Big Cypress National Preserve, January 2022

Day 1 (Saturday, January 29th, 2022)

• Within the first mile I saw the beginning signs of water and mud, but nothing remarkable. Watch out for cypress knees and a few roots. For the most part this section of the trail is well maintained, and very well traveled. I assume a lot of day hikers traverse the area often. I am still very close to the visitor center, and the airport. In fact, as I hike in a helicopter took off from the runway and flew overhead. Kind of cool to watch. Wish I was slightly closer though. Still a nice shot for the video.

• Mile one marker! I must be hiking “like a girl”. My boots are not dirty although I have passed a significant amount of mud. I had trekking poles though. So, it made it super easy to bypass without incident. I’ve already peeled back a few of the layers I was wearing. Today is cold by Florida standards. I have removed my blue puffy jacket, gloves and scarf. Warming up thanks to body movement and being under full sun. There are fresh tracks from another hiker. I can’t tell if they are coming or going, or what. Just going to remain aware I’m not alone out here.

• Between one and two miles in there’s a much more even mix of limestone, mud and pine needles underneath my feet. There are more holes presenting themselves in the limestone, offering more opportunity to twist an ankle. Keeping my nose down. It is way more rocky versus muddy. If you are not looking down, you could very well possibly eat it. I’m so glad I brought trekking poles. I’m always glad to have them though. They keep me out of the mud and help me not slide into the solution holes in the limestone. I do not need to break an ankle. Thank you.

• Mile marker two. Decided not to eat anything just yet. I’m going to wait until mile marker three. Beginning to chug more water. Loosing the sweatshirt. Getting hot out. Wish I had replaced my beanie cap with a baseball cap earlier. I’ll do it at mile marker three.

• Another hiker just passed me. He looks to be in his early twenties. He has sandy blonde hair with a tapered beard and mustache. He’s about five foot ten to six feet tall, and says he’s just beginning his through hike of the Florida Trail. He actually scared the living daylights out of me, since he came up to me from behind, and I told him as much. We exchanged pleasantries and spoke of the mud and water yet to come. I wished him luck, and off he went. Seemed to be keeping a good pace as he left. Friendly kid. Hope he makes it. Not to self: He’s out here and judging by the tracks I have seen so far, so are at least a few others. I’ll keep an eye open for more hikers as I go.

• Mile three. Chugged some more water, ate a coconut bar, and took a picture of my feet just to prove the ground between mile two and three is a bit more on the soft side, and much more muddy. Finally exchanged my beanie for the baseball cap. Got a little more dry as I started out passed mile marker three.

• Heard a couple of thuds behind me, but kept walking. Didn’t necessarily startle me, but I made a mental note to stay aware. As I walked I kept looking behind me, maybe about four times or so just to ease my mind. At a point I just stopped, waited and gave it a solid look in every direction. Nothing, but it did prompt me to take my bear bell out and attach it to one of my trekking poles.

• Somewhere around 4.3 miles into the hike, according to Strava, I grabbed a sandwich, took a pee and chugged more water. Pretty uneventful so far. Just way more wet than I have experienced this part of the trail in the past. Finally got my socks wet and my boots finally look dirty. Now I’m hiking!

• The trail between mile 5 and 6 doesn’t seem too bad. It’s a bit easier to traverse since there aren’t as many holes in the ground and more on the dry side. It’s about 2PM and I’ve been on trail for a little over 3 hours. It’s going pretty good, feeling well and trying to drinking eat every mile or so. Had a sandwich the last stop. Might have some trail mix next. I don’t need to pee yet. So, the next break is going to be quick. I’ll chug some water, grab the trail mix and go.

• Checking the GPS SPOT Tracker. The last time I got a text from Matt he said my GPS was only pinging every half hour. It can do that when the batteries are low.

• Just stopped at Seven Mile Camp. It had a picnic table and a fire pit, was well cleared, and high and dry. A little ray of sunshine from all the cold and mud. Chugged some more water, took the opportunity to pee, ate some more trail mix and a seaweed snack. I got a text from Matt reminding me sunset is a little after 6PM and to make camp before dark. This was the plan anyway, but I appreciated the concern. He’s a keeper.

• Changed out the baseball hat for a beanie and couldn’t be happier. The temperature has dropped a little bit, plus there’s an added wind chill. I currently don’t have service on my cell phone, so checking the weather conditions is not possible. I just knew it was cold.

• Past mile marker 7. The trail resembled something you would find in a state park. Touches of grass and pine needles, flat with little to no exposed root or limestone. Only brief touches of both every now and then. Just enough to let you forget they were even there, tempting an epic face plant. The brush was lush and green. It couldn’t have bene a more spectacular day to hike. It was gorgeous out.

