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Mating two-toned walking stick.
For a post-Thanksgiving hike, I took my good friend Rob for a short hike and overnight campout in the Ocala National Forest. This is a bit north of the locales for my usual articles, but I was visiting my brother in Gainesville for turkey-day. My brother and I have been friends with Rob since we were eight, and we were all boy scouts, so camping together is an exercise in nostalgia. We also hoped a brisk walk would remedy the ten-thousand calorie feast of the previous day, with the tryptophan-induced sloth we renamed “walrusing.”
Exiting I-75 for SR 40, we traveled westward past Ocala and the town of Silver Springs, taking a left on CR 314 and into the forestlands. We were looking for the Eaton Creek Trailhead of the Florida Trail, and it is not easy to find. Our first wrong turn took us to a different Lake Eaton trailhead, which had orange fliers stapled to on of its wood posts. The fliers were soliciting information/sightings of Bigfoot, Sasquatch, the Missing Link, or, as Floridians have christened him, the Skunk Ape. Apparently, there had been activity in the area. The flier’s authors asked for serious responses only, as they were conducting research and an investigation.
We did find the blue-blazed trailhead (tip for travelers – take the road that leads to the conservation camp/group campsite and turn at the first right). From that point, we took a brief 2.5-mile hike northwards, to a clearing a half-mile north of where the trail crosses CR 314. The path here goes through a canopy of pine and live oak, is dry, and travels on several abandoned dirt roads. In these areas the terrain is sandy and challenging to walk in a heavy pack.
Because it is hunting season, a popular pastime in the Ocala Forest, I recommend wearing as much blaze orange as you can and camping only is designated campgrounds. There were several deer-stands in our area, and numerous signs of bear activity (although I imagine that scat could have been from a Skunk-Ape). As a precaution, I suspended my food at night in a bear bag, ten feet off the ground over a tree limb five feet from the tree trunk.
Compared with our South Florida camping, the Ocala forest offers seasonal weather (it was 80 degrees farenheight in the afternoon but 50 at night) that cuts down on mosquitoes, so you might consider a half-day drive to camp, hike, fish or hunt in the Ocala Forest.
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parks ·
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fishing ·
skunk ape ·
hunting ·
ocala National Forest ·
Bigfoot
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- appropriate clothing (layered, self-wicking, some water resistant)
- reliable source of fire (flint and steel, waterproof matches, butane lighter)
- purified water
- maps (know where you are)
- compass
- modest first aid kit
- emergency shelter (tarp, groundcloth, tent)
- non-perishable, high energy food (energy bars, dehydrated meals)
- spare change of clothing in waterproof container
- quality sleeping bag (last line of defence)
