Travels and Trials of RV Life

Little Talbot Island State Park

2026-10-17T10:11:50.536-07:00

This month was a camping trip instead of straight backpacking. Little Talbot is within an hour of home but we never stopped there. It’s a unique park. It is less than a mile wide but 4 miles long. The east side is on the ocean while the west side is wetlands. The movie shows fiddler crabs near the wetland.

Between the wetlands and the ocean are dunes.

There is one trail within the island under trees. With recent rains and given the swamps, there were a lot of mosquitoes so I hiked this one fast. The cool part was seeing this Barred Owl.

Walking on the beach was great though. The few people who come to this beach mostly stay near the central boardwalk. Both ends of the island were empty when I was there. I liked this tree.

I see great blue herons frequently at our backyard pond. But I didn’t realize how big their footprints are and they can be taller than me (which isn’t saying THAT much).

Just a cool picture of a section of the beach.

The Appalachian Trail

2026-09-21T11:02:26.469-07:00

For all the backpacking I’ve done, I hadn’t done any of the most famous trail in the country. It is too hot and humid to hike in Florida in September, so I took Amtrak to Harpers Ferry West Virginia and backpacked on the Appalachian Trail (AT). I ended up hiking 54 miles on the AT with a total of 11,218 feet ascent. This included AT miles in Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland plus several miles on the C&O Canal Towpath and around Harpers Ferry.

It was completely different from both Florida Trail and the AlleghenyTrail. Florida Trail is flat and with a few people but over 5 days I might see 10 people. Allegheny Trail had similar hills as the AT but I saw no one while on that trail. During my 5 days on the AT, I saw around 10 thru-hikers, 5 section hikers, and almost 200 day hikers. The Allegheny Trail disappears at times since so few people hike it but the AT is well-traveled and much easier to follow.

However, the Virginia AT section I was on was much more rocky than the Allegheny. That was my most difficult part of the hike. The rocks sometimes required large steps between or were small loose rocks. Between the rocks, wet leaves, and acorns, it was slow going for me so I wouldn’t slip.

The ‘interesting’ part of the Virginia section was the 14 mile long “Roller Coaster”. It is a section with nothing but hills going up and down. It even includes a warning!

I did enjoy snacking on paw paws in a couple of places along the trail. Good tasting but a bit messy.

In my opinion, Maryland had better trails. It helped that everything was dry and it was perfect weather for hiking. The trail went through both Gathland and Washington Monument State Park.

All along the trail in all 3 states were stops with great views.

The AT is also different since it has shelters. These shelters could have water, showers, bear poles, bear boxes, electricity along with the shelter if you want to sleep there. This was quite fancy to me. Surprisingly, I never saw another hiker where I camped, which was fine by me! I had never seen a bear pole before but they are quicker than hanging the bag from a tree.

There is a tradition that thru-hikers either uber or sometimes beg rides to get into town. I did both! There was a birding class at Washington Monument State Park. I asked if anyone was going into Harpers Ferry. Turns out this nice lady lived only a couple of blocks from the hotel. We had a great conversation into town!

I considered backpacking on the C&O Canal Towpath. But it was full of bikers who weren’t all so polite to a hiker. The trail was more like road walking with little shade. There are campsites, but they are right along the trail with no privacy at all. A nice trail for a bike trip, but not great for hiking.

I also spent a day sightseeing in Harpers Ferry. There’s a lot of history here. Plus by that point, I enjoyed food from restaurants instead of from my backpack.

I saw quite a few deer along the trails. I also saw this deer in a cemetery in Harpers Ferry while I was geocaching. Cool!

Fort Clinch Tent Camping

2026-02-28T08:36:00.000-08:00

For something new, I tent camped at a nearby state park. The trip started exciting enough. When I got there, they said they didn’t have my reservation. After looking through the computer more, they realized I was a month early. I really screwed up on my reservation! I’ve heard about people doing this but this was a first for me. Luckily, there was an opening for tent camping (RV sites were completely full).

The sites were nice, but given that I’m used to camping with no one nearby it was weird having neighbors. But I had clean water and a bathroom fairly close so that was cool.

My first hike was a combined hiking and mountain biking trail. There were a lot of ups and downs with roots and rocks. Kudos to those mountain bikers. It was hard enough hiking without tripping over the roots. I am not a mountain biker so this trail looked tough to me.

The second hike was along the beach. Sunrise was pretty.

Lots of birds.

The fort.

I met a lady who was shark tooth hunting. She hadn’t found any sharks teeth either. But she met a guy who gave her a handful of teeth he had found that morning since he had so many at home. She gave me a few of those teeth. Very nice!

Short trip, but fun.

Ocala National Forest

2026-01-19T11:56:00.000-08:00

I decided to backpack Ocala again after my trip last year (1,2). This time was shorter, only 3 days and 50 miles. The forecast changed for my 4th Day to steady rain and 40s during the day and freezing temperatures overnight. I was not ready for that so I called John for an early pick-up. I am quite wimpy.

The first night was interesting too. My shoes got wet getting water from the nearby pond so I kept them outside the tent. The next morning they were frozen solid. I couldn’t fit my feet into them until I brought them into my sleeping bag and squished them to break up the ice. Besides the shoes, instead of dew on the tent it had ice. What fun!?!

It was peaceful hiking then I would be surprised by a fellow hiker along the trail. Over the trip I met 1 thru-hiker traveling south, 5 day hikers, and 7 overnight hikers. Oh, and a Boy Scout troop hiking the trail. Compared to my West Virginia trip, this was a busy but very flat easy hike.

The most interesting encounter was a place called Hidden Pond. The locals hike out to this camping spot. I was there to fill up on water when I noticed 5 teenagers preparing to camp. There were reports of an aggressive bear there just a few days ago. I warned them but being teenagers, they felt they could fight the bear or something. The next morning they hadn’t seen the bear but had heard it. Nope...I was happy to be camping elsewhere.

I didn’t see that many animals: sandhill cranes, egrets, herons, deer, and squirrel. I also saw bear scat and bobcat tracks.

Went through one area that had a controlled burn 4 days before. A few logs were still smoking.

With 50’s most days, the hiking was good. No sweating! So, an enjoyable trip.

