Southern Section completed: Big Cypress to Palatka, 500 miles.
We continued down trail from that heart-lifting trail magic from Abigail, alongside an almost catastrophic human-engineered canal system. (Humans trying and failing to control nature, imagine that). What did come from it was this nice shaded levee for the rest of our morning walk. We met a couple poking at a water moccasin snake, and [...]
So here we are, a month into our hike. Up until this point, we have seen maybe a few dozen gators, miscellaneous amount of birds, a few deer, and fields of farm cows. No cougar sightings, no bear sightings... just a bunch of poo here and there. Well, today was the day. In one day, [...]
Tramily - n. [trail family] - strangers who were brought together on trail, sometimes for days, sometimes for months, but grow into a supportive family who suffer through rough times together, and enjoy the fun times together. We were able to reconnect with some friends at Billy Goat Day, seeing some weren't too far ahead [...]
I have mentioned our new hammocks a few times, and what better time to briefly talk about them than during a post about our time walking through the beautiful, serene oak hammocks along the Florida Trail. To clear any confusion: hammock - a hanging bed or couch made of canvas, netted cord, or the like, [...]
Back around the time we started planning our Florida Trail hike, we received an invitation to attend the wedding of Steve's friend AJ, an Appalachian Trail friend from 2015. As luck would have it, though AJ is from Boston area, his bride is from Florida, so the wedding was in Florida! As we started our [...]
The mud-riddled, wet swamp walk put us at 30 miles into the 1100 mile trail. Challenge 1 - done! The next part was a whole new obstacle to most trail dwellers. Out of the 11 National Scenic Trails in the United States, only 2 are complete trails on designated 'trail land' (public lands, easements, or [...]
The Florida Trail not only offers a winter hiking option for non-snow inclined outdoor enthusiasts, but a unique chance to traverse a new ecosystem not found too often in the US - a true swamp. We rung in our 2020 checking our lists twice (and 3 and 4 times) to make sure we were set [...]
The Florida Trail, 1,300 miles starting in the Everglades and ending in the panhandle by the Gulf of Mexico. We sat up one night talking about what would be next for us during our winter hiatus from Key West. We started our research the next day learning what we could before we committed to it. [...]
As we started to mull around the idea of doing a thru-hike of the Florida Trail (FT), Sierra and I debated on whether or not to try hammocking for a change. This of course led us down the rabbit hole: What would we need to hammock? How much does that weigh? How light can we [...]
The Gypsy Itch - Travel Blog 