• Stopped at mile 8 to eat another coconut bar. The trail was pretty nice minus the occasional limestone pits, but for the most part it was pretty solid. Not very muddy and still quite lush. It began to look a bit more jungle like, pretty dense ground cover. The cell service was still almost non-existent. Would try every now and then to check, but otherwise just moved on to mile 9.

• 10 Mile Camp. My feet were screaming. Decided to take some Alieve, eat a gluten free Rice Krispy bar and some California Medley trail mix, chug water and take a pee. Wasn’t sure what I wanted to do at this point. Had to decide whether or not I was going to spend the night at camp, or push on. This was the last campsite before the supposed gator hole that I was not so excited about having to pass, especially at dusk. Made the decision to eat something and think about it. Making camp that night meant having a longer hiking day on day 2. If I pushed on the next campsite wouldn’t have the amenities this one does, fire pit and picnic table. Thought to myself it might be kind of nice to have a fire since it was most definitely going to be cold that night. Someone conveniently left some logs at the edge of the pit, good camper etiquette meant if I decided to use them, I would forage in the morning for more wood for the next camper. (Which is what I ultimately did.)

• I ended up deciding to initially push on to spite it being dusk. I ended up turning around at mile 9.9. It was about a half mile past 10 Mile Camp. (Which wasn’t at 10 miles, by the way. The mileage could be a bit confusing at times throughout Big Cypress. Take note.) It was my first introduction to lake like conditions on trail so far. There was no way I was going to be able to pass this area without completely submerging my hiking boots. Since it was after 5PM and daylight was going to be disappearing shortly, plus I had no idea how long I would have had to wade through the muck, I decided it would be better to just turn around, head back to 10 Mile Camp, and deal with the water in the morning. Besides, I could more easily pop on my waders in the morning while sitting at a picnic table, rather than having to do it on muddy ground. So I returned to 10 Mile Camp, made a nice hot meal, set up my tent and hung my bear bag. I went to bed around 7:30PM. I would say I got some sleep, but I woke up randomly between 1:30 and 2AM. It was very hard to go back to sleep after that. Luckily, I was warm enough, but I could have had a better pillow. Also, my allergies at this point were kicking in big time and I was finding it hard to breathe freely in a horizontal position. I finally took a Benadryl at around 3AM. Hoping that would do the trick and help me get back to sleep. Unfortunately, not really. Just a mention, there was pretty much no wind that night. There had been earlier while I was hiking, but since it had subsided, it made for quite a silent evening. Literally, there was not even a branch creaking, no animal noises, nothing.

Day 2 (Sunday, January 30th, 2022)

• I woke up in the morning and it was freezing outside. Inside the tent was comfortable, but also everything had condensation on it. Welcome to the swamp. As soon as my head touched the top of my tent it was soaked, so were the edges of my sleeping gear, my backpack shell, and anything else that happened to be touching the sides of the tent from the night before. Fun. When I emerged from my shelter, I put on my Frog Togs rain jacket. It helped a bit to protect me from the cold. Then I proceeded to put on my waders. They didn’t protect me from the cold as well, but slightly. Which was enough. After I had them on, I realized I probably should have put on a second pair of socks, but they were already on me, and it would have been a pain in the ass to redress. So, I decided to go with the one pair anyway. I figured it would warm up as I walked. When I got to my bear bag, which wasn’t all that far from camp, I quickly realized the built in boots of the waders were definitely not made for hiking. On the other hand, they do have a good amount of traction. The fit is just all wrong. I also realized I had forgotten to pack any sort of silverware, which left me to mix and eat my breakfast, miso ramen, with only the buck knife I brought. Not very efficient. Another realization, I brought the 55 degree sleeping bag with me, not my 25 degree. The second would have made for a much more comfortable night’s sleep, although I was fine last night, I was also wearing all of my clothes from the day before. And another whoops… I didn’t bring the correct trekking poles. The ones I had with me did not break down small enough to support my tent. I use a ZPacks tent and this model doesn’t come with a pole system. You use your trekking poles to support it. Since my trekking poles didn’t break down small enough, I had to get creative and find some sticks that would suffice. Luckily I found some. After breakfast, I eventually organized my gear and stuffed it all back in the backpack. By the time I headed out for the day it was well after 8:30AM. Whoops. So much for an early start.

• I had to pack up my tent and footprint, plus a couple other items I had that were dewey this morning. I’ll dry them out when I get home.

• 8:56AM Finally heading out from camp towards the water at mile 9.9. Wish me luck!

• After mile 10 its pretty much nothing but mud slinging. More water than not. When there’s no water, it’s mud. The type of mud that swallows your feet whole. I’ve never before been so happy to own a pair of waders. These things really came in handy. To be honest, I wasn’t sure I was going to use them, so I debated even bringing them, but now I couldn’t see doing this sort of wet hiking without them.

