Friday, January 9, 2026 – In a bed at Snow Bird Motel on mile 879.7 of the Florida Trail, Eastern Panhandle. ~34 miles
Blog
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D12 – Beautiful, delicious, and friendly
Wednesday, December 10th, 2025. Plaza Travel Inn, room 119, far side of a king bed. Off m103.7 of the Florida Trail. Wake naturally at about 515am. Perhaps 60°, 90% humidity, no breeze. In the hotel, the AC unit is set to 70, lol. 26.754489,-80.925202
I sleep. So thankful. I’m not the type of person who can get more than 8 hours of sleep, a weakness to my vagabonding game, but I’m comfortable in my bed overnight. I wake feeling rested enough.
The convenience store across the street is 24 hours, I walk over and get a black coffee. Work in the hotel to figure my life out. I desperately need to do laundry. My underwear is a printshop. My socks are stiff and sandy. The options for washing here in town are thin.
A little after six, I walk across the street to Bonafide Bakery. Coffee con leche. Guava and cheese pastry. Breakfast sandwich. I definitely recommend this place. Clean. Obviously loved by owner. Excellent fresh food made with pride. Get in here! Argentina represents!
I have never been successful in life. I have, however, been extremely lucky to live with culinary privilege and have always navigated this opportunity with a sharp personal distinction. The best part of my life. I love some small part of the food world, and I hate some much larger slice of life. This pleases me. I’m a fool who eats like a king. I have no problems being choosey. This place safely 3+ of 5, I’d say. A gift to the universe. Eat here. Spend your money here. I decide it’s better to wash my socks and underwear in the hotel shower rather than spend the morning at what looks like one of the worst laundromats in America. It’s a good time. Dancing the dirt away.
By 9 am, I am ready to walk out of town. The water here is so terrible that I decide to stop and buy a gallon from the convenience store, and I convince myself to try and continue this trick for as long as possible here in South Florida.
Impossible to resist the opportunity, I stop at Bonafide Bakery on the way out for another coffee con lache and two pastries. Definitely 3+ out of 5. This is a good place.
I haven’t been carrying or fixing coffee on this trip. The first time ever that my backpack does not have coffee. I have always considered instant coffee to be an absolute necessity, an emergency if I don’t have it. Now, it’s part of the description of town food and I’m happy. Makes for a more simple life. Also, it seems like not having a fixation for caffeine is part of my sober life, which makes sense, I suppose.
Lake Okeechobee as seem from Clewiston Picnic Area, a lovely place. 
This morning’s red line is a bike path. Fantastic. It does take a bit to get my life settled down, but about a quarter of ten, I’m on the bike path headed trail north. So thankful. It’s a gorgeous day.
My culinary adventure continues when I reach the town of Moore Haven and the Mexican restaurant Haven Fresh. Tacos! Two el pastor, one chorizo, and one steak. Pretty good! To round out the caloric debauchery, a vanilla conchas, and a cup of toasted coconut ice cream. My life is amazing.
I studied the map and found a campground that offers electricity, showers, and a place to pitch for $25. I can be there by 9 pm, I say. See you then, they say. My life’s amazement continues.
I’ve never been a person to dream of a boat. The way I figure it, so many things have died in the ocean, the whole place smells like fish. 
Florida is about the only place on the East Coast that gets “big sky” credit. I have a heart whose affinities favor a Western momentum. Adventure in America, as my brain thinks, is an experience found under a big sky. 
I didn’t hold the opinion that Florida is one of the most polluted places in America before this hike, but that’s a feeling I have now. Perhaps the highest elevations in Florida are landfills. And uncovered mountain of domestic human waste moated by irrigation canals and food crops. 
The whole of central Florida was drained for real estate and agriculture. US Sugar, ready to be burnt and harvested, their entire life cycle, downhill from a billion tons of diapers and KFC mashed potatoe cups. Organically to our system, this is what America has grown into. 
Sunset on another beautiful day. Absolutely fantastic. I finish a zombie book (Until the end of the world by Sarah Lyons Fleming) and start a hiker classic (A walk in the woods by Bill Bryson). I can’t decide whether Bill Bryson is flawed by being or not being a zombie.
