Tagged With: wildlife
Florida Trail (Extended): Days 15-20
It’s been almost a full month since I started hiking northbound from Key West, and I have started to become desensitized by the climate and terrain of Southern Florida in the dry season. Walking with wet feet, being chewed up by mosquitoes, having sunburn on sunburn, rationing my food for long stretches of strenuous and hard to navigate swamp walking, and staying vigilantly aware of my surroundings for the presence of alligators, snakes, wild hogs, and rapidly changing weather; all part of the day to day life of a Florida thru-hiker. Even though I have come to tolerate and even welcome these everyday challenges, I find that the difficulties of inconsistent and variable hiking conditions lead to some of the greatest problems on the Florida Trail.… Read more
Call Me Coaster
Upon arriving at “Hiker Heaven“, I was greeted by one of many dutiful volunteers with the oh-so-fitting phrase, “Welcome to paradise”. At mile 454.5 in Agua Dulce, California, a family named the Saufleys coordinates a sort of oasis for PCT hikers, where anything and everything a hiker could need is provided to them without any expectation of reimbursement. There is a laundry station with fresh towels and loaner clothes to be worn while one’s filthy hiking clothes are being washed; a garage converted into a make-shift post office and information center; an entire back-building with full kitchen and bathroom, piano and guitars, couches and TV, Wifi, sewing machine, bookshelves full of adventure literature and guidebooks, and 2 bedrooms; 8-person tents in the yard with cots and hammocks for lounging and sleeping whenever under the shade of a few sizeable pines- you name it, they’ve got it covered.… Read more