Florida Trail: Day 51
Feb 25, 2022
Mile: 456.0 to 482.1 (26.1 miles)
Start: SW 49th Ave Campsite, Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway
Finish: Ben’s Hitching Post Campground, Ocala National Forest
All night bikers on the Sea to Sea adventure race pedaled by our tent yelling and whooping and shouting to each other loudly. I was a little ticked off at the race volunteer who reassured us yesterday that the adventure race wasn’t going to be anywhere near the Florida Trail. I mean I guess technically he was correct but because there were no cyclists directly next to our tent site but they were pretty darn close. I had to put in my earplugs in order to get sleep and even then I would get woken up by a particularly loud bicyclist. There were 155 racers in total and I bet almost all of them passed by our campsite during the night.
Shannon and I had planned on waking up just before first light but after kind of a restless night and going to bed late we were pretty tired so slept until about 7:30. When I poked my head out of the tent to go pull up our food bag down from the trees, 30 feet away a lady walking her dog waved and said good morning to us from a hiking trail. I guess these are very well used trails and the dog walker lady asked us if we were having fun hiking and we replied yes, thank you. It was a little awkward waking up to a stranger just outside your bedroom. We didn’t want to linger long since already another mountain biker and trail runner had come by our tent. I think we were supposed to call someone to ask for permission to camp there but by the time we got in last night all we were thinking about was going to bed. Oops.
We took off through the sandy woods feeling the oppressive heat of the day wrap around us like a thick sticky unwelcome blanket. It was definitely going to be a hot one today and we needed to make sure that throughout the day we were checking in with our bodies on how we were feeling and making sure we were getting enough electrolytes and salts today. Our feet pounded on pavement quite a few times as the Florida Trail crisscrossed the paved bike path many times as it rambled up and down old canal diggings and mountain bike trails. Quite a few people were up this morning hiking and biking in the forest and it felt like a glitch in the matrix as we ran into a lady with dark hair out walking who said pretty much the same thing as another lady with dark hair 2 minutes behind her said about enjoying our hike and how excited she was for us. We almost felt like we should be looking out for Agent Smith along the trail.
Today definitely felt like a day we’re going to see a lot of people. Some days on the trail we don’t see anybody so this was exciting – civilization! It was cool because today we’re following a greenway with a lot of history named after Marjorie Carr who was an environmentalist. Marjorie stepped in when she saw the negative impact of the defunct canal that was proposed to go from the Crystal River area to Saint Augustine, splitting the state of Florida so the shipping lanes could go faster. Upon seeing how the project wasn’t going anywhere in the government and that the pristine land was about to be snatched up by developers, she realized she would have to step in or the natural beauty of the Ocklawaha River she grew up paddling would disappear forever. Marjorie worked in her community to gain support for preserving the greenway where the cross-Florida canal was supposed to have been built, eventually stopped by FDR on the eve of World War II. Marjorie gained so much support for the preservation of the area that she eventually went all the way up to President Richard Nixon 1971 and got protection for this Greenway which now is preserving valuable habitat for the vulnerable Scrub Jay which is a cute little blue and silver bird. Today this narrow strip of land now houses many paths for recreation opportunities such as mountain biking, kayaking, hiking, walking, you name it!
Anyways on this sultry morning we only made it 3 miles before we hit a trailhead parking lot where we found fresh drinking water from a bubbler (aka water fountain) and we sat under the shade of a tree and caught up on our electrolytes, each drinking a liter and filling our water bladders up to the full capacity. Well hydrated, we headed back down the trail thankful that even though it was busy it was nice that someone else was going first for a change and knocking down all the spiderwebs stretching across the path so we didn’t have to.