Island Adventures

2025-12-16T09:43:00.000-08:00

I’ve been visiting Cumberland Island for the last few years in October (1, 2, 3, 4). However, with the government shutdown I had to delay it. December was definitely different from October. It was colder (and I wasn’t quite prepared for early morning temperatures) but also much less crowded (which I liked). The campgrounds were maybe one-third full with fewer day trip people. Matter of fact, the ferry doesn’t run two days a week so us campers pretty much had the island to itself.

Perhaps it was because there were so few people, but everyone seemed so friendly. We exchanged stories of animal sightings and “secret” places to visit. I learned where to find fossil shark’s teeth though I found more fossil bones than teeth. I even borrowed someone’s phone to text John since their AT&T had service while my Verizon had nothing. A couple campers told me about the orange and grapefruit trees that had ripe fruit in one of the campgrounds. They say they grew from seeds that campers spit out. Online, it seems it might be seeds spread by birds from citrus trees grown as a cash crop. Who knows?

As far as animals, I saw 3 dolphins on the ferry ride.

When you hear a noise in the trees on Cumberland Island, it can be an armadillo, deer, raccoon, squirrel, wild pig, or a wild horse. I saw all of these this week. (They say there are bobcats on the island but I haven’t spoke to anyone who saw one.) I only saw a few deer. Most ran before I could get a good picture.

Armadillos were everywhere. Technically, this is a nine-banded armadillo. See the tail.

In previous visits, I only saw a few wild pigs. On just one hike in the North section of the island, I saw 13 different pigs. All stared at me for awhile then ran away.

The horses may be the most dangerous animals on the island. You are supposed to stay a school bus length from them though they sometimes walk up closer than that. They tell a story about a lady getting too close trying to get a selfie. The horse kicked her and she had to be life-flighted off the island. Then her insurance wouldn’t pay for the helicopter so she had to pay the $20,000 for the helicopter herself. Scary story, but I can’t find that it really happened by googling it, so who knows.

I’ve wanted to see the North section in previous visits but was either unprepared for the hike or the area was closed due to hurricane damage. I finally got there! There is a wonderful campground 10.5 miles north of the ferry landing. The campground is big enough and full of trees so that I didn’t even realize there were people at three other campsites until I wandered along the trail. At any time, horses may wander through the campground.

The sunsets every night was absolutely gorgeous. The pictures can’t convey the colors.

Of course, I had to do some general hiking. Overall, I hiked more than 40 miles over the 5 days. But much of my hiking was in the North section where the trails aren’t very clear. There are no blazes. The poorly marked human trail and the easy to see horse paths cross so I wandered off the official path several times. On one trail I ended up fighting my way through saw palmettos that scratched me. Turns out that a guy I talked to on the ferry back got lost on a trail and was scratched up by saw palmettos too. BTW, this picture was another trail with saw palmettos just on the side.

But I finally got to the church that’s 15 miles from the dock. It was a church, school, and meeting place for the black population that lived here through the 1900’s. It was also the location of the 1996 wedding of John F. Kennedy, Jr. I finally did it!

Stories from a Cruise

2025-11-09T12:31:00.000-08:00

John and I took a short cruise on a Norwegian ship from our local Jacksonville port to the Bahamas. Some stories:

Our first stop was at Freeport at Grand Cayman Island. The last cruise also stopped here when we took an excellent excursion. This time we just walked 1.5 miles to a lighthouse then back. We thought we’d be the only ones silly enough to do this walk, but there was an older gentleman using a cane that did the same walk. So no complaining about the distance!

The second stop was supposed to be at their private island. We had an excursion booked for us to zipline, which is on my bucket list. Unfortunately, the water was too rough and the island was skipped. I will get that ziplining done sometime!

The third stop was Nassau. We walked about 3 miles around the town seeing a museum, old buildings, and a distillery. The difficult part is that sidewalks seems pretty optional in this old section of town. We had to walk along fairly busy traffic in some places but still a pretty town.

I thought that the most exciting part of the trip was at the Nassau port. We went out on our balcony to watch the ship get ready to leave port. Somehow, I locked the door behind me as I stepped out. So, the two of us were stuck on the balcony with no way to get back into our room and our room marked as “Do Not Disturb”! After shouting for help for awhile, someone on the level above us heard. They tried using their phone to call to help us, but couldn’t get anyone to answer. Finally, someone on our level and about 5 rooms from us stepped out to their balcony. They were able to get the steward to come to our room to unlock the door. It may have been only 10-15 minutes, but it was exciting!!!

More relaxing pictures.

The Cursed Trail

2025-10-27T13:50:00.000-07:00

In honor of Halloween, I present the ‘Cursed Trail’. The full trail I had selected is around 90 miles taking 6 days.

- I first hiked 45 miles of the trail in February while experiencing cold nights, high water on the trail, and hiking in the smoke near a controlled burn.

- The 2^nd time was about 60 miles in December. In this case I stopped after hearing that the last section was closed due to fallen trees from 2 hurricanes.

- The 3^rd time was only 35 miles in March. That time the river level was 66’ which flooded many crossings making it unsafe for me to try, especially hiking alone.

This time I still didn’t make the full distance. I made my personal best for this trail of 70 miles over 5 days though. The first section was fine. While the last section of the trail is officially open and much work has been done to clear or mark much of the trail, there were LOTS of down trees still on the trail. As one hiker on the map app commented, it’s a full body workout. I had to crawl under, climb over, and/or walk around lots of trees all while wearing a backpack. I had to use the map app to find my way back to the trail quite a few times.

The problem was that finding the trail again wasn’t very obvious. Much of the trail consisted of a thin trail but mostly high grass and weeds. By going in October, plants haven’t died back yet. There is a plant called Devil's beggarticks. While pretty when flowering, the seed is barbed so they catch on animals who disperse them. My clothes were completely covered with these barbs. One evening I spent an hour removing the large portion of the seed from my clothes but the smaller barbs stayed in making the clothes scratchy the next day.

