FT2018 Day 9: Clewiston (mile 103.7) to Lakeport Campsite (mile 129.3)

11.5 FT miles,  16.2 miles roadwalk detour

I forced myself to get up very early this morning. It was hard to do. I was up later than I had wanted to be last night, so I hadn't gotten as much sleep as I had planned, and the bed was soft.

Eventually I forced myself out of bed and on the road by 5am. I needed the extra hours for hiking. If the trail was completely open, I would be hiking 26 miles. I hadn't counted the construction detour miles, but it could be even further than that to my campsite.

The first approximate 6 miles were on the dike around Lake Okeechobee itself. Getting onto the dike was also complicated by construction, but thankfully a fellow thru-hiker had posted the details of it online and I was able to get on the dike in the dark.

There wasn't really a sunrise in this first section I was hiking today. That was because I was surrounded by thick fog.  The fog eventually became more visible. That is how I knew the sun was up.

Morning on the dike.

Joe's Fish Camp marked the area I needed to get off the dike because of construction. There was a dog hanging around there, but luckily it was friendly. It came down from the dike with me. I sat down at a picnic table to rest and the dog wandered around the property, occasionally coming back to my table.

After that, I started the first of my two long road walk detours for the day. The dog followed me onto the road. At first it was cute, and I thought it would get to a certain point and head back. Instead, it kept walking ahead of me and running out into the road.

The dog would end up running ahead, stopping at a road junction, looking back at me, then when I caught up it would run to the next road junction. After two miles of this, the dog showed no signs of stopping. It also kept running out into the road when cars came by.

I decided to try to contact the owner. The dog was pretty far ahead at this point, but came running back when I squatted down. I managed to get a hold of the collar long enough to type in the phone number from the tag onto my cell phone.

I called the number, which turned out the be the vet that gave the dog its rabies vaccination. He seemed pretty irritated that I asked him if he owned a black dog with an orange collar. He offered to look up the owner’s info, but needed more info from the tag.

The dog had run off again, so I had to call the vet back. I squatted down again and the dog came running back. I held it by the collar as I dialed the vet again. That is when the dog wiggled its head and completely backed out of its collar. I stared at the empty collar in my hand for a second, then just dialed the vet anyway.

I got the info, left a message with the owner, and squatted down again to bring the dog back to try and put the collar back on. The dog thought this was a game. It took several tries, but I got the collar back on, though it may have been twisted. At least it was on.

I (and the dog) continued my road walk to Moore Haven,  before the dog dropped into a yard. Thinking that must be the dog’s home, I kept walking until the resident asked me if I was walking with a dog.

I explained the situation, and gave the owners name. Luckily he knew the owner.  As the dog had come back to join me for my walk again, the resident offered to drive his truck out to try to load the dog to take it back to its owner. Further down the road we were successful and I was finally dog free.

Road walk number 1.

Scene from the road.

A little closer to Moore Haven, I had a car pull over. It turned out to be a trail angel giving a ride to a fellow hiker. Staying true to the thru-hike, I declined, and he warned me about some of the highway sections coming up.

The highway at the end of the first road walk turned out to be pretty frightening. It was a narrow shoulder next to fast moving traffic. When the trucks blew by it would blow my hat off. After about a mile of that stress, I was able to exit the highway shoulder and walk to a park in Moore Haven,  where I ate lunch.

Crossing the Cala...Caluh...crossing the river.

Vlog 1

Then I started my second, long road walk detour to Lakeport. The first couple miles were on a back road,  but then it switched to a highway again. This highway wasn't as bad as the last one, but it still had close, fast moving traffic for 5-6 miles.

While the first road in the detour featured sugar cane fields, the highway featured a correctional facility, a landfill, and more roadkill than I have ever seen.

It was a natural history lesson in stinky, rotting roadkill. There were birds of every size, a raccoon, a giant turtle with a 3 foot long shell, and something that was too smashed to make out, but kind of resembled an otter. I also thought I saw the scattered remains of an armadillo.

To make the walk even more fun, I passed right by a prisoner work crew, complete with a supervising correctional officer.

Late in the day, I finally rejoined the official trail route that was a bike path next to the highway. I wanted to shout in celebration. That celebration was short lived, as I startled a feral pig that was in the bushes. Thankfully it squealed and ran away instead of charging. I also saw a live armadillo walking around. I had never seen an armadillo before.

Late in the day on the highway.

Vlog 2

The sun went down as the trail finally turned back onto the dike bordering the lake. Thankfully, I only had to walk 20-30 minutes in the dark during which I saw fireflies.  I found the campsite I was heading to and it was nice and empty, so I got to choose the best spot to set up my tent.

What I thought was going to be a boring day turned out to be very eventful.