The trail crossed over something called The Land Bridge which is the first land bridge in the entire United States! A land bridge is kind of like a safe haven overpass for wildlife that traverses over busy highways where if it wasn’t present, many animals would be killed every year trying to cross multiple lanes of speeding traffic. The highly trafficked Interstate 75 below our feet saw over 100,000 cars a day come through here so it was a very busy area. The land bridge looked like an overpass planted with an enormous garden with a footpath and plants all over so the animals would feel comfortable crossing the bridge. One of the signs posted nearby even had a photograph of a young black bear crossing the bridge at night captured by an infrared camera that takes pictures of everyone who crosses. We’ve been seeing a lot of these IR cameras and usually waved or did finger guns towards them like Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmore. Sometimes we kind of just picked up speed around the trail cameras because one of them apparently would trigger a visit from the cops back in the Dunnellon area.
The land bridge was cool and we met a nice couple out biking on the top of the crossing who took our picture for us. We spotted a couple horseback riders crossing so we stepped to the side as to not spook their horses. Sometimes horses get freaked out about us backpackers, especially because we don’t look exactly like normal humans with our big backpacks and weird skinny “legs” in front from our hiking poles.
We hiked off the land bridge and put the pedal to the metal for another 6 or 7 miles until we reached the Santos trailhead. Santos is apparently a very famous bike brand that comes from the southeast and there were definitely quite a few bike shops in the area. We had spotted on Google Maps this barbecue joint not far off the bike path that had 4.9/5.0 stars and hundreds of reviews so we figured it’s time to stop there for some lunch. Luckily we arrived just about lunchtime to Santos so we trickled off the trail and swung on over down the campground road, across the street and followed a trail in the woods which had signs pointing to Fired Up Barbecue and Greenway Bicycles. Like Hansel and Gretel, we followed the little breadcrumb trail of handmade signs posted through the forest until we reached the little barbecue stand. It consisted of a little food truck with a brick and mortar sitting area inside and tables with umbrellas outside. After ordering some ribs and BBQ brisket, we took advantage of the indoor seating area to recharge our electronics and cool off in the air conditioning on such a hot day when we had been sweating pretty significantly.
The lady who ran the barbecue joint with her husband was super nice, fun and sassy. I was going to get the chicken but then we saw a guy with a plate of insanely delicious looking ribs and I said, “Ma’am I’m gonna change my mind as those ribs looked so insanely good.” I ate all of the juicy smoked ribs, Shannon chowed down on his brisket and we both didn’t even care that we caught a case of “the meat sweats.” We washed down our BBQ with collard greens, potato salad and Shannon had mac & cheese with a big old half-and-half tea and Shannon had lemonade.
Another guy dining inside had ordered both ribs and brisket for himself and reluctantly admitted that his eyes were bigger than his stomach. He offered us some of his ribs that he couldn’t finish which we gladly packed away for later. The guy was super fun and nice and told us about being a tree trimmer working down in Ocala Forest. He had his day off today and was enjoying it immensely, stopping on his motorcycle ride for a bite to eat. He said he has passed this BBQ stand in his work truck but they always are on the clock so he said he couldn’t wait to drive his motorcycle down here and come try this place out. The guy told us about having worked all over the place and was even looking at Hawaii but the district manager there spoke to him for about two hours and was transparent about how difficult it would be to live there on a tree trimmer’s salary with a gallon of milk costing $10 and rent being so high that many people live out of their cars or on the beach. He said he was glad he was in Florida because it was second best after Hawaii and he even had a friend who lives down in Big Pine Key where the endangered teeny tiny miniature Key Deer lived. He said they always see a bunch of the deer when they’re down there which is cool.
It was so nice to sit and listen to someone’s stories and then to get trail magic ribs because the tree trimmer said in his saddle bags the temperature rises to about 120° in 10 minutes or so. He shoved his uneaten ribs at us and we thanked him immensely. Our bellies were too full to eat the 4 meaty ribs so we stored them in a big Ziploc and Shannon stuffed them down deep into his bag hoping that they would keep till the evening in the cool insulation of his bag.
