FT2018 Day 35: Lake Butler Depot (mile 560.7) to Cobb Hunt Camp (mile 587.5)

26.8 FT miles

I slept better last night than I have slept in some time. The depot floor was chilly concrete, but I put down a thick workout mat, my z-lite pad, and a thick wool blanket down for padding. It ended up being very warm and comfortable.

Unfortunately, I still had to get up early. I had a 7 mile road walk to get out of town. Then, I had to get through a logging area to enter Osceola National Forest, where random camping was permitted. Unfortunately, the southern part of the forest was either soggy or flooded, so I needed to get far enough north to camp.

I left the depot in the dark, dropping my key in the City Hall drop box, as that was the arrangement I had made with Janie. I started walking SR 100 in the dark. It wasn't too bad  at first. Only a few cars went by. It was when it got closer to sunrise that the road started to get busy.

A lot of people had their brights on, which made seeing anything difficult for me when the went by. There were a lot of people who also turned their brights on as they got close to me. I'm not sure if they thought they were doing me a favor, or just being jerks, but I started seeing spots after a while.

Finally, a little after dawn, I reached the turn off for Osceola Experimental Forest,  and got off the highway. This was a section that Janie had warned me about. It was pretty flooded, even before yesterday’s rainstorm. The footpath trail paralleled the roads through this entire section, so I took the roads instead of the blazed footpath.  There were some sections where the roads the trail followed were seldom used, unmaintained roads and I ended up getting wet and sandy. One section crossed a creek that may have been close to hip deep if I hadn't crossed a submerged log.

Morning road walk.

Hmm...swampy foot path or forest road. Tough decision.

An unavoidable foot bath.

I am supposed to cross this?

Vlog 1

When I was nearing the border to Osceola National Forest, I saw a double blaze indicating a right turn. I figured this was where I was supposed to go, so I took it. I was taking the official footpath trail that was kind of a shortcut between two forest roads. I should have just taken the roads. I kept sinking up to shin deep in water and loose vegetation. To get back to the road, I had to cross a ditch where the water came up to mid thigh.

I was now in the National Forest. Originally, I had planned to eat lunch when I had gotten there. I figured that I should dry off a little first, so I kept walking down the forest road. I am still amazed how much nicer things get as soon as you enter the National Forest. The trees were taller and more dense. Even the unpaved roads were wider,  better maintained, and labeled. I walked until I wasn't dripping anymore, then ate lunch.

National Forest road. 

Swamp. 

After lunch, the trail continued to follow the forest roads. In this section, there had been no attempt to put a soggy footpath next to the road. I was walking past areas that had been burned recently. I am in awe of how controlled a controlled burn could be. The burns come right to the edge of the road and stop in a neat line. The grass in the middle of the road isn't even singed.

 Burned section on the left, unburned section on the right.

I walked the forest road to a highway, crossed the road and the railroad tracks, then headed down the trail towards Olustee State Park. The trail was wide and dry for a while. Of course, that didn't last. As I was plunging through the water, I checked the app to see how much further I had to go to get to the state park. I noticed that the section that I was currently in was labeled “bog.” Great.

I dragged myself out of the bog and went to the state park, which was just off trail. It's full name was Olustee Battlefield State Park, since a Civil War battle had taken place there. I walked around the monuments at the entrance, all seemingly constructed by the Daughters of the Confederacy and all seemingly to memorialize the confederate victory.

Olustee Battlefield State Park. 

As I was walking the monuments I saw the park ranger pull up. He told me that I looked wet. I talked with him about the trail and trail conditions. He asked me how long I had been out and I told him it was my 35th day on the trail. He paused, stared at me for a few seconds, and asked “Do you want a shower?”

There was a shower in one of the employee buildings that he called “the house.” I hadn't been able to shower in Lake Butler, just do laundry. I was amazed at how different I felt after the shower. It was like my skin felt lighter and the only word I could use to describe myself was “refreshed.”

I then took the interpretive loop trail around the battlefield which detailed the timeline of the battle. It was weird to think that a battle took place here. I'm used to Civil War battlefields being fields. This was an area with palmettos and pines. It was peaceful as well in the afternoon night, it was hard to imagine that hundreds of people died here.

Interpretive loop and battlefield.

Battlefield.

I read the signs as I walked. It seemed that neither side had thought they would meet here and were not really prepared. It seems when the fighting started, the Union soldiers were wedged between two swamps. The Confederates were near the railroad, where they were able to ship in reinforcements. It was a 4 hour battle. The signs had pictures of soldiers as well as personal accounts of the battle. One memorable one was from an injured Union soldier who was being passed by two Confederate soldiers. One had paused to say he wanted to “make that Yank a fire" because otherwise he didn't think he would make it through the night. The soldier made him a fire, walked away, and he survived.

The battle ends.

After that, I headed back to the trail and kept heading north. The sun was pretty low in the sky and I checked my app. There was a free campground about 3 miles ahead. I made it there with daylight to spare.

Trail towards the end of the day.

Vlog 2