Florida Trail: Day 48-49
Feb 22-23, 2022
Mile: 419.1 to 438.2 (+1.8mi for 20.9 total miles)
Start: Pat & Kathie’s house at The Villages via Inverness, FL
Finish: Comfort Inn & Suites, Dunnellon, FL via Blue Run Park
With some reluctance we left the fun times behind at The Villages retirement community where we’d spent the past few days and headed out back to the Florida Trail to work off all the good food and drinks. Pat and Kathie are so wonderful and even cooked us breakfast so we could have tons of energy for the day. It was so incredibly nice to have us stay with them and we thanked them for all their hospitality before giving them big hugs. We headed back to Inverness where we left the Florida Trail, dropped off the rental car and were on our way hiking again, even catching a ride from the rental car company a mile back to the trail and continued north.
We stopped at a city park where we used the restroom and then headed on what we thought was the Florida Trail but got a little lost from the orange blazes and had to backtrack on the road. We cut through the park and into the pine forests, spotting a 4-foot-long black and yellow racer snake sunning itself that was mildly curious about us but left us alone. At a group campsite in the pines there was a water faucet that the park rangers were using to mix cement to improve the area. We waved to them and continued on cutting through the park until eventually we spilled out onto a bike path where there were dozens and dozens of cyclists of retiree age out pedaling on the trail. It seemed like the cyclists all had bright spandex, great attitudes and each had some swag on their bikes like bike horns, flags and ribbons. There were a lot of people on recumbent bikes and we loved looking at their colorful flags that they hung up behind their bikes to warn people that they were there since they’re pretty low to the ground and difficult to see sometimes. We kept having to move over onto the side of the path so I just walked in the grass the entire time.
There were signs posted everywhere that the bike path closed at sunset and we’d read in our navigation app that the local sheriff enforced the trail closure. Maybe it was for the best as we passed a couple of rough looking guys who might’ve been Rainbow People or might’ve been methheads. Whatever they were up to, they weren’t wearing shoes, weaving off and on the bike path and we just kind of hiked quickly past them. The Rainbow People are a group of semi-nomadic hippies who gather together on public forest land, living and partying in the woods. They come down to Florida’s Ocala National Forest during the winter months which we would be entering within the next few days of the trail. I had heard them singing and playing music while thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail but didn’t linger around them. I knew a guy who was a bit of a wild partier on the AT who went and hung out with the Rainbow People for a few days. Upon his return to the AT he said he would never go back because the Rainbow People partied so incredibly hard and it got really sketchy with all the random people coming and going.
On our way hiking on the bike path we also ran into Angie who was a very spunky and fun bicyclist out for a half day. She stopped her bike and rode slowly alongside us chatting about the Florida Trail and asking about our hike. She told us about a hiker also on the trail not far north of us and which is really exciting since we’ve only seen maybe six or seven hikers the entire hike. Angie also told us to watch out for dogs in the town of Marianna which is up north in the panhandle. Apparently a girl hiking the trail last year had gotten attacked by four very aggressive dogs to the point where the Florida Trail Association had to step in after the attack. I guess the owners just watched as their dogs attacked her which is really messed up but then again we’ve also had the same thing happen to us. When we were hiking the 300-mile-long Sheltowee Trace in Kentucky we passed this guy who was strung out sitting in his truck with his big Rottweiler dog next to the truck with the door cracked. The guy in the truck looked really messed up and as soon as we walked past his property we could hear him tell the dog, “Git em!” and the big dog ran after us, barking and teeth bared. We had to lash out at it with our hiking poles as the meth head just laughed his ass off. Complete redneck trash.
What ended up happening to this girl hiker was one of the gun companies heard about the incident and actually gave her a free gun that she took gladly. I’m hoping we don’t have to deal with too many aggressive dogs but if we unfortunately see a dog get too crazy trying to attack us I wouldn’t hesitate to injure or kill a dog in self-defense which sounds awful. One of my trail names from The Long Trail in Vermont is “Puppy Kicker” because unfortunately a few times we had to deal with large untrained dogs foaming at the mouth and lunging at us. It got so bad that hiking poles weren’t working to defend my friend and I and there may have been a point where my foot connected solidly with the attacking dogs’ heads. I fought the dogs with my hiking poles and kicking them while yelling at them to back the f*ck off for a long while before the owner got off his lazy butt and grabbed his dogs. I went crazy and yelled at the owner as we were in the middle of the forest and he had been continuously allowing his dogs off leash where they would attack hikers. I wasn’t the first hiker this had happened to and wasn’t the last. Some people are just assholes and don’t train their dogs well or take responsibility for them. It’s a real reflection on the owner when the dogs are poorly behaved. I guess I’m doing better than the former law enforcement agent we hiked with in Kentucky who confessed to being attacked by dogs and he just shot the aggressive beasts with his concealed carry gun and threw their bodies in a ditch.