I finally reached the point where I realized that while the view of the river was gorgeous, the extra work and stress of going around down trees made the hike “not fun”. All the bushwhacking meant I was only covering half the distance I expected. I called John so he could pick me up a day early. Turns out I also had a problem with my cell phone that prevented me from charging it. I would have run out of power that last day. Oh, and I found out I had 3 small holes in my tent. Ants or sand fleas must have come in the last night to bite me. I had lots of bug bites the last day.

On the good side...The river level was much lower this time. Instead of the 66’ when the trail was flooded, it was only 50’. This first picture was where the board bridge were flooded in March. This time (2^nd picture), there was absolutely no water under the crossing.

For cool animals, I saw a coyote step out on the trail ahead of me. He walked ahead of me then turned to notice me for the first time and quickly ran off. I also saw a cottonmouth (water moccasin) on a creek near where I was filtering water. No issue there either.

Some pretty pictures too. THIS is why I like hiking!

Reunions

2025-10-11T10:20:00.000-07:00

My college friends got together this week in Columbus Ohio. I flew up then Leslie and Mark picked me up at the airport. They drove to Alum Creek State Park so we could hike and talk while we waited until we could check into the hotel.

They reserved a suite which became our “party room”. We spent every evening reminiscing, sharing pictures, telling stories, and laughing. Oh, and pretend flirting with the pizza delivery man until we found out he was still in high school!

We did a tour of American Whistle Corp. They are the only company in the U.S. who make metal whistles. As engineers we internally critiqued the tour guide’s talk (no, they didn’t extrude metal but were actually stamping, forming and shearing). Otherwise, it was a great tour even with the kids loudly using their free whistles at the end of the tour.

Our original plan was to go to the Columbus Zoo but it rained heavily so we toured the Ohio Statehouse. The end of the tour was quite memorable as we walked back to our cars that was a half a block away through heavy rain and ankle deep puddles. The time before supper was spent hanging up wet clothes and using the hair dryer as needed.

The next day started with a tour of Anthony-Thomas Candy. They have a ‘sweet’ set up with a closed in balcony all around the plant so tours can watch the operation. No pictures are allowed in the plant but it was quite interesting. There might have been excessive candy and chocolate purchasing at the end.

The afternoon was a visit to the Columbus Botanical Gardens. For me, I enjoyed the demonstration on glass making the best. You then find gorgeous glass sculptures among the gardens. We finished the day at Schmidt’s Sausage Haus Restaurant.

The next day most of our group left but Doreen and Bill drove in to stay the night. We haven’t got together since July 2018. We spent a day basically just talking though with a visit to the local mall just to walk around.

Great week!

Washington DC

2025-09-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

I’ve visited Washington DC a few times before but each time was just for a couple of days. In that time I can see some of the monuments then only run into a couple of Smithsonian Museums to see a few of things. So, I’ve had spending more time in the museums in Washington DC on my bucket list. I just spent a week, which still isn’t enough time but enough to see ~18 museums and a bunch of monuments and weird places. This blog could be very long but I’ll just keep it to some highlights.

The Allegheny Trail prepared me for the walking. But there was also a lot of people, noise, and traffic. At least September is a great time to visit. The spring is way too busy with 8^th graders visiting and older people coming to see the cherry blossoms. Summer is busy and too hot while winter is too cold. September and October is just right.

I saw groups of National Guard carrying weapons while walking through the streets and the Mall area. None seemed to do anything but walk around. I didn’t see them interacting with anyone during my week.

I talked to quite a few different people while waiting in line or in the museums. One was a guy from Netherlands that had just finished a 5-month backpacking trip on the Pacific Crest Trail. A lady and I had quite a discussion in front of Rembrandt’s painting “The Circumcision”. She both knew Jewish customs and had been a midwife so she had some interesting background. However, neither of us could figure out why Rembrandt would paint such a subject.

Lots of great architecture. I think my favorite was the reading room at the Library of Congress.

Favorite place to hang out and relax was the Enid A. Haupt Garden near the Smithsonian Castle.

Most relaxing spot inside a museum was the “Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room” at the National Museum of Asian Art.

Lots of places were closed for renovation including that Castle, sections of the museums that were being changed to new exhibits, and the carousel on the Mall.

An amusing point for me was near bathrooms. At Planet Word, the bathrooms were full of phrases while the Natural History museum had a small exhibit about scat.

Me hanging out with the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum.

Best view without needing tickets (like at the Washington Monument) was at the Old Post Office Tower. Turns out there was a fire at a local electric utility plant while I was there.

One of my weird things were 2 towers used for ventilation of the capitol. I’m not sure if they are still in use, but they are cool looking!

Scariest piece of art. “Mother and Child Enthroned with Angels”, Veronese, dated 1321.

Favorite display at the American History Museum was these signs from the MASH TV show.

I can check this trip off the bucket list now!

Allegheny Trail

2025-08-23T16:33:00.000-07:00

I thought I was ready for a more challenging trail after backpacking on the Florida Trail but this one was tough.

I considered a section of the Appalachian Trail (AT) but that trail can be too popular. I like being alone to hike. On the AT you will probably see thru-hikers, section-hikers, and day hikers while hiking and at shelters. The section of the Allegheny Trail I hiked was extremely uncrowded. I saw absolutely no hikers during my 7 days on the trail.

The AT can have trash and have deep ruts or be widened from the traffic. The Allegheny Trail are pristine (too pristine, as it happens). There were multiple sections with weeds or small bushes covering the trail. I just had to push through the plants hoping I was going in the right direction. This picture is the actual trail.

The trail doesn’t have the maintenance support of the AT so that many fallen trees have not been cleared. Many times I had to crawl over, under, or around dead trees to continue the trail.

The last section of the trail seemed to also be used as a horse trail. This was the most difficult section for me. Very rough and lots of deep mud to try to avoid in some way.

Besides the trail condition, I was surprised by the difficulty of the climbs. I thought I had trained by walking several times a week for 2 miles on the treadmill at a 10 degree incline with a 20 pound backpack. However, the real trail can be 45 degrees at times. My total was ~100 miles distance and 19,000+ feet ascent (around the same for Kilimanjaro). They say the only way to train for a hike is to actually do the hike. I believe it.

