Florida Hikes!

Video: Hiking the FT at Gold Head

Sandra Friend — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:14:24 +0000

As promised (albeit a little late), here’s a walk-through of the Florida Trail at Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park. I did this with my friend Phyllis around New Years’ Day. We camped out and were rained on the night before; the forests were rather wet (where they weren’t smoking after a recent burn). Winter colors, a lot of muted shades and shadows, but the day brightened up as we finished up. Learn more about this section of trail on the main website.

Florida Hikes podcast: Florida Trail, Gold Head

Sandra Friend — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:07:09 +0000

Episode 004: Florida Trail at Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park (18:59)
This podcast is a little different. I’ve had it in mind for months, since I received a stereo digital recorder for Christmas and immediately took it out hiking with me on New Years’ Day. The tough part was editing down the sound from the entire hike so it wouldn’t be the length of the hike!

My friend Phyllis (aka ShortCut) is still working on her end to end hike (as am I). She needed to cover Gold Head and Etoniah, so we headed up there for the holidays and I just let the recorder run. This is a linear hike from the ranger station to the south gate, a 3.5 mile segment of the Florida Trail.

Music included in this podcast:
“The River Bank” by Shaun Harris, RoyaltyFreeMusic.com
“Fluidscape” by Kevin McCloud, Incompetech.com

Get details about and directions for the hike at http://www.floridahikes.com/north/goldhead.html

Play or download the podcast with the tools below. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed for the Florida Hikes! podcast, or download the series from iTunes.com

New Florida Hikes! site is up

Sandra Friend — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:58:49 +0000

I’ve finished a makeover and move of the main Florida Hikes site, with the big deal being a cleaner, more readable look (especially for the forum) and a lot of new behind-the-scenes functionality for registered users.

You can now share your own content, including maps, documents, images, and more, plus make connections with your fellow hikers and add more details about yourself. Now that I’m gainfully self-employed again, I plan to put more time into the site, including uploading my GPS tracks to share with registered members. But right now, it’s time to go hiking. See you in the swamps!

The Sunshine Expedition

Sandra Friend — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 16:36:23 +0000

Now here’s an ambitious project to see Florida by land and sea. The expedition team plans to follow the route of the new Florida Circumnavigational Trail under development, kayaking along the Florida Coast from Fort Clinch State Park at Fernandina Beach to Gulf Islands National Seashore in Pensacola. They’ll then put on the backpacks and hit the Florida Trail, hiking south to Big Cypress National Preserve. All the while they’ll be shooting photos and video to post on their website. Learn more at http://sunshineexpedition.com

Hiking the FT along the Miami Canal

Sandra Friend — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:47:49 +0000

I did so with friends when I completed the Seminole section of the Florida Trail some years ago. This is a remote spot south of Clewiston as you head from the sugar cane fields into Lake Harbor. Now I’m especially glad we heeded recommendations from Joan Hobson not to camp along that section. Here’s why, from the Palm Beach Post:

The water management district is still working on the canal and still finding cars. “We wait until they’ve got about 20 car locations identified before we go in and pull them out,” said sheriff’s detective Justin Wallace of the auto theft division. As of late last week, 107 cars had been removed from about a 6-mile stretch of canal beginning where the paved road ends and continuing to U.S. Sugar’s railroad track bridge.

Read the whole story….

Grab-and-Go Florida Trail Hikes

Sandra Friend — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:19:51 +0000

A new free resource for hikers: head on over to the Florida Trail website to download yourself a set of Grab-and-Go Hikes. I just finished them up today as one of my wrapup projects as I close out my days as an FTA staff member. These are mini-guides to popular day hikes (many with opportunities for camping) along the Florida Trail, and include mileages, directions, and a map. The set includes:

Juniper Prairie Wilderness (Ocala)
Juniper Creek Trail at Blackwater River State Forest (Pensacola)
Little Big Econ State Forest (Orlando)
Big Oak Trail at Suwannee River State Park (Live Oak)
Hickory Hammock Trail (Sebring, Okeechobee)
Green Swamp West (Lakeland, Dade City)
Etoniah Creek State Forest (Palatka)Download, print, grab, and go! Just in time for hiking season.

Hiking? Try kayaking instead…

Sandra Friend — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:08:23 +0000

With Tropical Storm Fay hanging around the Florida peninsula all week (and as my good friend eArThworm pointed out, “thru-raining” the Florida Trail), chances are most all but the highest elevation (Lake Wales Ridge, Citrus, uplands of Ocala National Forest, uplands of Eglin) hiking trails are underwater somewhere along their length. Keep posted on park closures on the Florida State Parks website. At last count, 28 parks are officially closed. No telling what the overall flood damages will be. I live in a relatively high elevation spot for Central Florida, in a scrub habitat (Florida’s desert), and there are puddles all over the neighborhood. Be careful out there!

Horseshoe Lake Park now thrives

Sandra Friend — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:23:00 +0000

After starting a vocal pushback in the media some five years ago against Marion County commissoner Randy Harris wanting to sell a county park to a developer … which led to the formation of a Friends group that carried the banner and fought for the park (bought with Pennies for Parks money from taxpayers!) to stay a park, I am very pleased to read that Horseshoe Lake Park, east of Citra, is thriving. It’s a lovely getaway, a former private camp on the lake. Back when Harris was claiming it had no visitation and was a tax drain, I attempted twice to visit and hike the trail, only to find the park gates locked at times the park was posted as being open on their own onsite signage. So no wonder there were problems. Now, the county is putting aside money for the nature trail to have interpretive signage. Read more about it in the Ocala Star-Banner.

Florida Hikes podcast: A Day in Bradwell Bay

Sandra Friend — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 01:21:07 +0000

Episode 003: A Day in Bradwell Bay (11:31)
Walk with me on a squishy, splashy day hike on the Florida Trail through a dense hardwood swamp in the Bradwell Bay Wilderness Area, south of Tallahassee.

This particular hiking experience has special meaning for me, since it launched my outdoor writing career in Florida and my series of Florida hiking books. After writing up the trip report and posting it to an online hiking group I belong to, the AT-L, I was contacted by editor Karen Berger to provide a version for GORP.com. That interaction led to my contract for the 50 Hikes series in Florida, and to articles for Backpacker and Florida Hiker magazines. I wrote this the evening of the hike, sitting in the living room of my friend Linda “Earthworm” Patton’s house (she of BooksforHikers.com fame), and posted it to the group from my laptop. The rest, they say, is history … and I was fortunate to have such a great group and excellent leader for this hike!

The original article: A Day at Bradwell Bay

Music included in this podcast:
“The River Bank” by Shaun Harris, RoyaltyFreeMusic.com
“Expeditionary” and “AngloZulu” by Kevin McCloud, Incompetech.com

Get details about and directions for the hike at http://www.floridahikes.com/panhandle/bradwell.html

Play or download the podcast with the tools below. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed for the Florida Hikes! podcast, or download the series from iTunes.com

Florida Footpaths: Celebrating the Ocala

Sandra Friend — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:14:23 +0000

Here’s a new one for the blogroll: Florida Footpaths, a website celebrating the stories along the trails of the Ocala National Forest by actress Kim Crow. She and her husband have a home in Hog Valley, and they meander the byways and trails soaking up stories and sharing them via audio and video presentations. See the site!