• Stopped to eat a handful of trail mix at mile 10. Took a picture of my feet. Chugged a little bit more of what was left of my breakfast, the miso soup, and pushed on. The time is now 10AM. I’m making really crappy time, but I was expecting that it would be slow moving through all this mud. Especially with the limestone underneath as a contributing factor. You never know where your foot will land or what kind of terrain it will slink into through the mud. Spending time making sure I’m on solid ground with every step takes time.

• Not sure if I included this or not, but at mile 10 I got rid of the gloves and puffy jacket I had been wearing. Also, the two hats. I took off the waders for a quick change of my pants. I made the move to a more spandex work out pant. They fit way better while walking in the waders. I’m discovering the waders have a pretty solid toe box. I ran directly into a couple of good sized rocks with my feet and felt nothing. Still lots of muddy terrain on my way to mile 11.

• Although it’s awesome to have on waders through this all day mud fest, they are very restrictive when it comes to quad and knee movement. I’m feeling the resistance. I tried to do a couple squats to hopefully release maybe somewhere where the waders were maybe trapped by my backpack or other gear, but that didn’t help much. It’s the fit. These a re made for fishing, not hiking. Still making it, but slowly. Still lots of mud.

• Dry season, my ass. When I see stones, I try to use them for leverage.

• When I can, I walk on the sides the trail where there is a little more vegetation. I can get more traction. Sometimes it doesn’t help though as I find myself still slipping back into the bog. Every little bit helps though. One step at a time.

• There’s a part of me that’s happy to be doing this by myself. Although, it would be a bit more fun with company. When you can chat and hike the miles seem to disappear much more quickly. The distraction can work toward your advantage. On the other hand, doing this hike by myself reminds me that I can be a strong person. I don’t need others to help me accomplish my goals. I can, through my own power, be successful. Well, we will see. I still have 19 miles to go before the end of my day.

• Mile 11. I’ve decided I’m going to get rid of the beanie cap. Maybe not. I don’t know. Maybe I won’t. I do want to take another chug of miso though, and take a moment to adjust.

• 10:27am… Mile 11 I did end up getting rid of the beanie cap. I ate a rice crispy treat and had a handful of nuts. I downed some more miso and sent Matt an update from the trail. Getting back to the walking, 10:42am.

• I thought about taking off the waders, but every time I do I come across more water. I can never tell if the water will go on for a significant stretch or if its just going to be for a short distance. I don’t want to take them off just to put them right back on. I’ve decided I’m just going to keep going for as long as I can with the waders on for now, no matter how uncomfortable. It’s just more convenient. They are also keeping me pretty warm. At mile 11 I did get a chance to feel around on the inside of the waders and noticed some condensation. It’s really cold outside and inside the waders I’m almost hot. I’m pretty sure by the end of the day all my clothes will be soaking wet from the sweat I’m creating. Good thing I have a change of pants inside my bag for later. I’ll do that once I’m past walking through the really deep portions of swamp. Unfortunately, that won’t be for a while. I am not making extremely good headway, but I’m still moving forward none the less. Checking the time, it’s 10:48AM. It’s still not even past noon, but I’m not even close to half way. I have some ways to go. I better start becoming more mindful of how many and how long my breaks are.

• Mile 12… I sent Matt a notice of where I’m at again. Strava says I am 4.2 miles in for today. At this moment I’m going to skip chugging water. Texting Matt another hiker, a young guy maybe 20 or so years old scared the crap out of me, by passing me on trail. I always think I’m aware of my surroundings, but its times like these where I realize I’m not. He passed by and I didn’t see him right away, so I nearly jumped out of my skin when I finally did see him. There aren’t a lot of people out here, in fact I haven’t seen anyone else so far, just foot prints and tracks, but no people. he was friendly enough, but damn. Aged me three years in 30 seconds. Good thing he wasn’t a serial killer, LOL. The young hiker exclaimed he was going for it and thru-hiking the FT. So, basically he just started. I hope he makes it. This portion is the worst of it though. Good luck young man! I warned him how muddy it’s supposed to be up ahead, but we both chuckled about it. I’m pretty sure he knew what he was in for. Onward!

• Stopping to cool off from the waders. They’re getting a bit hot to wear at this point. I’m sweating a little more than I’d like. Planning on eating a sandwich and chugging more water at mile 13.

• Mile 13… It’s 12:05PM. I just looked at my SPOT Tracker. I must have walked through an area where I had service because I can finally see what mileage I have covered so far on the map. Earlier when I didn’t have service, it was a mystery. So yay! I just ate my sandwich, chugged water, and I need to pee, then I’m taking off again.