Another surprising difficulty with the trail was the lack of cell phone service. The first section only had cell phone service on some hill tops. The last half had no service anywhere. Turns out there is a 13,000 square mile area without service so that the Green Bank Radio Telescopes can work. I had to be creative to get messages to my husband. I found one guy (who turned out the have been a former AT thru-hiker), who sent a text for me when he drove outside the zone. In one town, I was able to send an email. Essentially I was only sending a message every other day to let John know I was OK.

OK, all the good things. The views of the mountains was amazing and inspiring.

The weather was a bit hot during the day (80’s) but otherwise wonderful. The views along the trail under the trees was restful.

I loved all the mushrooms and flowers.

The most exciting part was seeing a bear. I saw the bear stretched out on a branch. He heard me and stood up. I called “Hey, bear.”, so I wouldn’t surprise him. He quickly slid down the tree and ran away. Very cool!

And, at the end of the week, I really felt I had accomplished something. It was an amazing challenge.

East Side Okefenokee Swamp

2025-05-07T07:23:00.000-07:00

We’ve camped in our RV several times at the state park (1, 2, 3). It’s a good place to camp but not many hiking trails. It’s also a 1.25 hour drive from our home. Closer to our home is an entrance on the east side of the swamp but we’ve never visited this part of the park.

There isn’t any camping within the park, but there’s more to do. There’s a museum at the visitors center. On a short trail nearby, we found people fishing. The funny part was that when one of the guys caught a fish, he had to pull it up quickly before a waiting alligator could grab it!

A turkey crossed the road on our drive. One hike is along a canal used for logging in the early 1900’s. At one stop, you hike back to a farm and home from a family who lived here 1880’s to 1970’s. There’s corn cribs, syrup shed, chickens, hog pen, and all sorts of things near the home. Some of it reminded me of the farm I grew up in. However, our tub wasn’t on the back porch with a view of the outside.

The longest and more exciting hike is 1.5 mile round trip on a boardwalk. Along the boardwalk we saw a couple of snakes. This one was a Florida banded water snake.

There were also a couple of alligators staring at us. I was hoping they didn’t stay here to eat tourists passing by!

The end of the trail is a tower with a view of a lake, the swamp, and the upper levels of the trees.

This is probably the last local trip we will take for the summer. It’s been hitting 90 degrees and the humidity is high. Looking forward to the fall and winter!

Fernandina Beach

2025-04-20T11:43:00.000-07:00

Fernandina Beach Florida is only 45 minutes from our house, but other than Fort Clinch, we’ve never really spent any time there. So...John and I took a mini-vacation and stayed in a hotel for a couple nights. We spent the days seeing historical places, weird places, hiking trails, and beaches. We took several walks on the beach.

For historical places, we visited a museum in a building that used to be a jail.

We walked around downtown seeing old homes. Many were converted to B&B’s.

The Palace Saloon is considered the oldest bar in Florida.

There was a hiking trail near our hotel. I hiked it both mornings while John and I hiked a portion while geocaching.

Lots of rabbits along the path.

Of course I dragged John to a couple of old cemeteries. Bosque Bello was established in 1798 by the Spanish.

This picture is taken at Fernandina Plaza Historic State Park which has all sorts of history. The home in back is where Pippi Longstocking lived in a movie. In front is a girl running from a drone set to follow her. What a great way to tire out the kids!

As far as weird, there’s a story about the grave of Wiccademous. This was a young girl convicted of witchcraft in the 1600s. Different haunting stories abound including that the ghost will follow you home but there is no supporting documentation of a witch in town so it’s probably a completely made-up story to scare kids. I went back on the path where there was supposed to be a stone marker under an “ancient” oak tree. This was the oldest I could find but I didn’t see a marker. So far the ghost of Wiccademous hasn’t shown up at my house.

My favorite part was walking at Boneyard Beach. Weathered trees lay along the beach.

Nearby was Black Rock Beach.

We finished with a visit to Kingsley Plantation. Various buildings still exist including the main house, a kitchen, and a row of cabins for the enslaved people. Sad stories here.

Water, Water, Everywhere

2025-03-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

In early 2024, I did a 3-day and 45 mile hike in the Suwannee River section of the Florida Trail. It was definitely a challenge including a flooded Osceola National Forest.

Then in late 24, I planned on a 6-day and 90-mile trip of the same section plus more but only finished 4-days and 60 miles. At that time the planned last 2 days of hiking was highly damaged with down trees by hurricanes so I had to stop early. It only fully opened in February.

So now, I wanted to finish the whole 6-day trip. Turns out that Osceola National Forest was flooded again. Hiking 16 miles is tough. Hiking through ankle to thigh deep water for half of the time is very tough. The good news is that by hiking through cool water all day I didn’t sweat and my feet didn’t get hot and swell up.

The worst section was up to my hips. It grazed the bottom of my backpack plus was just scary not being able to see if I might step in a hole and go deeper.

I also found an issue where the base layer was sphagnum moss. If I stepped on the moss, I was OK but the longer I stood (trying to find the next safe step), the more I would sink in. Like quicksand, I guess.

The next section is through the Big Shoals area. There was still water on parts of the trail but it was ‘only’ ankle deep. The trail along the river was quite pretty with azaleas blooming.

As I was eating lunch at the Shoals and feeling proud and happy I was through the wet section, a hiker came up. Turns out he was the same guy who warned me in December about the closed trail. I was excited to tell him I was redoing the trip. He paused before telling me about the river problem. The times I visited in 2024 the depth of the Suwannee was 58’ and 52’. This time it was up to 66’. What that meant was the next 4 days would have an occasional flooded trail along the river. But, more importantly, every time a spring or creek ran into the river meant the crossing may be very high and some of those bridges were flooded. He mentioned the water at some crossings were chest high. Now, I’m brave enough to handle hip high, but chest high means holding my backpack above my head and hoping I stay on my feet. Because I was hiking by myself, it just didn’t seem smart to continue. I had to stop at 2-days and 35-miles. Given that temperatures are rising and mosquitoes were coming back, it looks like I’ll have to wait until fall to finish this cursed hike!

That hiker took a picture of me beside this root on the trail. BTW, I haven’t decided if the hiker is a trail angel in warning me of dangers ahead, or the harbinger of doom.

