FT2018 Day 16; River Ranch Resort (mile 233.1) to Dry Pond Campground (mile 255.9)

22.8 FT miles

I got up early to finish my journal uploads that I had been too tired to do last night, then packed up and headed down the road. As I was heading out, I saw two horses grazing near a fence. I went over to see if they were friendly. The one nearest the fence stuck its face over and I petted it. While I was doing that, the other horse walked over and did the same thing. The animals here are way too friendly.

I walked the road from River Ranch for about 1.5 miles, then turned onto some ranch property to follow a levee to SR 60. The sunrise was gorgeous. There was a low mist/fog over the fields that added to the ambience.  What it didn't do was add to the fun. It made the grasses covered in dew,  which quickly soaked my pants, shoes, and socks.

Foggy morning on the trail.

Gorgeous sunrise from the levee. I'm glad to have a functional DSLR again.

Spider web along the levee.

When I was exiting to the freeway, the Florida Trail app claimed there would be a stile. There was no stile. I climbed over the gate. Based on the mud on the lower rungs on the gate, it appears that I was not the only one to do so.

The walk on SR 60 was as excruciating and stressful as imagined. It was 5 miles of high speed traffic and trucks. I had pulled my neck gaiter over my hat in an attempt to keep my hat on as trucks came by, but it still blew off a couple times. I took an immediate break when I hit the road leading into Three Lakes WMA.

SR 60.

The Florida Trail sign.

Entrance to Three Lakes WMA. 

I figured that I would walk in Three Lakes for a little ways, then find some shade for lunch. I figured wrong. The section was all open palmetto prairie. There was no shade and it was a little challenging to cross. Most of the time there was no beaten path and when there was, the ground was kind of uneven. You were supposed to navigate via a series of blazed posts. The blazes on these posts were faded, and I think some posts were missing.

Picking my way across the prairie.

The Florida Trail. 

Blazes in the prairie.

Vlog 1

When I finally reached Godwins Hammock, I sat down and ate lunch. It was 1:30 pm and I was really hungry. I ate lunch, relaxed a little, then continued through the hammock.

Almost to the shade. 

The hammock proved difficult as well. It was overgrown and the trail wasn't always obvious. There was one section where I kept following the most obvious trail,  but stopped seeing blazes. The trail and blazes were actually hidden behind some overgrown palm fronds that had looked like a wall of vegetation.

Inside the hammock.

I hit the campground at Godwins Hammock and was surprised to see trucks. As far as I knew there were no roads there. I saw several people there and they looked like they were building something. I waved and kept walking.

It looked like they had driven the trail itself to get to the campground, so I had something to follow when I came out into the prairie again. It was another game of finding the next marker. You couldn't trust paths. They must be used by hunters because some of the most beaten down footpaths led off trail.

Palmettos.

The Florida Trail.

It was the same once I hit the oaks.  I needed to sight the blazes before moving too far down trail. Sometimes there were fallen trees hiding the blazes.

The Florida Trail through oaks.

As I was approaching my campsite for the night, I needed to stop for water. I stopped at a source on the app that someone had said had plenty of water.  I'm sure it had plenty of alligators too. It was a road/culvert. The sides to the pond were angled down and it looked like the pool of water got deep pretty fast. It was also late in the day when supposedly alligator danger is higher when filling water.

I said “nope" and headed to the next source. It was a footbridge. My water filter has a long hose, so I was able to sit on the bridge and filtered water from there. I figured, if anything, I was “fishing" for gators instead of tempting fate at the waters edge.

The light was fading and I was trying to get to my campsite before dark, since navigation would get even harder once I couldn't see the blazes. There were white tailed deer jumping everywhere. I must have seen a total of 20 today. I also saw a feral pig, which I was less excited about. At least it ran off.

I got to my camp just as the last of the light faded. I set up, hopped in my sleeping bag, and prepared for a cold night. There was a freeze warning for tonight.

Vlog 2