We couldn’t linger too long at the barbecue joint because we were trying to do 26 miles today but we stayed long enough to just catch up on liquids, food and then got going. The trail took us through some really pretty territory today of burnt pine trees where the grass was a bold bright green springing out of the charcoal and ash. There were lots of people on the trail today, especially at the trailheads. The humidity was so thick and we sweat so much that it wasn’t long before we stopped to rest in the shade and refilled our water bottles at a place called Baseline Park where there were dozens and dozens of kids running around on the playground and parents. At these types of places you look kind of out of place with your backpack so we picked a spot of ways away from the kiddos and sat in the shade of a picnic pavilion smiling at people as they went by trying not to give out weirdo vibes. No one bothered us and we filled up on water again from the bathroom topping off another 3 L. I think we have already drank 5 or 6 L today and still had a bunch of miles to go in the heat and humidity so refreshment was necessary to avoid cramping and dehydration. Then we each drank a liter of the Hiker Trash Special which is a packet of caffeine drink mix, a packet of electrolytes and a liter of water. A group of 4 adventure racers we had passed by 30 minutes ago on the Florida Trail strolled through the park, clearly on the very same path that their race coordinator told us that they would not be on.
After we headed out from the park, our backpacks garnered us some weird looks from a couple of teenagers. Soon we ran back into that same team of four guys on the adventure race as they were looking for a checkpoint marker in the woods somewhere. So much for the volunteer guy telling us that they wouldn’t be on the Florida Trail at all. Either the volunteer guy was a liar or an idiot or these 4 guys in front of us were seriously lost. Anyway this adventure race is all about orienteering from canoeing up the Withlacoochee River, biking across the Marjorie Carr Greenway and then it appears as though they run the Florida Trail. These 4 guys weren’t running but walking which we couldn’t blame them as it was extremely hot out. After they finished this section of trail, they would paddle another 45 miles down the alligator-filled Ocklawaha River at night and then somehow bike and run to St. Augustine in less than 72 hours. We quickly passed them, chatting a bit as we walked by and asking them if they needed anything like electrolytes or ibuprofen but they said no. They were from all over the US having met up for the race from Denver, Orlando, California and Maine. It was such a hot, oppressive day to be doing this race and the guys looked pretty beat.
However the team leader in front was kind of a jerk and wouldn’t let us pass for some reason even though his teammates kindly offered to let us pass without hesitation as even with 30lb backpacks we were outmatching them in pace. The team leader was talking at us the whole time and he felt like one of those egocentric guys you meet on trails who are really into gear and playing the comparison game. He just seemed like kind of an arrogant jerk so even though he feigned not to hear me when I asked to pass him as his 3 teammates had all kindly stepped aside, this guy didn’t like much to be passed by a girl with a bigger backpack than him. Shannon was just behind me and also had to ask this weird guy to pass by him even though we weren’t in the race and we’re just trying to get miles done. We turned up our hiking pace to 11 and got the heck out of there. Not long after this group of 4 racers, we passed another group of adventure racers and we had seen these guys earlier with their reflective triangles taped to the back of their backpacks. These guys were cool and quickly let us pass and told us a little bit about the river. One of them saw Shannon’s Hyperlite Mountain Gear backpack and congratulated him on it as it was his favorite hiking bag too.
The FT spilled out into a parking lot where the race volunteers had set up a staging area for racers to grab paddles, lifejackets and anything they needed before setting out on their 45 mile night paddle on the Ocklawaha River. The teams that were there looked pretty exhausted but the volunteers were chipper. We thought maybe somehow they would feel bad for lying to us about having to share the Florida Trail with 155 loud and sometimes rude racers as they were sitting next to a 4-foot-tall wall about 15 feet long filled with sodas and drinks. One of the volunteers recognized us and said, “Hey I saw you guys yesterday! You’re hiking the Florida Trail.”