I make Twin Palms RV Resort Cabins & Camping by 740pm. The manager very kindly meeting me as I walked down from the levy guided by my headlamp. He talks briefly about the hikers they have hosted (Fresh Ground and Pegleg, don’t you know). Shows me the showers and bathrooms. Invites me to cowboy in the almost completely screened gazebo (I immediately agree, it’s hiker trash paradise).
It’s now 850pm, I’m showered and ready to sleep to the sound of crickets and trucks running up the highway. So very grateful.
Milage:
FarOut has it as 28.9 but my math is 28.8, whatever. GREAT DAY! Florida is beautiful, delicious, and friendly. Thrilled.
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D11 – Evercaine shortcut to the rescue
Tuesday, December 9th, 2025. STA-5/6 Public Use Area. Tented in small space between guard rail and information board. Just off m66.1 of the Florida Trail. Wake naturally at about 415am. Moderate breeze and perhaps 65°. 26.432974,-80.941084
I would say an absolutely terrible spot. Lol. Could have been much worse obviously on the weather front, for example. No rain overnight. I don’t stop playing with my cell phone until after 11 pm. The nice thing about this location is that it did have the minimal of cell service so I could doom scroll in my tent.
I don’t sleep well. Humid and sticky. I wake to the sound of wind and know this is my chance to get out before mosquitoes herd rises to terrible. I pack. I take water from the smelliest pitcher pump in history. I take my pack to the pit toilet to shit and filter water.
My tent was raided overnight with ants. A lot of ants. Very good that I got up because the ant situation was about to be out of hand.
It’s 37-38 miles to town. I’m gonna try and make it. There are options if I can’t. At 5 am, trying to get my pack on to the sound of mosquitoes in the pit toilet
One long road. Busy today with trucks carrying freshly harvested sugar care. Some burnt, some green. Pretty much right away, my body and mind are a little bit overwhelmed with the day. I spent some time while walking, trying to figure out how much sleep I got. Lol, if I can’t figure it out, then I probably didn’t get that much.
Studying the map, I see that it’s possible to follow Evercane Road into town and cut off about ten miles. I allow myself to debate internally a little bit, but yeah, definitely, the right choice is to get me into town.
Crop spraying plane. The pilot was on it! No fooling around. 
I quite enjoyed watching this plane fly around, the best entertainment of the day. I break from the red line at Evercaine Road. Mile 79.3, Google Maps says from there it is 13 mies into town. It’s a busy asphalt road with no shoulder, but it’s not that bad.
I make arrangements for a hotel in Clewiston. I had really hoped to find a dive hotel for a dive hotel price, but it seems clear that while the seedy is available, the price isn’t low. I booked the cheapest room in town, $87 after taxes and fees.
Evercane Road. I don’t know how many harvests a year you get from sugarcane, but they are pulling crops today. I feel like this area of the country is one of the most polluted places that I’ve ever been. It surprises me to say that. I wouldn’t have thought that.
It’s an agricultural area, and there are multiple warnings not to drink any of the water from the canals because of the high level of pesticide and fertilizer contamination. It’s an absolute given that all the water seen while walking here is toxic.
The ground is overrun with mosquitoes, and it isn’t like they don’t spray pesticide chemicals all over the place all the time.
There isn’t much trash around on the ground, which I think is nice, but the primary form of wildlife here is obviously bird life, the turkey vulture. It’s quite disturbing.
There are pumping stations quite regularly that are clearly ground contaminated with petroleum products. There’s no conspiracy. It’s industrial equipment that requires a lot of maintenance, and you know, grease and fuel just end up everywhere.
There are trucks running sugarcane from the field into some unseen by me processing plant, and the smell of diesel exhaust is overwhelming. It’s terrible. I could be at a truck stop in New Jersey.
I don’t understand when, how, and why they burn sugarcane, but some of the trucks are carrying harvested sugarcane that’s obviously been burnt, and some are carrying sugarcane that’s obviously still green. I see plumes of burning sugarcane in the near distance but am never visual close. However, I can smell it. The amount of particulate pollution in the air here has got to be pretty high.
My body is fading quickly, and I have to work to humor myself on the walk. I have to remind myself that taking Evercaine Road saves me four or five hours of walking, at least, a major gift. There is town food and a hotel shower waiting. Be happy.