As we chatted with Angie the cyclist, we decided to give her the trail name of “Rosie the Riveter” since she was wearing a “We can do it!” cycling shirt. It was such a blast talking with her about the Florida Trail but it was getting late in the morning so we said goodbye. She was heading north to the town of Dunnellon on the bike path and said we should probably see her again on her way back.
Soon we came to the road crossing of the Hernando Post Office about 6 miles into our day and stopped by to mail some extra gear that we had accumulated back home. The guy at the P.O. recognized me and asked if I had found my package from the other day which I told him sadly no. He was really kind and when he handed me the receipt and sternly told me that now I had to take a picture of the tracking number. I laughed with him and replied, “Yes sir!”
After the Post Office we headed down the road to a restaurant next to the bike path called Burger Station. We left our bags outside on a bench keeping an eye on them on the window and all of a sudden another guy with a backpack showed up and got in line with us. We looked at him and at the same time asked him if he was also hiking the Florida Trail. I mean how many people with nice backpacks do you see out on the Florida Trail? Not many.
Turns out our new hiking friend Pickle was out doing a weeklong section of the Florida Trail. We hadn’t seen another FT hiker since Lake Okeechobee 3 weeks ago so of course we ended up grabbing lunch with him. It was so refreshing to sit and chat with someone who’s been through the same situations as us. We exchanged stories about crazy stuff that we’d seen on the hike and what to look out for coming up since Pickle was hiking south and we were hiking north. Pickle was really cool and I felt like we could’ve sat and talked with him for a long time. He was hiking south towards the Lakeland area near Orlando where his in-laws lived. His wife was working remotely during the week and her parents were taking the kids on different excursions to Legoland, Disney World, etc. It sounded like a pretty good deal because then Pickle can hike which he loves to do and has done the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail many many times since he lives up that way. Lunch was super fun and we laughed with him for over an hour that passed way too quickly. Pickle told us the reason that he was hiking south instead of north was because he found out on the Florida Trail Association Facebook page about the controlled burn that we had walked right through while the fire was still very much active and like most people he had wanted to avoid being burned alive. Shannon and I groaned collectively since none of us like using Facebook for all the negative comments, false information and all the crazy bullshit at peddled you with stupid influencers and everyone just jumping down each other’s throats from behind their screens. However if we did check their FB page we probably would’ve figured out an alternate route around the forest fire instead walking straight through it. Oh well.
After lunch we sadly said goodbye to our new friend Pickle and wished him luck on his journey south. Once back on the trail we almost immediately ran back into Rosie the Riveter (aka Angie the cyclist) who stopped and chatted with us again. She was so fun and cool and we would also like to talk to her for a while but she had to get going and so did we so we said our goodbyes. Thanks Angie for entertaining us, for all the good Florida Trail updates you provided and thanks for being a Trail Angel!
We continued on the bike path with far less cycling traffic now as we headed north and into the late afternoon. A gray haired cyclist stopped and asked us with a serious face if we had heard who the sheriff in Citrus County (the county we were in) had arrested recently. We weren’t sure what to make of his questions and asked, “Who?” The cyclist paused straight face before delivering the punchline, “The sheriff arrested the Energizer bunny for assault and battery.” We laughed at the terrible dad joke and groaned before the cyclist threw another one at us asking, “What didn’t the bike’s kickstand hold it up straight? Because the bike was two tired.” Almost as quickly as Mr. Dad Jokes arrived, he left and pedaled away. We shouted, “Thank you for the jokes!” as we trekked into the hot afternoon.
We were passed by lots of friendly cyclists along the never-ending bike path and no one looked at us too much like we were homeless which was kind of a nice change of pace. One cyclist had been on a bunch of long cycling trails and asked us about the Florida Trail. He didn’t listen too well and we had to repeat about 6 times that we were currently on the Florida Trail and that he too was also on it, pointing out the orange blazes that mark the path. He said he thought the orange blazes were for Florida University or some mascot and was surprised to learn something new. Exciting stuff being trail ambassadors!
At one point it was pretty darn hot and our brains were baking in the late afternoon Florida sun. At a parking lot for the bike path we stopped to rest in the shade and make our signature Hiker Trash Special drink concoction and use the bathrooms. We went up the bike ramp to the parking lot where we asked a couple of cyclists if we could share the shaded benches with them if they didn’t mind. They told us to go right ahead and as I went to fill up water for us from the water faucet the couple chatted with Shannon under the cool shade of the pavilion.