We recognized that it was the race volunteer who had fibbed to us when he assured us that his racers would be nowhere near the Florida Trail. I think having to put in earplugs to sleep because racers were yelling all night next to our campsite and having to dodge arrogant runners blocking the Florida Trail qualified for this volunteer to be quite wrong. Flatly I replied, “Yep we’re on the Florida Trail and your racers are also on it.” The guy smiled insincerely and just left. What a douche! Anyways we flew past the racers heading down the road towards the Ocklawaha River bridge until the Florida Trail decided it was gonna do this weird 2 miles U-shape in the woods for no reason at all instead of continuing on a road walk which would’ve been maybe .75 miles. We grudgingly did the U-shaped trail which was just more random miles. Highlights included spotting an owl who stared down at us from the branches and having to pull our headlamps out as the light faded. Then we were spit back out on the road not even 10 minutes walk from where we entered the woods for no apparent reason. It was frustrating but whatever.
We hiked on the road ahead and luckily this section of country highway was wide enough for pedestrians with a nice metal barrier separating us from the highway traffic. As we crossed the bridge over the Ocklawaha River, we spotted the dim yellow green headlamps in the distance of a couple canoes of the adventure racers. In the fading light the golden eyes of an alligator reflected back at us as the reptile watched the unknowing paddlers from the water’s surface. I don’t know if I’d particularly want to canoe or kayak in the dark with alligators but more power to these people who paid all this money to come down here and race.
We slogged down another long road walk until the trail cut into Ocala National Forest. After a marathon of hiking we arrived at Ben’s Hitching Post campground that’s supposed to be pretty hiker friendly. After setting up we grabbed some snacks from Dollar General and the gas station to have with dinner. When I was in Dollar General I was really exhausted and was looking at cans of Hormel chili and there was this very interesting can of canned tamales that I just couldn’t wrap my head around and apparently is gluten-free. Hormel brand anything to me is always interesting and sometimes seems like borderline dog food but in a pinch sometimes you gotta eat it. The young girl working at Dollar General looked at me looking at the canned tamales and shook her head saying, “Oh no honey… believe me you do not want to eat that!”
I was so exhausted and the employee continued on telling me that even though it’s a DG, there’s a lot of other options. Sometimes you just need someone to give you some common sense to not eat from a dusty can of weird tamales. Instead I picked out coconut water with electrolytes and a sack of frozen green beans for $1 and some peach gummy rings. I spent a total of $4 on dinner and we headed back to the campground.
Shannon had bought two ice creams for himself but said he was full and couldn’t eat his Snicker bar ice cream. I’m pretty sure he said why don’t you try some but what I heard was, “Do you want to eat my entire Snicker bar ice cream?” When Shannon got back from running over to the gas station, his second ice cream was gone and he was devastated. In my defense the ice cream was melting everywhere and I couldn’t stop eating it once in hand and that was my excuse. Oops! We saw some feral cats hanging around Dollar General and at a nearby restaurant on our way back to the campground. No one was really at the campground desk or the office except for some guy who was watching Harry Potter in the rec room and wasn’t very talkative. We just decided since there’s no phone number and nowhere to put money that we would just check back first thing in the morning to settle up.
Shannon and I had walked as far back as we could pass the dozens and dozens of RVs squished like books in a bookshelf parked so close that they were almost touching each other. Compared to the cramped RV area, the tenting area was wide open and we just camped wherever we wanted next to a water faucet. I think we’ve been spoiled because we often find picnic tables at some of these established campsites courtesy of the Florida Trail Association and tonight Shannon was just shocked that he couldn’t find a single picnic table. He kept walking around looking for picnic tables and was floored that he couldn’t find one. I tried to soothe Shannon telling him it was going to be okay as I’ll just spread out our tarp like we’ve done on every other trail and sit on the ground to eat dinner. Dinner was leftover ribs, boiled green beans, drinking Dollar Store drinks and water. I think today’s total water consumption has been close to 8 liters.
After dinner we hung our food from a tree and went to shower. The showers were pretty gross and the bathrooms have definitely seen better days with the plywood stalls caving in. There were 2 showers in the women’s bathroom but of course someone had yanked the handle off one of the showers like we were in a prison and so there’s only one that worked and it was pretty nasty. Turns out the new owner had just bought the place in December and was working hard to renovate which was definitely much needed. As we walked back to the tent site it was somehow 10:30pm and I plugged in my earplugs again to drown out the highway traffic and passed out.
