I was troubled to see the Land Bridge Trailhead on the Cross Florida Greenway featured on tonight’s news in a sting operation that caught five men looking for sex with men hanging out at the trailhead and along the trail. All were senior citizens. All exposed themselves, or proposed to. And this isn’t the first sting of late that’s rounded up men doing this.

This is a problem I - and many other hikers - are encountering more and more, and it’s a disturbing trend. It used to just be discovering articles of clothing along the trail near a trailhead.  More recently I’ve stumbled across several instances of men cruising trailhead parking areas looking for other men, and in two cases, exhibiting lewd behavior at the trailhead. I left immediately and reported the incidents.

Folks, sex in the woods belongs in a tent. At a campsite. Plain and simple. If you see something that just doesn’t plain feel right at your favorite trailhead, let the local police know. Help keep our parks and trails safe for all ages.