Archive for the ‘hiking’ Category
Florida Hiking Resources
As I woke up yesterday morning with a horrible stomach bug I thought I was being damned for something, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel a day later. All the pain and suffering wasn’t in vain, for in my time of intense discomfort I managed to locate a series of really interesting tools to further expand my pleasures in hiking (no, not orgy forest) but…
St. John’s River alpha list, which I’d been searching around on their site since I heard of the little park system. Even though the site is extremely archaic in its simple linking system, this one single section of the site is the Noah’s Ark for all the lands the SJR currently overlooks. Little organizations like this give me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside that for at least as long as I’m here, there will be plenty of clean, natural, and undisturbed areas that allow us normal humans to get away from the normal day-to-day hangs we’ve all got to face.
Random google listing, created by dtnagel, is a huge haul of camping/hiking/scouting data apparently compiled by this user for boy scouting purposes (for boy scouts, not to actually scout for boys…you sick bastards). I use this site to find a spot that is close enough to travel to and from during a short weekend, yet far enough away to BE away. With this person’s listings I cross them on the SJR site and see if the park is the kind of place I prefer.
I’m a little picky when it comes to places I go exploring:
- I like it to be as far away from all highways, developments, bullshit as possible.
- Camping to me isn’t pulling up in a spot in my gigantic RV and hooking up to the gas/water/electricity/internet lines and sitting in inside all weekend. Camping to me is hiking a few miles on the only path out to the site itself where there is (at most) a single burn pit and a picnic table.
- Constant urinals and water fountains don’t line my kind of hiking trails. I carry my own water supply and I can piss where I damn well please and I damn well need.
Most of those, to normal people, would be no-brainers. Unfortunately this isn’t the case, but I can guarantee you that all the places I will end up hiking through are researched. I read reviews and most importantly check the trail maps to get a feel for how the trail will actually be (if its empty its a good trail), the only reason that I might put a trail on thats a tad bit more “family-friendly” is because there was some outside attraction (ie., museum, exhibition, etc).
Gearing up for a night on the trail
After an failed attempt at using my old flint stick while I was at the Black Creek Conservation Area, I decided to restock with a more competent stick that I found at Black Creek Outfitters (yeah, its come to be my favorite place to go and peruse around – the women working there are all adorable and the stuff is really useful).
Given how long it took me to chisel the mud and re-polish my boots, I decided to get a more comfortable pair of actual hiking boots (and not my bdu boots) for the trail. Timberland had a nice deal at dick’s on their Conway Trail Mids, they’re comfortable and keep you warm and dry, which is all a guy can ask for.
In regards to the most epic show ever played at the Hampton Coliseum, I managed to locate the show on the ever-so useful Internet Archive, I recommend taking a gander at the darkstar and scarlet begonias.
Black Creek Ravines
Awesome little place to hike. Took me a while to locate the place thanks to a few misguiding directions provided by google. Florida isn’t like Virginia when it comes to hiking, everything is either sandy/marshy/desert with the guaranteed bonus of absolutely not serious grade of elevation. I managed to pack lighter than I was hoping, and left my water supply back in my car (didn’t realize it until about 4 miles into the hike). The path had a very nice sand-covered path with a bit of marshland towards the camp site area, and the path switched back and forth between clear and covered which allowed you to not freeze and stay away from over heating.
Me being from the north I’m definitely not familiar with anything other than the random armadillo I saw casually strolling about on my return hike, so the vegetation was something that kept my mind wandering. The camp site was extremely secluded, with only one path to get to and from it made it exceptionally peaceful while I sparked a fire and relaxed.