FT2018 Day 40: Holton Creek River Camp (mile 652.0) to Black Tract Campsite (mile 674.4)

22.4 FT miles

Soon after I started hiking this morning, I passed Holton Spring. It was what made Holton Creek, which gave the name to the campground I stayed at last night. It is not a very big creek. The spring formed a circular pond that emptied out of one side to form the creek. The creek then dumped out into the Suwannee River after only a short distance.

Holton Spring in the early morning.

Around the area of Holton Spring you could really see the karst (formed by limestone) landscapes. It was fairly bumpy and dominated by large holes formed by water cutting through the soft limestone.

After about 5 miles, I hit Gibson Park for breakfast. It appears to be a campground, but is available for day use. I used the picnic table out front, then used the bathroom and refilled my water supply. The bathhouse had “Way down upon the Suwannee River” painted on it, which are the lyrics to the song by Stephen Foster. It seems like everything in the areas uses it for advertisement.

Bathhouse at Gibson Park .

After Gibson Park, I had a short road walk to cross a bridge over the Alapha River, then followed it back down to the Suwannee.  That seemed to be the theme of the day. Walk the Suwannee, turn inland, then walk back down. Some of the detours were probably to access bridges, others were because of private property.

The Florida Trail .

The Alapha River. 

I followed the Suwannee for a couple more miles before the big detour off the river. There was a piece of land next to the river that the Florida Trail used to use, but was recently cut off. The app said that they were in the process of trying to buy or lease the land again, but in the meantime we had to do a several mile detour around it.

The Suwannee River .

The detour led through some back country dirt roads occupied by trailer home. Most of the residents I walked past were friendly. One older woman stopped to chat, making sure I was safe, and warning me about a big dog ahead who is not an aggressive dog, but loves to bark. She also gave me some grandmotherly advice that if anyone bothers me that I should “whack ‘em wit' dem poles.” That is sound advice.

Some neighbors were friendlier than others.

Vlog 1

With the warning, I passed the dog without issue, finish the roadwalk, and started back down the shore of the Withlacoochie River to meet up with the Suwannee again.

One of the cool things about this part of the trail was that I passed through the ghost town of Ellaville. I'm glad the app pointed out it was there, otherwise I might have walked past the few remaining ruins without giving it a thought. There were some pilings along the river as well as a chunk of an old structure. If you looked closely there were bricks strewn around the area, though they were covered in green mosses.

Ellaville piling ruins.

Ellaville structure ruins.

Scattered bricks.

Just after I passed the Ellaville ruins, I bumped into CopperTone hiking southbound. I think what he has been doing on the trail has been driving his camper van north of where Sugar Rush is hiking, then meeting up with her, hiking a small section together, and then setting up trail magic for those coming through afterwards.

Sugar Rush got off the trail for a couple days past Ocala and has been behind me. So, the last two times I have seen CopperTone, he has been very apologetic about not having food to give me. CopperTone is super nice. It also sounds like Sugar Rush is catching up to me fast and might be passing me in the next day or two.

Soon I hit Suwanacoochie Spring, which is a freshwater spring that empties out directly into the Withlacoochie right where it meets the Suwannee. It is where the people who used to live in Ellaville would get their fresh water. They had built a retaining wall (now a ruin) to pool the fresh water before it followed out to join the river “tea.”

Suwanacoochie Spring. 

Outlet to the river.

Clear water!

It seemed to be a popular spot to day hike or just hang out. I ruined a lot of people's scenic day hikes by sitting in the spring basin filtering water. “Oh, hello! Just a dirty hiker filtering water. Don't mind me.” The water was nice and clear for once, so I it was worth the intrusion I was making on the scenery.

While I was filtering, I struck up conversation with a woman named Belinda. Belinda is awesome, as she regularly makes trips to clean up the trash around the springs. We talked about hiking, the trail, and what it is like hiking the trail as a woman.

After a good conversation, Belinda transformed from friendly stranger to angel. She wanted to help me out on my hike and offered me a bed and a shower. The day after tomorrow I would hit a section of the trail that has nowhere to sleep for a 32+ mile roadwalk stretch. I was going to get up way before dawn and push through it in a day. To make matters worse, it would be raining all day.

I asked her if there was a chance she could help me while in that section and, even though it was much further away, and she volunteered to help me out. It was honestly such a relief. Not only would I not have to push myself that hard physically, but I would have a place to dry off and take shelter from the storm for a night.

Now super motivated, I kept moving down the trail, passing another ruin before heading under I-10. I had about 2 more miles before I hit the Black Tract Campsite where I had intended to stay for the night. I got there at dusk to find people already there. It looked to be a father and a daughter and I was totally barging in on their peaceful father-daughter time overlooking the river. I greeted them but then set up my tent and disappeared into it. I was tired.

Another ruin near the spring.

Passing under I-10.

Vlog 2