I eat at Punto Rojo twice, a wonderful place, do recommend. I check into the Plaza Travel Inn, shower, and lay down! So very, very lucky. The room is nothing but traffic noise from the road but I don’t care.
Milage:
I tented at 66.1 and got off the red line at 79.3, so that’s 13.2 miles. Google Maps says 13 miles into town. So, that’s 26.2 for the day. What a great day. I’m so very lucky. Exhausted.
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D10 – That mosquitoe life
Monday, December 8th, 2025. Nobles Campsite. Off m35.7 of the Florida Trail. Tented near the picnic table and fire ring. Probably 70ish and 90% humidity. Water falling from trees above. Woke naturally at about 545am. 26.234962,-81.073603
Do not sleep well. Awake and not happy about it until midnight. Toss and turn. Muscle pain, back pain.
Rain band moves across at 2am, moderate, I guess. I had my tent open to try and get any airflow, and so it was an immediate scramble situation.
The tent was wet mess 2 of 5, a puddle in foot end. I don’t best to just be chill and pack up. I pack one pole and outer carry the umbrella. Do not have recent weather information. Walking at 615am.
Path out from camp, all grass lane. I think there may be asphalt way under the there somewhere. 
Two track as the sun comes up. I’m learning that I like these vertical photos better in the app I’m using to write this blog. 
It’s gonna be a good day! Adventure with town food, just how I like it. The walk out from camp is quite pleasant. A series of increasingly less overgrown roads. First, a grass path, then a two track, then wide dirt, then paved. I make the turn to Swamp Water Cafe at about 9am. It’s a half mile in, I think.
First, overcast and arguably cool. The clouds break, and by 9am, the roast is on.
I have two breakfast sandwiches and a full order of biscuits and gravy, coffee and lots of water. It was pretty good. Good charge on devices and use the wifi. Out at 1045. Rain pending.
Our nation is in a strange place. 
Clouds begin to loom in the afternoon. 
My feet are fucked 1 of 5. Sitting in the middle of the road to deal with the situation. About 315pm, I feel the occasional rain drop and I started feeling problems with my feet. I figure it’s best to sit and deal with the situation before the rain comes.
My feet have a few problems. One, hella bit up by bugs. Two, they have been wet for a couple days and conditions in the tent overnight have not allowed them to dry out and firm up. Three, the socks I have are dry at the cuff and wet at the sole, and despite being washed yesterday at the rest area, still have lots of sand in the matrix of the wool, essentially, my socks have become abrasive pads and they are fucking my feet up.
I carry three pairs of socks. I haven’t done laundry since I started this trip. I used a fresh pair at some point after departing the keys. I switched back and forth between these two pairs in the swamp area, doing the best I could. Anyways, I put on my last pair of machine washed socks to help my feet. The benefits won’t take long to feel.
Florida is the number one beef producing state in America. “If you don’t have e enough heads, you lose cattle in the grass” is an expression I’ve heard about Florida ranching. At about 430pm, I have to dig a cat hole in the middle of the dike road for a massive diarrhea attack. Good lord. And no, this is not the first time I have shit in a road.
Water cashe laft by some very thoughtful and kind person As the afternoon gets later, I start looking at the map and trying to make plans for Clewiston.
Sign pointing the way for a re route to the far aide of the canal, construction don’t you know. If I walk to midnight or 1 am, I could be in town tomorrow. That’s the story I tell myself.
Sun down over mosquitoe land. But when sundown begins the mosquitoe hord arrives and I quickly lose heart. I make for a campsite, laughing at how regularly this happens. “I’m gonna go far!” Ten minutes of thinking later. “No, I’m going to bed.”
A young gator to the left in image The STA-5/6 Public Use Area is my goal and it’s a nightmare. The place smells of rot and turkey vulture shit. The ground is alternately rock-hard or fire ants. I pick an arguably terrible spot to tent, in-between the information bord and the parking lot guard rail because the ground is all soft so I know my tent stakes will go in. It smells terrible, like a summer hot container of bags of dog shit.
I set up as best as possible given that I am a stable target for desperate mosquitoes. My tent is still wet from yesterday. It takes some effort, but I get it done.
