FT2018 Day 24: Lake Mary (mile 380.1) to Shelter Camp (mile 390.5)
10.4 FT miles
I spent most of the morning at the hotel. I paid enough money for the room, I might as well use it. I still had most of my uploading to do, so it took several hours to get all my trail journals, photos, and videos on the internet. I also took advantage of the hotel’s breakfast. I was going to take advantage of the hot tub one more time, but they had weird pool hours and it didn't open until later.
Check out time was noon, but I managed to get everything together by 11:30 am. I needed to get going. It was 10 miles to the nearest campground, I was 2 miles away from the trail, and I still had errands to run in town.
The first thing I took care of was my McDonalds lunch stop that I was denied yesterday. It wasn't as satisfying as it would have been on the trail yesterday, but it should hold me for a while. Then, I hit the nearby Walgreens for some miscellaneous supplies, and headed to the post office for a package that didn't arrive until this morning.
It was about 1:15 pm by the time I got back on trail, which was the bike path again. I figured that I was just following the bike path today. I was partly right. I was walking the bike path most of the day, but I was supposed to switch to different bike paths at certain points. I didn't realize this until I was way past the first junction.
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| The bike path entrance in Lake Mary. |
I backtracked and got on the correct path, which took me on a pretty bridge over the ridiculously busy I-4. After the bridge, the path took me straight through an office park. I thought I looked out of place around the retirees out for a stroll, but that was nothing compared to walking around a bunch of people in business casual talking on cell phones.
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| Crossing I-4 |
At one point in my bike path journey, I passed by a sign that said the path used to be a railway. I had suspected this ever since yesterday. Some of the rest stops along the way are named after the stations that used to be there.
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| The bike path and former railroad. |
After what seemed like forever, I finally crossed a busy highway and entered a state park. It felt so good to be away from the road and walking on pine needles again. Unfortunately, this was short lived. The blazed trail dipped into the woods and then came right out to that busy highway I had just crossed.
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| The trail through the state park. |
I then walked that highway (during rush hour) for a little less than a mile before entering a state forest. Seriously, what was the point of going through the state park?
I took the state forest to the campsite, Shelter Camp. There was a reason it was called Shelter Camp as there was a large wooden shelter built there.
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| The trail through the state forest. |
As I approached it, I could see someone in a dark sleeping bag inside. I would have a neighbor for the night. It registered to me that Woodchuck has a dark sleeping bag and I wondered if it could be her.
It was Woodchuck! She had taken one of the raised platforms and I ended up taking the other. Hilariously, we then chit-chatted like two girls at a sleep over. Eventually, it got dark and cold, and we retreated into our sleeping bags. A couple hours later, another mystery hiker came up and noisily set up his gear as well. The hilarious thing to me was that I could tell it was another thru-hiker by the sound his ultralight gear made.
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