FL-Treking & Hammock Hanging in Florida...

[MikekiM]

I am in the middle of interviewing for a career opportunity that could have me relocating to West Palm Beach. Just started doing research on the camping/hiking/hammocking in and around the area. The one common themes I am finding are hot, wet, flat and buggy..and wet.. but that's a short commentary about Florida in general. I have yet to find any trail documentaries for Florida or the FT that are hammock specific, but I know there are more than a few hammock hangers from FL here on HF.

Aside from the FT, are there any long trails? What are the more remote sections of hiking trails? Are they hammock friendly? What are the new skills I am going need having hiked/camped only in the NE thus far...

Looking for some general info to start.. then I'll drill down to more detail

[Usingmyrights]

The FT is the main big trail for the stste. The trail, at least in my area, isn't really high use. I don't know what you're looking for size wise, but there is other trails out there that you could do a 20 mile +/- loop on. With the way FL is, in wilderness areas with no/few camping restrictions, finding a place to hang shouldn't be difficult.

[Marine2000]

I live on a portion of the Ocean to Lake Trail (OTL). It starts at Lake Okeechobee and is a little over 60 miles to the ocean. Great hammock camping everywhere you look! There are some enormous advantages to living down here. Least of which is year round camping Also you get to go to Hangcon which is only 2.5 hours from Palm Beach.

Florida also has some great State Parks. Jonathan Dickinson is close to Palm Beach (actually I think some of it is in Palm Beach County) and there are miles of trails within the park. There are also many land management areas that are open to overnight Hammock campers. I'm not sure if you're familiar with Florida but the middle of the State is absolutely wilderness. You'll never run out of places to camp. Hit me up if you end up down this way.


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[Moonshiner]

There is the Ocean to Lake trail, below is a link to that hike by the zpacks crew.

https://youtu.be/gKmP4NxcQEw

Most areas in Central FL where the FT runs through has a lot of connector trails that alone you could spend days exploring. Green Swamp West and East, Ocala National Forest, Lake Wales State Forest, Withlacoochee State Forest has several tracts with numerous trail systems in each of them although I wouldn't call any of these long trails the combined connectors will provide quite a bit of area to explore. All of these areas have what could be considered remote by Florida standards, that is to say not 100 miles from anything John Muir Trail remote but far enough in where you may or may not run into other people and no city sounds, Foster Bridge campsite in Green Swamp West is one we spent a couple nights at and it was just us and only saw some equestrian campers on the way up not anyone else once we were there.

If you don't have one get a bug net lol, also learn to make or buy permethrin, bugs down here are sometimes a real pain depending on our temps, which are as bipolar as the rain sometimes. Get familar with Pygmy Rattlesnakes, water moccasins, and diamondback rattlesnakes, your sure to encounter one or two hiking in Florida. Just a personal preference but I use a poncho for rain because it's so on and off here and the humidity is murder if your in a full rain suit when it stops.

Others here will add info like above that have been at it a lot longer than me here in Florida I did not camp for awhile after 10 years of active duty Army camping and don't get out as much as I'd like with the nature of my work. I hope this helped a bit, look forward to meeting you hope this new opportunity pans out for you and you can join us on some hikes.

[MikekiM]

All great responses..thank you. Exactly the high-level info I was looking for.

In the NE we contend with insect life as well.. mostly black flies, no-seems, ticks and mosquitoes. I have bug gear (head net, integrated net on my WB BB) and regularly use permethrin for tick prevention.

I had viewed the ZPacks vids and frankly, that's hat got me concerned...waist deep in gator filled water.. that's not something we deal with up here. Timber Rattlers, Cottonmouth, Copperheads and..black bears.

It's pretty hard to head out in the NE and NOT have trees to hang from. That was a concern. With all the wetland in Florida, I don't really want to go to the ground.

Also, seems so many of the vids I've watched featured the Seniors out for day hikes. I'm not far from them in age, but I'm not looking for a mall-crawl kind of experience.

Seems like UL insulation is the order of the day. Temps won't require the really heavy insulation.

I'm already a poncho/kilt user so that works out well.

Aside from the lack of elevation, the terrain sounds varied enough to be real interesting, and certainly different.






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[olddog]

Hope you make it down. Watching south Florida vids will leave you thinking there are nothing but swamps and much of the FT on the south end must be. Never been there but that is what I see and hear. Quite a few of our hang group travel up to central Florida from the south. Not sure if it is our prettier and more varied terrain or the companionship. We are in the planning stages for a weekend hike the end of March covering 15+ miles in two days in Green Swamp. On a few occasions we have had to cache water there due to the river and ponds being dry. Other hikes we have covered the same areas and your feet are wet for miles. No hiking boots here. Trail runners are more than adequate and dry quicker.

I would say that our group is older than some but probably average mid 40s or so and pretty much hold our own on the trail. There are tendencies for a hike to get stretched out as some have different paces and some may want to check out scenery along the way. Kinda like the HYOH thing.

Temps can be variable and though 32° mornings are a rarity but has happened a couple of times in the last few years. Then the next morning wake up to 60°. Then there are the mid 20° mornings at some of the Florida Hangs. My Wilderness Logic Summer Series TQ & UQ handle most of the temps we deal with.

Having spent a number of spring/summers in Maine and experiencing the bugs up there I'm sure you can handle most of what we have here.

[kev138]

One of the fun things about hiking in Florida is the variety of habitats you can see. Sandy flats, plains, jungle thick wilderness, old growth forests, sometimes all the above in one single hike. Also to add to the wildlife list, black bears, bobcat, and if you at really lucky , panthers.

Check out floridahikes.com . lots of info there broken down by area in the state. Camping and hiking info with trail descriptions galore. Once you adjust to the humidity ( and the wierdos)it's a great state

[Floridahanger]

The Florida creatures are a must to learn more about. You can see so many varieties and sizes in one trek just as much as habitats from mile to mile.

And when you're finished hiking, you get yourself a kayak and start a completely different adventure in kayak hammock camping.

[MikekiM]

Awesome info.. I'm still watching the Team ZPacks vids... great stuff.

How problematic are ticks?

How do you manage constant wet feet. Blisters. Caked mud. Trail runners make sense, but socks seem to be more of a problem than a benefit. I'm thinking thinner is better.

Haven't seen any hammocks in any of the vids yet!


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[olddog]

Surprisingly ticks in the areas we hang are few and far between. Last Jan. at Buck Lake in Ocala NF there were a few ticks found but only in one isolated area. Permethrin tends to keep them off as long as everything, I don't treat the compression shorts, is treated. Wet feet aren't that much of a problem. After I mentioned it above I recalled it was only on one hike thru Green Swamp West and that was during an El Nino Winter. Now there have been times I just dropped the shirt and waded off into the Little Withlacoochee in kilt and shoes. I'll post up a pic but view only if you are willing to accept the mental image burnt into your memory forever. Blisters, yes they seem to be a problem for me, others not so much, just follow normal foot maintenance and all will be well. I am still in that learning mode and tend to believe some of what I see or have been told.

Mud? doesn't tend to be much of a problem. Now sugar sand in your shoes can cause some problems. Imagine sandpaper between your toes. Grinder turned me on to stacking socks a couple of seasons ago. A light liner pair inside a heavier pair. My last problem with blisters was observing a hiker using knee highs under socks. Didn't work for me!

Want to see pics of hammocks? Check out some of our trip reports. I believe Bomber21 has pics of every hammock at the last Sherpa Hang.