OTL Part Two: Electric Boogaloo

15 More Miles on the OTL

Another Saturday, another training hike for me and Leslie.  It's crunch time now, as we leave for Scotland in less than two months!

Just in case you didn't believe we were really on the OTL

This time we picked a much better day to do a long hike on, with a high in the mid 70's instead of in the 80's like the previous hike.  We also traveled west to east this time, beginning just outside the Corbett Wildlife Management Area and ending at Riverbend Park again.

The first section from the Hungryland Slough Conservation Area parking lot out to the beeline went through an area that had been platted for a subdivision, but was being restored to it's natural state of prairie ponds and pine flatwoods.  We walked along trails carved into the remains of the dirt roads that had been removed; wide open lanes slowly being reclaimed by the forest that are surrounded by pines and scrub brush.  We saw quite a few deer in this section, but unfortunately they were too quick for us to get any pictures.  

We came out onto a dirt road along the C-18 canal that connected with the Beeline Hwy, which we had to walk along for about a mile until we reached the entrance to the Loxahatchee Slough Natural Area.  

Anyone need a hit?  Found along the Beeline.  Classy.

The Loxahatchee Slough is another area being returned to its natural state after having been a farm for a number of years.  This section was my favorite part of the days walk, as it passed through a number of different sections that each seemed to be their own habitat.  

Some of the varied terrain:

Another sign post

     

Leslie with tree

We came out of the Loxahatchee Slough area on the C-18 Canal again.

Bridge over the C-18

Our lunch stop was shortly after the bridge, where the data book promised benches and a water pump. Both were there as promised, but the water smelled so strongly of sulfur it was not at all pleasant to drink (ask Leslie).  Luckily I had brought enough water that I survived without filling up.

The next section was cypress swamp, that eventually deposited us along the C-18 again with Jupiter Farms on one side of us and, across the canal, PB Country Estates on the other.  Another mile or so along the canal brought us into Riverbend Park.  It was another couple miles to get to the front of the park and the car we had parked in the morning.

Overall this was good trip.  The only negatives were the walk along the Beeline highway, and lack of palatable water (i.e., didn't smell like farts).  The variety of the landscape was a definite plus, as Florida is not too exciting a place to hike.

****Again, thanks to Leslie for most of the pictures****

New Year, new gear

New Year, New Gear

In my ongoing quest to spend as much money as humanly possible on gear, I've acquired quite a few new pieces of gear already this year.  Seriously though, a few of my key pieces of gear were starting to develop signs of wear.  Gear failure in the middle of a Scottish Highlands crossing would not be a fun experience. So here's what I've bought so far:

Montbell Versalite Rain Pants - ultralight at 3.6oz.  I haven't had a chance to test them out yet, but the size and weight seem accurate.

Outdoor Research Helium II Rain Jacket - 6.4oz - also very lightweight.  From all I've heard this is a great jacket.  No pit zips is a deal breaker for some, but my last jacket didn't have them either.

Anker PowerCore 10,000 - ~6oz

Montem Ultra Strong Trekking Poles - Now that I have a tent that requires trekking poles I decided I should buy new poles as my old ones are getting up there in age.  These seem ultra strong (like the name implies, I guess).  I've used them on a few training hikes without issue.  They do weigh a couple ounces more than my old poles, but they were also half the price of any other poles.  I went with the heavier aluminum because these are my tent poles as well.

Darn Tough 1/4 Merino Wool Cushion Hiking Socks - seem good so far!  I'm excited to see if these live up to their reputation.  What has become of my life?  Excited about socks?

Zpacks Duplex Tent - mentioned before in my TGOC 2017 post.  Full review coming, still haven't used it enough to really evaluate it as thoroughly as I'd like.

Salomon X Ultra Mid 2 GTX boots - basically the mid-height, water-proof version of the shoe I wear.  I had some blister/foot problems last year in Scotland and I think it was from my feet being wet the whole time.  Hopefully this is a good choice.  They're comfortable and don't seem any heavier than the shoe version.

