Florida Trail – Southern Terminus

We were in the Naples area for a family vacation, and I decided to use the opportunity to start knocking off pieces of the Florida Trail.  I’ve made it an unofficial goal to start working my way through the 11 National Scenic Trails, and this is one of them.  The first 30 miles of the trail is best known for passing through miles and miles of swamp in Big Cypress National Preserve. 

I’ve taken time off since late November to deal with a nagging leg issue and wasn’t going into this in great shape.  I was aided by almost completely flat terrain and little water to traverse on the first day.  If I’d started a month ago, I would have been walking through water after the first mile, but things had dried, and I didn’t hit water until almost four miles in.  Even then, it was a short stretch.  Mud, however, was a different story with plenty of thick, sticky mud. 

I made it to my planned campsite ten miles in by noon and decided to continue on.  The afternoon was a hot 85F compared to the usually near freezing weather of Ohio winters.  Water became a bit sparse on the trail, but I was able to wander into a cypress dome just before camp to fill up for the night.  I got to 13 Mile Camp late in the afternoon after covering 17 miles.  And no, that wasn’t a typo.  Ten Mile Camp was ten miles in, but 13 Mile Camp is at mile 17, so… yeah.   I didn’t see another hiker all day and was the only one at camp.  A cool front moved in later in the evening, giving me a comfortable night’s sleep.

Day 2 would be the opposite of day 1 in difficulty as I would spend most of the day walking through actual swamp.  The first 4 miles were dry, but the next 9 were anything but.  I probably spent 7 of these miles in ankle to almost knee deep water and the rest of it in ankle to calf deep mud.  Just to add to the fun were sinkholes in the water that I’d unknowingly step in, usually stumbling as one foot suddenly ended up knee deep.  It was kind of like postholing in snow but in a muddy swamp.  The going was slow and strenuous.  I learned to prefer the water since the trail turned into sticky mud without it.  The scenery was certainly unique with Cypress trees as far as I could see and water everywhere.

I stopped for lunch at Ivy Camp after slogging through over 6 miles of mud and water.  I also changed socks and scraped at least a fourth a cup of mud and sand out of each shoe.  This was a small mental victory, but didn’t matter as I plunged right back into the swamp after lunch.  A couple more miles got me out of the water for good and to the I-75 rest stop where Angela was waiting for me.

The 2nd day was one of the most difficult 13 mile days I’ve ever hiked, but was one of the most unique at the same time.  I’m glad I put my reservations of hiking through a swamp aside and went for it.  I don’t think I’d ever do it again, but it was worth it.  In case you were wondering, I didn’t see any alligators and only saw one small snake.