FT2018 Day 34: Cow Creek Campsite (mile 535.7) to Lake Butler Depot (mile 560.7)

25.0 FT miles

Last night I did a pretty good job of falling asleep right after I set up my tent. Unfortunately, I didn't stay asleep. I woke up at 2 am to music. It was in the distance, but the base was pounding. It must have been one of the houses across the pasture. The music did not stop. Eventually, I just packed up my tent in the dark and left at about 4 am. I had planned to get an early start anyway.

The next part of the trail was following an old railway again. It was clear, well maintained and night easy to follow at night. Went through neighborhoods. There were quite a few barking dogs, but they were all behind fences. Until one wasn’t.  That definitely sent my cortisol levels through the roof. All I saw were glowing eyes coming towards me barking menacingly. It crossed the trail, then went into the bushes. Luckily I was scary enough to make it want to hide. I was carrying a big, hulking backpack, sticks, and had what was probably a gliding headlamp pointed at it. I was glad when I had successfully passed it, but a little on edge until daybreak.

When the sun rose and I was further down the trail, I checked the weather. It was supposed to be a very rainy day. The original prediction was rain starting at 8 am, but getting heavy by 3 pm. Weather predictions here can change rapidly and the rain was now predicted to start around noon, getting heavy by 3 pm. I got a couple of short showers in the morning, but also got a little sun too.

The old railway trail was so easy to follow that I was making great time. Until I wasn’t. It hit a creek and afterwards the trail was covered with blowdowns. These blow downs were very difficult to climb over or through to squeeze through. All of them seemed to be covered in briar vines, so it was like trying to make my way through barbed wire. It stuck to and pulled at my clothing. I'm surprised it wasn't shredded.

Morning swamp reflections.

The old railway.

Crossing a blowdown.

Eventually I hit 550 miles, which should be halfway. There was nothing special about it and no sign to celebrate it. The trail is constantly changing and rerouting, so perhaps it doesn't make sense to put anything up at the moment.

After lunch, it became a race to outrun the rain. From the radar prediction, it looked like I would be hit with the first wave but I might be able to just barely make it to shelter before the hardest wave hit.

I got to a point in the railway where a trestle over a steam was totally out and you needed to do a road walk detour to use a bridge. It was on this detour that the storm arrived. It was light rain at first, but when I rejoined the railway (now a paved bike path) that the rain really started coming down. I was two miles from town, so I figured it could have been worse.

The storm begins.

The bike path during the storm.

I was pretty soaked by the time I got into town. I saw what looked like a depot and headed for it through the sheet of rain. I had previously arranged with City Hall to use the old depot as a shelter for the night, something they recently starting allowing hikers to do. As it was the weekend, they told me to contact Janie for the key. She had given me her key to use two nights ago when she dropped off my package.

As soon as I stepped under the awning, the rain got even heavier. I figured out which door to use (the key worked in all doors) and went inside, dripping. It was cold, with concrete floors, but it was inside. There were even chairs and blankets. I sat down and ate most of the rest of my food bag. While inside, the rain got even heavier. As tired as I was, I was kind of glad the music woke me up early this morning. Otherwise, I might still be walking in it.

Screenshot of the real-time radar while I was safely in the depot.

Vlog

When the rain stopped, I went across the street to do laundry. While I was there, it got dark and I realized that I had left the lights on in the depot. It didn't bother me too much until a man came in the laundromat and said a few words I couldn't understand because of his thick accent. Then another man came in (with a slightly less thick accent) and asked if the first man had bothered us. Then he said something about that other man being in jail.

Suddenly, I was unsure if I had fully locked the depot. Janie had warned me to keep it locked because the homeless try to get in there a lot. I also thought about how I had left the lights on and how easy my stuff would be to grab. Even though I  still had time left on the drier, I grabbed my clothes and headed back.

Luckily,  I had remembered to lock everything. Next, I headed to the grocery store to pick up some supplemental food for the next stretch. I double checked that the doors were locked and headed to the grocery store. It had less of a selection than I had hoped, especially regarding fresh produce and premade meals. It did, however, have packages of Dippin Dots and the one favor I absolutely love, Rainbow.

I went back to the depot and tried working on my blog and uploads. I was way too tired. I ended up giving up and just setting up my bed for the night. I used one of the thick workout mat for the mini gym the firemen use, then topped it with a wool blanket and my sleeping pad. Then, I tucked into my sleeping bag. It was a very comfortable set up and I was very tired. I had absolutely no problem going to sleep.