There is a pitcher pump. I take off my shirt and pump the well water onto it it with plans of cleaning up a bit. The water has a horrid sulfer smell, I don’t know, I’m not a chemist. The water is absolutely foul-smelling, but I use it to clean myself. My shirt as a washcloth
I rush into the tent. I zip myself in and start killing mosquitoes. A great day. 7pm, and I’m allegedly alone in my tent.
Milage:
From Nobles Camp to here, Farout has it as 30.4 miles, plus a mile in and out from the Swamp Water Cafe. So that’s 31.3 miles for the day. Good times.
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D9 – Concrete shoes
Sunday, December 7th, 2025. Okalee Wachekaleshke on m9.5 of the Florida Trail. Tented 3 feet west of the picnic table. Big Cypress, Florida. Perhaps 75° and 100% humidity. 25.964314,-80.986153
I toss and turn in a sticky wet tent all night. Up at 330am figure its best to try to get going. Mosquitoes terror. Packed and ready to try 410. Intimidating.
Walking in the dark is very intimidating indeed. I hear no gators but that doesn’t stop me from thinking about it. Navigation is the most difficult bit. I do pretty well and the trail is well blazed, not that this helps if I can’t see them. As it turns out, spiders are the largest concern. They are everywhere in make 4.4 before turning off head lamp at 640ish.
First light. A very long two and a half hours. 
Trail north. 
If not a tree frog, at least a frog on a tree. 
Looking east (trail south). 
Looking west (trail north). Same time as photo above. 
Hiking amongst the cypress has got to be one of the most exhausting things i’ve ever done. 
My first hiker this season! Chief! Good speed, Chief. See you on my SoBo. In every hiker season where I’m truly going for it, there’s the first hiker that I meet and pass. I met Chief! So thrilled.
Chief is looking to NoBo the Appalachian Trail, and so we are on the same adventure. Chief started at the welcome center two days ago. The longest hike Chief has been on is 150 miles. I happened upon Chief as he was packing out of his tentsite (he camped yesterday where I came from this morning).
Looking around his campsite, “Do I have everything?” Me looking at his pack, “You sure look like you have everything.”
We walked together for about 100 yards as he finished his cigarette, which smelled amazing. I manage not to ask him for one, lol, or the weed he smells like, before continuing on my way.
I would say in terms of calorie output to find progress, this is some of the most difficult hiking I’ve ever done. Exhausting. Laughably so.
There are multiple tent sites out here that I hope to never, ever tent in in my life. There is the sun and the humidity, that will slow a person down. And worry over navigation, even though the trail is well marked. Obviously, the water, probably of the 40 miles, +90% is shin to knee deep; these are low water conditions. The surface below the water is mud.
The real problem was my feet. Turns out, my shoes are a natural sleuth for the fine sand in the mud. It fills the space between the layers of cloth in the shoes. Never experienced anything like it, total disaster, lol.
It’s impossible to tell from these photos, but my shoes are packed with the fine sediment from the mud, and the shoes probably weigh five pounds each and are as hard as concrete. Destructive to the feet, for sure. I make the highway rest area on the south side at 3pm. Internet says I can ask the attendant for the use of a garden hose, but I find no attendant, and I examine everything outside, and see no hose.
I go to town on my shoes in a bathroom sink and by 335pm, everything’s all good. A miracle. So thankful.
I sit on the floor of the breezeway between bathrooms, eat potato chips from the vending machine, and charge my devices. I cut out from the rest area at about 445, and stuff mostly changed after noticing that my cell company has slowed my service, and I can’t download anything. Lol.
I take 3l of water from the rest area only to find out that it is the worst tasting water in the history of liquid. I pour it out on the road.
It’s a very pleasant 5 miles from the rest area to where I am to camp. Very pleasant because it’s DRY! A lovely two track road as the sun goes away.
There are no other camper at the site. I have a little trouble finding the water, but after looking everywhere, I find that I overlooked it in the first place I looked. Lol, of course.
I am in my tent tending to my feet at about 7 pm. It was such a great day. So thankful. I both enjoyed and do not prefer the last 40 miles of hiking. Classic type two fun.
Florida Trail on the north side of the highway. 
Two track all the way to camp. 
Thunderhead in the east distance as the sun sets. Milage:
My camp, Okalee Wachekaleshke, is at mile 9.5. I am now camped off m35.7 at Nobles Campsite. Both basic subtraction and FarOut agree, 26.2 miles for the day. So thankful!