Anyhow, I hiked on to a campsite and stayed the night before John picked me up the next morning. I saw this new bridge. The hiker had helped build this and it was done without heavy equipment. It replaced the rope bridge that I’ve used in the past.

As I left, one crossing was knee-high. One was a flooded ‘bridge’. The 1^st picture is from my early-2024 trip. The 2^nd was this trip from the opposite side of the creek. It appeared to be ~1.5’ deep water then a step up to the boards but those might be floating and most likely not stable. I ended up bushwhacking further up the creek to cross.

Ending on a happier note...morning on the Suwannee River.

Spring ferns

The Weird of Gainesville

2025-03-09T16:23:00.000-07:00

Of course, being who I am, I had to do more weird things. An unexpected event was when I was walking home with a couple people from dinner. This young man ran up and started picking loquats from a tree. He gave us samples (very good and juicy) along with a lecture on the loquat tree. Very unexpected.

Every morning I took a hike. The stated purpose was to geocache (and I found quite a few), but mostly it was to just walk. One morning was to Depot Park. The building is a science museum.

The final morning I did a longer hike of 6 miles total to the University of Florida. This is the 10-ton chert Turlington Rock (that is Turlington hall in the background). It’s common name is the Turlington Turd!

Statues at the stadium.

And the bat houses!

After John picked me up, we drove out to Cellon Oak Park. The Cellon Oak is the co-champion (largest) live oak in Florida. It was definitely big!

Kayaking with Road Scholar

2025-03-09T16:17:00.000-07:00

This is my 4^th Road Scholar trip and definitely the closest location. I signed up for a kayaking trip based in Gainesville which is less than 1.5 hours from home. My purpose was to see if I wanted to buy a kayak and go on the many rivers of Florida. Of the group of 14 people, I was the youngest (just 3 years younger than a couple of them) but the least experienced on a kayak. The answer to my question was that, while I really had a good time this week, I enjoy backpacking more.

We stayed at an inn located in several older homes. I was amused that one of the oldest houses in Gainesville was the McKenzie House where I stayed. It was built in 1895. The house I grew up in was built in the late 1860’s or maybe 1870’s. I never considered it “historic”.

The trip included three kayaking 3 different rivers, Ichetucknee River, Santa Fe River, and Silver River. Each are popular and a bit different for kayaking. The Ichetucknee River had clear water with a fast current so not as much work was needed to kayak it.

It also seemed like each day the leaves were greener and more flowers were blooming. This is the Sante Fe River from the next day which was a blackwater river with a slower current (more work). Plus, we got to swim in a spring. It was 72 degrees which is cool but still fine for swimming.

One day was spent hiking at Paynes Prairie. This area had LOTS of alligators along with different birds.

Plus more alligators at Sweetwater Wetlands Park.

This cool part of this park is that is was a man-made wetlands to treat water for Gainesville. It was less expensive than a water treatment plant and much better for the environment. The water is sent through a settling pond, this piece of equipment to skim off floating trash, then into different cells full of water plants.

At Silver Springs, we kayaked and saw several manatees swim past us. We also had time to walk around. There were several shows filmed here long ago including several Tarzan films, Creature of the Black Lagoon, Moon Raker, and Sea Hunt.

The trip also includes a lot of lectures, talks, and films. This included springs, the Floridan Aquifer, underwater caving, wetlands, water treatment, birds, pine trees, cedar trees, and plants. This is a picture of a limpkin (which I’ve never heard about before this trip).

Danger, Fear, and Fame in Ocala National Forest

2025-02-02T15:00:00.001-08:00

There are dangerous things in Ocala NF to consider. It’s Florida so there are alligators in some of the ponds, though I never saw one. There are coral and rattlesnakes, though again, I never saw any. There are black bears in the forest. There is even a requirement that you must use a bear canister or a bear hang to store your food at night (I used the bear hang method). I never saw a bear but I saw a LOT of bear scat.

The trails themselves can be dangerous. It’s easy to trip over roots or branches. With the hurricanes last year, there was more branches on the trail than normal. To me, vines are the most dangerous on most trails. You can get your feet caught in a vine then fall. But, on this hike, it was grass that was the most dangerous. One section of the trail was through knee-high grass. I stepped on the drooping grass then my other foot got caught in the loop. I fell to the ground. Then, the momentum from my backpack pushed my face and nose into the ground. Luckily, I didn’t have a bloody nose or black eyes but it did mark my nose which hurt for awhile. I had to go to my optometrist when I got home to adjust my bent glasses.

Forget the bears, worry about grass.

As far as fear, three times I was quietly hiking along when a flock of birds suddenly and loudly came out of the grass or bushes beside me. I may have screamed twice. I don’t have a picture of those flocks but here are some sandhill cranes. They are pretty big (especially compared to me) and I had to ask them to move off the trail. They were polite about it.

I also saw an eagle, woodpeckers, robins, herons (no pictures), and osprey in their nests.

For hikers on the FT, 88 Store is a famous place. After several days without a town or store, it’s a place to have some food and a beer, a shower, potable water, power to charge a phone, and a restroom! I enjoyed some snacks and an ice cream sandwich. Yes, it’s a dive bar for the locals but friendly service and appreciated.

Several hikers mentioned that “Jupiter Hikes” was on the FT. He’s a YouTuber who does videos on backpacking, especially ultra light. I’ve watched lots of his videos. Unfortunately, he was further north and west on the trail.

However, I met “Nimblewill Nomad”. He’s the oldest hiker to finish the Appalachian Trail at age 83. Now he’s 87. I met him as he hiked 4.2 miles from his home/campsite to the 88 Store to enjoy a beer. Then he has to hike back. Pretty amazing to be able to do that at 87.

My last part on the trail was crossing Buckman Lock. A fun trip!

Five Day Backpacking through Ocala National Forest

2025-02-02T15:00:00.000-08:00

My last solo backpacking was on Florida Trail (FT) through Osceola National Forest and further west for 4 days and 60 miles of hiking. This time was Ocala NF for 5 days and 75 miles. The adventure started by taking the Amtrak to Deland, FL then uber’ing to the FT trail head on the south edge of the forest. When I finished up north, I uber’ed again to Palatka Amtrak to return home. More excitement!