Training Day on the Ocean to Lake Trail

About 16 miles on the Ocean to Lake Trail

First off, this is the official announcement: my friend Leslie will be joining me on the Great Outdoors Challenge!  Leslie is a very strong-willed woman who is a wife, mother, professional, and an entrepreneur.  So far we've done a few shorter training hikes together, and she also joined me on this training hike, which I have dubbed the "Death March."  If that isn't foreshadowing, I'm not sure what is.

Going into this hike we knew it was going to be a warm day.  Forecasts said it would be a high of 80 degrees, and we went with (mostly) full packs.  We started at the endpoint of the Ocean to Lake trail on Hobe Sound Beach and it was a sunny, cool morning of about 68 degrees.  The first 2+ miles were road walking to get to Jonathan Dickinson State Park.  The beginning of the road walk took us along a tree lined road leading from the beach to the intracoastal and then next to some shops along one of the main roads.

Under the tree we go

There were tons of runners out at JD as they were doing endurance races of 25, 50 or 100 miles.  We ran into them on multiple occasions over the course of the day. The first few miles of JD was walking on sugar sand, which you know if you've been to the beach, is not a lot of fun to talk on.  Also, there was no shade, which continued for 99% of the day.  At this point it was still cool out so it wasn't a huge deal.  We continued along amongst the scrub brush until we got a bit further west into the park, where the trail turned into a more normal pathway (no sand) and eventually got to parts that were more of a dirt road than a hiking trail.

Scrub

Trail

We stopped and took a break at the Scrub Jay campsite, which is 5.5 miles from the beginning of the Ocean to Lake trail.  At that point there was still a bit of coolness in the air and we were feeling good.

Leslie looking....uh, I don't know what this is

Some flowers we saw along the way:

The Kitching Creek campsite was our lunch destination, about 9 miles into the trail.  Late morning/noon time it suddenly became blazing hot.  The last mile to the campsite felt like forever in the heat and we were low on water.  We had intended to stop and set up tents at lunch (Leslie was carrying my old tent, which was new to her) as practice but it was so scorchingly hot we just couldn't do it.

We refilled our water bottles at the campsite and wet our pack towels to put on our necks for some cool relief from the sun.  We took a break at the sign indicating we were about to exit JD State Park.  Unbeknownst to Leslie I had packed a couple snickers bars as a surprise snack to give us an energy boost for the last 5 miles.  Unfortunately in the blazing sun they melted....but they still tasted amazing.

Melty snickers

Next up was the Hobe Grove Canal, which OTLers must wade across.  It was slow moving and knee deep, and honestly the cool water felt great, so no big deal.

Me crossing the Hobe Grove Canal.  Note my towel under
my hat to keep my neck cool

Our next landmark was the I-95 and Florida Turnpike underpass for trail walkers.

On the approach to the tunnel

Underpass

 Another mile through a farm in the hot Florida sun took us to a bridge over a canal where we saw a young alligator enjoying the fiery ball of death in the sky.

Gator

Zoomed In

After this, according to the data sheet for the OTL trail, it was under two miles to Riverbend park, where we were ending our walk.  Now, we aren't 100% sure we were on the correct trail some of the time, but there is no way that was less than two miles for this final section.  Granted, I had stopped drinking for the most part because all my water seemed like hot tea from the sun (I know, bad choice, and I was definitely dehydrated).  Leslie was doing a better job of hydrating than I was.

From the bridge it was a long, straight path (without shade) that we walked down until we got to a road...that was also long and straight and in the sun.  At this point all I could think about was to keep moving to get to the end.  After what felt like an eternity we made it out to the small trail along Indiantown road that we followed east to Riverbend Park.

It wasn't pretty, but we had survived.  For me this was one of the toughest 16 mile (more like 17 if you believe the data from Leslie's phone) days I've ever done mostly because of the heat, but also because of my foolishness in not drinking enough.

Details

****Thanks to Leslie for taking pictures!  Most of them were provided by her because I'm too lazy to take them myself.  ****