freeze over in the Everglades. The bottom line: be prepared for ANYTHING. I carry a zero degree sleeping bag and multiple layers of clothing when backpacking; day hikers should be sure to prep for the elements. The Ten Essentials are essential, but don’t forget that eleventh one that will keep you alive- common sense.

See My Florida Hikes for a lengthy discussion on the hiker’s death and it’s impact on fellow hikers. For more details from news sources. see http://www.wptv.com/content/news/okeechobee/story/Keith-R-Galaise-hiker-found-florida-trail-okeecho/wnmvAtmWrdEu9DTDdhbSw-w.cspx

What better way to start off your new year than a hike by the light of the blue moon? It’s New Years Eve and the night will be aglow. Gather good friends around the campfire and ring in the new year with a walk in the moonlight. Whether you spend the night in a Florida State Park, a National Forest, or along the Florida Trail, I wish you good tidings for a happy and successful New Year.

Bear activity is making the news these days - the numbers of still-threatened Florida black bears increasing - so to head off the potential of negative encounters with bears as you hike through the Ocala, Osceola, and Apalachicola National Forests, it’s now necessary to bear bag your food. It’s always been a smart idea because of the rapacious raccoons you’ll encounter, especially in the Ocala, but now it’s time to be bear aware, too!

Here are the specifics shared by the Florida Trail Association…