I recently completed a 550 mile section of the Florida Trail, from the southern terminus at Big Cypress National Preserve to the halfway mark in the town of Lake Butler. There is little info out there about this trail, especially here on BPL, so I wanted to share some of the things I learned for anyone wishing to take a stab at this hike in the future (at least the southern half of it).
1) Net Tent Over Bivvy – when putting together my kit I deliberated about which piece to pair with my Zpacks Hexamid Solo Tarp w/ extended beak: my 7.5 oz Borah Bivvy or my 8.3 oz Six Moon Designs Serenity net tent. I ended up choosing the bivvy to save an ounce and because I had come across lots of talk about drastic Florida temperature swings. I figured the cold would bring more discomfort than anything else, and since I greatly value the added warmth provided by the bivvy, I chose it over the net tent. This ended up being a mistake which I scrambled to correct at my first resupply point in Clewiston, FL. There are three things that make the net tent a better choice than the bivvy for this hike:
A) The long nights – the Florida Trail is generally hiked in the winter, and in the winter nights are long. When I started the hike in late January the sun was setting at around 6 pm and not rising again until close to 7. That's over 12 hours spent in the shelter, unless you're night hiking. It's generally too hot for an evening fire and too buggy to just hang out. Do you really want to confine yourself to a bivvy for that long? Especially considering:
B) The heat and humidity – all of a sudden I'm not sure what's worse: trying to stay warm at night in the bitter cold or trying to keep cool at night in the heat. Yes, south and central Florida can dip into the high 30s (maybe 1 in 15 nights) but the norm is nighttime heat, especially in south Florida. And for obvious reasons the bivvy sack is terrible in such conditions. There's no breeze and it's hard to keep the quilt off you. And the mosquitoes are absolutely brutal, so while sweating bullets for 12 hours in the bivvy you have swarms of bugs waiting for you to rub up against the netting of the bivvy so they can have their evening meal (yes, they bite right through the mesh).
C) The flatness of Florida (and all the road walking)- you will not see an incline on the Florida Trail until you hit the Ocala Forest (dikes don't count lol). And it seems that no less than 30% of the trail is either road or dike walking. I underestimated how my body would react to the flatness and pavement. Within 3 days I had significant pain in my calves and ankles. By the seventh day I thought I was going to have to quit entirely because my right ankle was so swollen and painful. This certainly had lots to do with weakness that I came into the hike with, but the flat terrain definitely works the same exact body parts from the same angles without ever giving them a chance to rest or stretch on inclines.
What does this have to do with shelter? I found it indispensable to massage my ankles religiously each night, sometimes multiple times per night. It kept the soreness and swell at bay and allowed me to continue on. Massaging is impossible in a bivvy. Life in the bivvy is horzontal.
I found myself dreading the night time until my net tent arrived General Delivery in Clewiston, FL. When all was said and done I ended up with a Hexamid Solo Plus TENT. Best decision I ever made. Zpacks (Florida based) went above and beyond for me with customer service throughout the hike.
2) Down Works in Florida – Yes, it's humid as all hell along the Florida Trail, but the sun is almost never more than 24 hours away from showing its face. I say almost because there was a four day stretch going through the Ocala National Forest where I didn't see a drop off sunshine. That four day stretch culminated in a ~35 degree night during which I was so cold that I woke up at 1am and had to walk the rest of the night to keep warm. My Western Mountaineering Summerlite (rated to 32F) was just too damp and compromised. Apart from this once-in-forty-days instance the sun was always there to crisp out my gear. Even just a few minutes under the sun worked wonders.
3) Navigation – I had a 3 layer navigation system: 1) the data book 2) maps cut out of Trail Guide and 3) Backcountry Navigator Pro on my Samsung Galaxy S4 with Florida Cal Topo maps pre-downloaded and Official Florida Trail waypoints file (available online) overlaying them. I did not purchase the $99 map set and I never regretted it. I think Backcountry Navigator is an amazing app and it was the most valuable element of my navigation system considering how poorly blazed the Florida Trail can be in some areas. It also made night hiking an option. I could have done the hike with only Backcountry Navigator, which I can't say for the other two resources.
4) Loneliness – I ran into two hikers on the first day going through Big Cypress. I saw a total of <6 other hikers for the next 40 days. And most of them were hiking sections and headed south. All in all I spent less than 1 hour total conversing with fellow hikers the entire trip. And I'm a social guy. The loneliness tested me day in and day out. It brought me to new lows I had never experienced before. I found myself talking to god a lot (for the first time in my life) and talking to animals as I passed them by. There were moments where I very honestly empathized with Tom Hanks' character in Cast Way who befriends Wilson the soccer ball. Anyway, just be prepared for it. The FT is definitely not a rich social experience like I hear the AT is.
5) Kilt – not trying to turn this into a kilt debate but switching to a kilt mid-hike proved to be a great decision. Airing the package was more of a necessity than a luxury with the strong heat and moisture. And tick checking became infinitely more convenient with the ability to lift up the skirt in broad daylight whenever I felt a crawler or got up off of the ground. Stillwater Thrifty Kilt in case you were wondering.
That's enough for now but if anyone ever has any questions about the first 550 miles of the FT please feel free to PM me.