Over the 5 days I saw 6 day hikers, 5 section hikers (like me, doing a section of the FT), and one thru-hiker (coming north from the Everglades going to Pensacola). Positively crowded. Perceptions of hiking greatly changed depending on who I was talking to. The old ladies hiking a couple of miles were surprised I would hike so long and camp overnight,. The 2 greatly overloaded first-time section hikers were surprised with my small backpack (20-23 lbs). One of the section hikers and the thru-hiker was advising me to cut back further on my weight and kind of surprised I only hiked 15 miles a day on my last hike. They talked about doing 20-25 miles per day. On the final full day, I challenged myself to hike 20 miles. Did it, but I’m still feeling the effects a few days later.

One section of the Florida Trail just recently reopened after last year’s hurricanes. There was so much work done to clear downed trees. I felt that whole area was just gorgeous and surreal.

I camped overnight among pine and oak trees, under palm trees, beside a wet prairie, and beside a grass prairie with pine trees.

Osceola NF and Suwannee Section Florida Trail

2024-12-06T16:26:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year I hiked 45 miles of the Florida Trail. I have been eager to backpack longer distances now that the weather has finally cooled down here in Florida. I decided to repeat what I did before but in reverse then add additional miles. The “plan” was to go 90 miles but after talking to two hikers on the trail, I chickened out on the last section due to heavy storm damage from Debby, Helene, and Milton hurricanes in the final section that have altered the trail. It was questionable whether the whole section was open. Even in the section that I hiked, there were lots of trees down with root balls to be stepped around and fallen trees going everywhere.

There was evidence of LOTS of work by volunteers in clearing the trail.

I ended up hiking ~60 miles over 4 days. Osceola National Forest was much better than last time. A major portion of the trails were flooded at that time including a long section up to my butt. This time is was almost completely dry except a couple of small sections. While there was still mud in some areas, I could walk the edges to stay dry. Some of the previous flooded trail was now soft moss that was pretty nice on the feet!

Love that I saw these pitcher plants. They are carnivorous like Venus flytraps.

The rest of the hike was either along the Suwanee River or just inland.

Had to laugh about several of the creek crossings. The app of the trail suggests walking on the log to stay dry. Because I’m a gymnast who has trained to balance with a heavy backpack. I’d rather get wet then slip, especially while solo hiking.

John picked me up at Graffiti Bridge (Suwanee River Bridge). It’s an old bridge that people come from all over to take pictures and/or spray paint the bridge. It was remarkably PG rated with most of the graffiti about who loves whom or what school was the best. Apparently it is famous with bikers who bring there bikes there for a photo shoot. There were 3 different bikers there taking pictures while I visited and one took this picture of me.

The worst part was that last morning that got down to 24 F. Sleeping wasn’t that bad (I bought a new sleeping bag that is designed for those temperatures), but packing up and hiking in the morning was rough. I couldn’t carry a big coat so I wore everything I had plus wore socks as mittens. There was a frost for a few hours until it warmed up. Did you know tents are heavier with frost?!

The whole hike was like an expensive resort with a silent retreat (I only met 4 people on the trail the whole time). I practiced mindfulness as I focused on the present moment to find the next blaze and watch every step so I didn’t trip on a root or branch. Instead of yoga, I stretched by taking ridiculously high steps climbing down and then back up every tributary along the Suwannee River. Like a fitness camp, I lifted weights by carrying my backpack the whole distance. What a deal!

Jennings State Forest

2024-11-20T12:51:00.000-08:00

Temperatures were pretty good for hiking (high 70s in the day, 50s at night) so it was time to backpack again. Jennings SF has a really great trail that is well maintained and signed. It is ~12.8 miles long. I started in the middle and traveled each direction staying at campsites along the way.

With the entry trail and several extra “wanderings”, I hiked ~30 miles over the 3 days. However, when I did 15 miles a day on the Florida Trail last year it was mostly flat ground. This path is known for being one of the most challenging elevation changes in Florida and is used by some as preparation for the Appalachian Trail. Not near as difficult, but difficult for Florida. My calves are tight and tired after hiking this trail.

Lots of bridges over small creeks.

One danger was the fallen nuts on the trail like walnuts and acorns. I had to hike a bit slower here.

I started on Sunday and saw several people day hiking. One lady I spoke with was about my age and had just finished the Appalachian Trail a few months ago (https://www.youtube.com/@carrieprewitt ). Very cool and impressive! On Monday, I saw no one. Tuesday I saw a guy in the last quarter mile from the car. Very relaxing.

The hike is mostly along a stream with black water (tannins). The good part is that I could filter water so drinking water was never a problem.

I was amused at one spot called Keebler Corner with a bench to relax along with this tree (but no cookies!).

I camped at two different campsites. The second was great (Chapman Campsite) right on the river. Imagine having this whole campsite to yourself.

Very enjoyable trip and worth doing again in the future.

Hurricanes and Cumberland Island

2024-10-19T17:09:00.002-07:00

I’ve visited Cumberland Island last year (1, 2) and enjoyed it so much that I made reservations months ago. Unfortunately, Helene and Milton both affected the island. The park was closed during my original dates but I was able to get in after the second hurricane. Trees were down around the island. The park was able to clear the main road of the trees but most of the north paths were closed. Turns out that this is a wilderness area and they are not allowed to use chainsaws to clear hiking trails. It may take awhile to open those paths.

One amusing issue was that the 3.5 mile path back to the campsite had a few small trees across the path and lots of little debris. So energy was required to hike, carry the backpack, and to high step over the debris and walk around / go under / or climb over the bigger stuff.

I was the first person after the storms at my campsite so I had to pick up debris there so I could safely walk around plus a good spot for my tent. The campground was less than half full. I’m assuming many people canceled.

I didn’t spend much time on the beach since it was very windy and cool most of my visit. I spent a little time early on when it was warmer but unfortunately I got lots of bites from sand fleas. My feet looked like I had measles.

Most of my time was similar to last year’s visit. I visited Plum Orchard and took the tour again. The Tiffany lamps are still amazing. This time we learned more plus got to visit a volunteer’s room. Two volunteers live in the servants area, keep the house clean, and guide 3 tours every day for two months at a time. It would be interesting thing to do.