When I came back the couple said that they were going to leave and that we could have the shade but we ended up spending a pleasant 20 minutes hanging out with them chatting about their adventures and their time down in Florida. The couple was from Michigan and had even cycled across Alaska and a wolf ran in front of the lady while she was on her bike! It was so fun to have a distraction from pounding pavement for 18 miles and they were really sweet. Eventually they headed back to their place in Inverness and we continued on after getting some good book recommendations from the Michigan couple.
We couldn’t believe how nice all these people were down here and kept an eye out for gopher tortoises which are endangered and the Michigan lady had just seen one not far up the trail from us. All we spotted this afternoon were some lizards and a couple of wild turkeys running through the woods. The goal today was to get to the town of Dunnellon which was about an 18 mile day plus another 1.5 miles to a hotel. There weren’t many options for camping in the area and the hotel that we wanted to stay at was booked.
We had heard a crazy story from fellow Florida Trail hiker Pickle about how he was night hiking on this same bike path where they have signs everywhere that say the area closes at sunset and you’re not allowed on the path at night. Maybe the areas around here are kind of rough or they’ve had homeless people sleeping (aka probably Florida Trail hikers). But he said he walked past a trail cam next to the bike path and had seen a red flash go off as a picture was taken of him in the dark. He was holding a knife since he heard a lot of rustling in the woods near him and wasn’t sure if it was a bear or not. The trail camera photo of him was probably him wearing a confused look grasping a knife in hand. Not too soon after his photo was taken, a police car drove onto the bike path and started scanning the area for trespassers. Pickle freaked out and jumped into the woods, hiding until the police car eventually went away after searching for him. He’s pretty sure the trail cam triggered the police car to come and he kept a keen eye out for more cameras. Pickle warned us of what was to come if we didn’t get off the bike path before sunset so we tried to pick up the pace. It would be nice to avoid law enforcement if possible!
We crushed the miles and I think maybe scared some nice people walking their dogs in the neighborhoods. A family took one look at us and picked up their pace. There was a bathroom in a trailhead parking lot and as I came out of the bathroom a car parked nearby couldn’t drive away fast enough. I think we must have been pretty scary looking with our backpacks walking next to these nice houses. Pickle had suggested if we were in a pinch to stealth camp near one of the houses being built in a new development next to the trail but we weren’t going to do that because when I was a little kid we got in a little bit of trouble wandering around in newly built houses.
The trail deviated here as a new connector bike path took people off the road and safely under a busy highway. It was really nice to walk on the new bike path and we wondered when the Florida Trail Association would update the navigation app with the new trail and maps.
The bike path transitioned from forest and scrub pine to thick cypress swamps and blackwater ponds. It was beautiful in its own way as the sun was setting and we sped up our pace as we passed by the trail cam that Pickle had talked about. We hiked over a huge bridge crossing the Withlacoochee River which we had been following on the Florida Trail for about 60 or 70 miles. An angry ibis called out to its mate from the thick cypress trees and some big alligators swam lazily in the green carpeted river.
We continued on as the jungle pressed in on either side of us, surprisingly passing quite a lot of people still out walking despite the bike path “officially” closing at sunset. The trail spit us out on the Blue Run parking lot which is a popular local kayak and tubing destination. There were some people blasting country music as they hauled their boats out of the water but we didn’t linger as they sounded kind of intoxicated. The trail spilled out onto a narrow bridge as darkness was settling and we walked past a restaurant on the beautiful Rainbow River called “Swampy’s” which was serving up creole food. We then headed through the darkness passing some rough areas where highlights included a guy shaking a car wash machine to get all of the quarters out, rundown shops and beat up houses. We didn’t stop walking until we got to our hotel about 1.5 miles later.
At the hotel we showered, ordered Domino’s Pizza and did laundry. I normally wear my rain pants to do laundry since my other clothes have to get washed but since my rain pants had recently gotten a huge tear up the butt and my duct tape repair didn’t hold. I worked on supergluing the rain pants while Shannon volunteered to go start the laundry instead. You have to get creative when you only have one set of clothes!
Anyways, the next day we did a lot to catch up on Shannon with work and me with blogging so we took an unexpected rest day. We called family and friends and went for a little swim in the hotel pool. Then it was grocery store food and we went to sleep somewhat early as we prepared for a dusty couple of hundred trail miles coming up.