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D8 – Dude, swamp walking
Saturday, December 6th, 2025. Pinecrest Group Campground, Big Cypress National Preserve. North end of tenting area. Off m75.9 of the Eastern Continental Trail/Florida Trail Connecter. 68°, 94% humidity, fog, visible humidity, no wind at all. 25.762739,-80.919220
I toss and turn all night again because of discomfort in high humidity. Everything has condensation in the morning. I am in pit toilet pooping with everything packed up at 430am. I’m hoping to be on the road walk in a few minutes.
Walking on the road in the dark, I get growled at by alligators. It’s discomforting. Lol. Some sound much larger than others.
The sun is arriving. The moisture is burning off. I am eager for the day. I would say nervous. I feel as though difficulties are ahead, lol. Oh, man, the Florida Trail!
I pick up water at the narrow bridge at 82.1. The sun is up, and I am very close to the next level of hiking. Comments on FarOut make it clear that the 8 miles to the Oasis Visor Center will take 7+ hours. I have read about these areas and seen them on YouTube, but it’s about to be first person.
The goal this year is “Key West to Canada and Back,” and I realize now that getting to this point going south will be an amazing feeling. South of this is nothing but easy days. It’s hard to imagine. 11 months from now, perhaps.
I make the trailhead at 733am. Let’s go!
The beginning of trail! No architecture or signage. At one time, this was the official start of the Florida Trail. 
Double blaze! Let’s go! 
Nothing captures trail like a vertical photo. Limestone from old coral, I think. Challenging footing from here on. 
Most of the footing is manageable because water on the trail is clear. It’s clear because it’s moving. It is very interesting to look, feel, and see the water moving. 
I don’t know what kind of snake this is, but it’s still the kind I don’t touch, lol. It was opening its mouth at me, angry that I was close. I don’t think this snake is very old. 
This is a trail famous spot, the pitcher pump at Frog Hammock Camp. I for sure hope to never camp here ever in my life. Lol. 
Some areas feel tropical. 
Such a fantastic experience. 
This is a strand swamp, I think. 
I didn’t take too many photos because I’m scared to drop my phone in the water. Lol. The most difficult bit was north of the Frog Hammock camping area. Continuous water.
By 1130am, I am washing my shoes and socks in the hose provided at the Big Cypress National Preserve – Oasis Visitor Center. The park people let me sit in the movie theater and charge my devices, work on this blog.
It begins! I’m so happy for me! A few minutes before 1pm, I am northbound on the Florida Trail. This is so fantastic.
Laughable understatement and misdirection. I don’t have any problem admitting to my inner fool. Departing the southern terminus, there was a voice in my mind speaking to the idea that the rest of the Florida Trail would be dry dirt. The Florida Trail, known for being a wet buggy nightmare, was done with being a wet buggy nightmare at m0.0, obviously not the reality.
It is dry for about 100 yards out from the visitors center and around the airport.
The first blaze! (I think, lol) 
Looks like great walking. Dry. Pine trees. Should be easy. Right? Lol. At 2:22 p.m., at mile 3, I pass a rain fly for a large two person tent. This is not good. Somebody is gonna miss that. The woman running the information desk at the visitor center, she said that there was a man in the morning with a very large backpack who said he was going to Maine. My thinking is, this is his fly. I expected to see this person walking south, but I never do.
It’s painful to see abandoned gear on the trail because it could happen to me. Pay attention, I tell myself. Good luck with that. The same voice that was talking about all dry trail for the rest of my life, was also wanting to night hike to a campsite at 23 or 24. This is insane. Walking in the dark here is totally unnecessary. Far to early in season for that kind of work and definitely bad here where the footing really benefits from eyes.
A more normal section of the Florida Trail. It has been constantly wet, water to calf at most, since the visitor center. I’m exhausted. On a dry spot on trail, I take my pack off and put my water kit in my pocket. Short of my tentsite, when I’m standing in water, I scoop my bag full, carry it like a baby to camp.
By 530, I have my tent set, and I’m not at all disappointed. It’s been a very good day. It took a week and a day to reach mile 0. I’ve made it safely. Somehow, there are far fewer bugs here than last night by a large margin. There is even a breeze. The ground even takes stakes, which has been a problem this whole trip because Florida is all limestone.