I wandered the Dungeness area again but spent more time at some of the smaller ruins and building this time. I was amused by the workshop and storage area where old bathtubs were stored.

I may or may not have visited an area called “The Chimneys”. This is where the enslaved people working at one of the mansions lived. The government has maintained the chimneys that are the only remains of the homes. However, the land is still private (though expected to transfer to the park in a few years).

The animals were out again. LOTS of wild horses.

I saw armadillos, deer, turkey, feral pigs, squirrels, and butterflies!

And, because it’s the south, lots of large live oaks along with Spanish moss that weren't affected by the storms. Both a challenging and a relaxing trip!

This is Only a Test

2024-09-24T15:57:00.001-07:00

It’s almost fall in Florida...or at least I can dream that the temperatures are dropping. In preparation for more backpacking over the winter, I did an overnighter in Ralph E. Simmons Memorial State Forest. I camped here before. I’ve bought some new gear, handmade some stuff, and learned a few things on youtube I wanted to trial.

The first thing I don’t want to use much is “how to camp and hike in hot weather”. With low 90s and high humidity, I sweat a LOT when hiking. I wet a bandanna and put that around my neck. I have a water filter now, so I didn’t need to haul all my drinking water. I kept the top layer off the tent so I was sleeping within the mosquito netting but otherwise open. Most of the night I just slept on the sleeping pad with a sheet. Way too hot for a sleeping bag. I survived.

Most of the other things I trialed are fairly small but I came out with a list of things to fix. Some of it falls under TMI. Did you know you can buy a backpacker’s bidet (no picture!)?

It was actually more hiking than I expected. After rejecting a further campsite, I backtracked to the first campsite so I ended up hiking ~5 miles to get to a campsite only 1.6 miles away. The 2^nd day I took the 5-mile portion of the loop that was closed during the last visit. It was definitely more difficult. It was wet where you had to walk through the water at times (I’m experienced with that). The picture below is from the trail. It was buggy (but I got to use my new head net). And the blazes were quite spread out with a VERY weak trail (high grass) so I lost the trail more than once. It took me much more time to hike this portion since I spent so much time peering around trying to find the trail. An adventure!

Some cool pictures from the trail or from the tent.

Extra Time in Massachusetts

2024-09-17T16:04:00.000-07:00

There was enough free time built into the Road Scholar trip so we could do some trips on our own, have a meal together, and talk around the fire in the evening (when we could stay awake long enough!).

The group walked to downtown Rockport. Motif #1 is supposed to be the most painted building in the United States. It was Labor Day weekend so the area was full of tourists, but cool. BTW, the weather all week was perfect. No rain and 60s to low 70s. Heaven compared to Florida weather.

I did my morning walk thing every morning. The first was to find a geocache near downtown. It was in an area that I had no idea existed. I love when geocaching takes me to unexpected places like this for sunrise.

The 2^nd morning was quite interesting. I was walking before the sun came up and saw something move on the sidewalk in front of me. When I took a picture, the flash came on before the picture when I realized it was a skunk! The actual picture is a blur as I moved quickly away. Otherwise, I found another geocache. The walk took me through town where I could see all the granite fences, buildings, and even curbs.

Granite was another big industry in town with quite a few quarries that are now waterholes. This was one that I saw the next day.

The hike to this quarry took Mark (fellow ONU’er and geocacher) and I under this bridge. It was great fun to stomp, scream, and clap to hear the echos under the bridge. Sure, we’re adults and even senior citizens.

Geocaching in the morning on the next day was a bit frustrating. I searched for quite a while using the flashlight on my phone since it was still dark in the woods. After I gave up and was leaving, I saw it immediately. Anyhow, here’s a granite home that’s now a museum.

For our free time afternoon, I talked most of the group into doing the weird stuff I like. The Paper House was enjoyed by all. The walls and furniture is all made of newspapers. Lots of work here!

We both geocached and hiked at a local state park. The park was on the ocean plus had a granite quarry too.

Why, though, was the most memorable part the granite statue we called “Sasquatch Taking a Dump”. I am SO cultured.

Our group dinner that evening was quite memorable too. The plates of food were both excellent and amazingly large. Most of us boxed up the leftovers and had it for breakfast the next day (I can highly recommend lobster ravioli as breakfast food). One of our ladies ordered a single order of key lime pie. It was so big it fed 6 of us perfectly.

Three of the group joined me the next morning for a hike through Dogtown. Lots of history here plus boulders that had different words carved into them. The humor was that the trails are not well marked and we weren’t quite sure where we were most of the time. At one point we found a rock that said “Be On Time” that we were sure was our tour guide speaking to us. We made it back in time after a 4-mile hike through the woods.

The final hike was a different section of Dogtown. This one had a marsh. Lots of good hiking during the week in perfect weather.

Maritime Trip

2024-09-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

This blog is a bit late. I picked up a cold after the trip that caused me to sleep through half a week. I’m still catching up on my things-to-do after the trip and the cold. Anyhow…

This trip has been planned for almost 2 years. A bunch of college friends picked out a Road Scholar trip so we could hold a reunion while being fed and entertained. This trip was maritime themed. It wasn’t something I’d necessarily pick on my own, but was quite interesting. We were in Rockport, Gloucester, Salem, and Essex Massachusetts. This area was big with the fishing industry including building boats. They are still fishing, but it’s a greatly reduced business now.

The “Perfect Storm” ship Andrea Gail sailed from Gloucester. That crew’s names are on a nearby memorial along the 5,368 fishermen from the area who have died at sea since 1716. In some years there were hundreds of fishermen lost.

During the week we sailed on 5 different boats. The first was a schooner with full sails. Cindy (one of the ONU ladies) and I lifted the main sail. It was heavier than I expected and we needed help by the end! The 2^nd picture is by Angie.

Boat 2 was a whale watching boat. It took quite awhile to get to the whales, but we were much closer than I expected. The boat also rocked more than I expected when we stopped. Several people were sick, but luckily I didn’t have a problem. We saw a few whales breaching along our boat as we followed them around.

Road Scholar took us to Salem for another boat sailing the harbor.

We got to stop for lunch across from the Bewitched statue. A random tourist got this shot for me.

Our next boat took us down Essex River and through a marsh.

Lunch was fried clams at the restaurant that originated fried clams in 1916. The afternoon was a visit to a ship building museum. I’ve included this picture of Lignum Vitae. It’s considered one of the heaviest and hardest woods around, resistant to rot and insects, and even self-lubricated making it ideal for bearings and other maritime uses but very expensive. It was heavy!

The 5^th and last boat was a lobster boat. They only pulled a few example lobster traps. This one had crabs instead of lobsters. But still a fun trip.

Big Trip and Lots of Excitement

2024-04-18T14:17:00.000-07:00

This trip involved a solar eclipse, an earthquake, computers down, flood, and a train wreck. We traveled by train, car, and plane and did lots of visiting. All in all, very exciting!

John and I started our trip taking a sleeper train to Philadelphia. The last time I traveled on a train, the meals were reheated and I ate alone. This time (post-pandemic), there was a chef and we were seated with others. We enjoyed our meal with our ‘neighbor’ on the train. We had a fascinating talk about Chinese customs, green card procedures, and working as a junior professor in Florida. Breakfast was with a nice lady from Michigan.

When we got to the lounge while waiting for our next train, everyone was talking about the earthquake. So, we were in Philadelphia during the New Jersey earthquake but we think it hit while we were on the train as it entered the city. With all the rocking of the train, we didn’t feel it. BTW, the Amtrak station is gorgeous.

From there we took a train to Pittsburgh. The trips is through Amish country, Allegheny Mountains, and around the “World Famous Horseshoe Curve”. People travel for miles to sit and watch trains there. The cool part is supposed to be that you can see the end of your own train as you take the curve but our train was fairly short so we could only see a few cars.

In Pittsburgh, we stayed a night in a hotel then walked to Enterprise car rental. They told us our car was ready but their whole company’s computer system was down so we couldn’t get the car since they couldn’t process our credit card! After some time at a nearby coffee shop and after we sweated working out alternative car rentals, they called us back and we were able to get our car.

The next few days were with John’s son, Johnny. We met his girlfriend Kathy and enjoyed catching up. John is very handy and did that guy-bonding thing by helping Johnny repair a couple of doors.

One evening was spent with my friends from my first job out of college. It was great to see each other in person after doing zooms for a couple years. We did a traveling dinner in two different houses. In the first, we saw all kinds of amazing furniture that Tom made. In the second, Michael was a BIG train fan and had a basement full of trains and tracks.

The big event was traveling to my brother’s house for the eclipse. Bob and Pam are great hosts! The sky was clear for the eclipse despite the early forecast of clouds. John took some great pictures. It was truly amazing!!

Then we drove to West Virginia to visit with John’s family. First, we stopped at Friendship Hill National Historic Site. That makes 157 national parks/sites/etc. for us.

We just love Sue and Frank!

The highlight here was a lunch that Sue planned with John’s aunt. Aunt Barb was only told the four of us were having lunch. However, when we got to the restaurant more relatives were there for a total of 10 people. She was shocked!

One evening and night was spent with John’s friend Bill and Barb. We enjoyed talking around the fire and the special breakfast.

Then we returned to Pittsburgh for 2 nights at the hotel. Interesting fact...the hotel used to be a Federal Reserve bank. They still have the vaults which now go to conference rooms.

The time gave us a chance to walk around downtown seeing the architecture. This building was built in 1884.

It’s spring in Pennsylvania (it’s summer in Florida).

With recent rains, the fountain at Point State Park was flooded. The river was said to be at the highest level in two decades.

Had to go to the museum there too.

The excitement wasn’t over. We took the train from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia okay but then found out our train back home was canceled. There had been a train wreck in Georgia on the line so all trains were canceled that day. Amtrak would have put us up in a hotel with food vouchers for the night but they weren’t sure if the tracks would be open the next day. Instead we got the price refunded. While it was stressful to get an uber to the airport and find a flight, we ended up getting home earlier than we would have.

What a trip!

More backpacking - Etoniah and Rice Creek

2024-03-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

It’s warming up quickly in Florida. So I planned a two-day backpacking trip before it’s too hot to hike anymore (though it was already in the high 80’s). The heat made it a tougher hike than the last trip even though I didn’t have to wade through water. Luckily, most of the hiking was under trees so I didn’t have the direct sun on me.

I again picked a portion of the Florida Trail. This time following the trail was easier since there were less options with few crossing trails and a clearly defined main trail. It was funny that I still registered “happiness” every time I saw an orange blaze (and was not lost) after my last hike.

The first day was through Etoniah Creek State Forest. It was quite “zen” in that I saw no one the entire time. There were sinkholes here, either wet or dry.

Fairy-tale look of reindeer moss.

I did an out-and-back trip that totaled 14 miles. I had 3 choices on campsites. If, after going out 7 miles I was tired I could stay at this shelter for hikers.

Or, there was supposed to be a small campsite near where I parked the car. I hadn’t seen it when I started my hike in the morning but just figured I hadn’t looked hard enough. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find that campsite so I ended up hiking another 1.5 miles at Rice Creek Conservation Area. This 2^nd back-up campsite (also a shelter) was full with a family (with 4 young boys and a dog) staying there. I wanted something quieter! They suggested a spot that is marked for no camping but they said rangers didn’t kick people out for camping. Not an ideal situation, but I could at least get to sleep without the kids yelling in the background and it was great camping.

Rice Creek had more interesting trails. Hoffman’s Crossing is a 1,886’ long thin boardwalk that crosses a swamp. The hike itself on the boardwalk was quite fun and a bit challenging.

The views of the swamp was also very cool. BTW, given that it was a swamp and nights weren’t cold, the mosquitoes were out. Bug spray didn’t prevent all the bites.

Another section was the Rice Creek loop along the creek. It had 20 different bridges / boardwalks so that you mostly stayed dry (a bit muddy in places though).

A highlight was seeing an alligator family. There was a mom plus babies that were about 1.5’ long. I counted 5 babies but another hiker said they counted 9.

And lots of flowers.