An excellent tentsite. Plus, I’m exhausted. If I’m really tired, everything looks like great camping. This environment is not for me. I like it well enough. I’ve greatly enjoyed walking today. But, the reality is, this place is dangerous, and I’ll be glad to be gone.
There is a picnic table. I try to dry my feet. I watch the sunset. Write all this. The minute the sun goes down, the bugs world goes ape shit. So very happy to be tented.
Multiple friends living outside my tent as the sun goes down. I gotta say, I’m not really a fan of the juggle. Honestly, fuck your mosquitoes and spiders. Milage:
From my campsite at Pinecrest Group Campground, Big Cypress National Preserve to the visitor center and m0.0 of the Florida Trail, Farout says 15.8 miles. My camp is Okalee Wachekaleshke, which I can only spell because of copy and paste, on m9.5 of the Florida Trail. Math says 25.3 miles for the day, seems about right.
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D7 – Mosquitoes and gators
Friday, December 5th, 2025. Tented on the north side of the water control structure on m53.0 of the Eastern Continental Trail Florida Trail Connecter. As the sun is rising. 67° and ground haze. Very humid. Wake naturally to the sound of highway traffic at about 630am. 25.761727,-80.553251
The drama of the evening didn’t really contribute to a great night’s sleep. Very muggy and at wake up, the condensation is so great that it might as well have rained in my tent.
Packing up, I give it mosquito apocalypse, 2 of 5. So, not great. The top corners of my tent were packed full of mosquitoes. I managed to get myself squared away and walking before 7am.
I tented in the grass right here. I was entertainment for several hundreds of mosquitoes. 
The moon’s still up, purple skies at the flood control structure. 
Looking east back towards where I tented. 
What’s reported as a sketchy bridge into a restaurant. I’m sorry not to be taking it, I do like a sketchy bridge, but the restaurant does not open until 9am. That’s two hours from now. It is quite roasty and humid. I am a sweaty mess. I reached the Value Jet Memorial at about nine thirty.
More than a hundred died, the memorial is pretty … minumal and unkempt. It’s a long hot while along the road. Eventually I make The Miccosukee General Store. I get lunch twice. The lunch special; beef over rice. It was okay. And a Cuban sandwich, which was also almost okay. I eat an ice cream to make it feel better that the resupply selection is so poor. I walk out with two boxes of crackers and some bananas. Lol, sigh. Out 120pm.
It’s interesting times in America. It never crossed my mind I’d be close to this new national … feature. I had to stop on the side of the road twice to rest. The sun and heat did a number on me today. I did manage to get my tent and sleeping bag out into the sun for a few minutes to dry, making a big difference.
Saw my first on trail gators on Loop Road. There seems to be quite a few of them 
Loop Road. 
That’s a gator bed or slide or whatever to the right there. The water looked clean and beautiful, I bet they are happy. Tons of fish swimming around, easy to see. 
Group of one, please! Gate is closed, so thankful! This means no boy scout troops. I have the place all to myself. 
Me, my tent, and the mosquitoes. I decided to call it an early day. I’m not really feeling that great. Need rest. Tent up before 530pm as the sun goes down. I am in my tent, tring to kill all the mosquitoes in there at about 6pm.
My plan is make an early start tomorrow. I won’t set an alarm. If I can sleep, I want me to.
Milage:
Started today at 53.0 and I’m camped at 75.9, so that is 22.9. It’s definitely a short day. Needed it.
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D6 – No running my tent over
Thursday, December 4th, 2025. Room 105 at the Econo Lodge Inn & Suites Florida City. Way off m22.8 of the Eastern Continental Florida Trail Connecter. 67°, overcast, amazingly great.
I probably shouldn’t complain about my seedy hotel, but I did. It was the room not having any toilet paper that set me off. The no towels thing, no problem. Beds that might be dirty, but maybe that’s me. People parting in the neighboring room to 345am, probably I’m just insecure and jealous. But, can’t shit because no toilet paper? There will be complaints!
I don’t sleep well because of mental health. I have a couple of good stretching sessions to try and settle me out and ease my physical discomfort, which is good. But, yeah, grumpy at wake up. I pack my stuff and complain at the front desk. Eye rolls in return. That makes sense.
I walk to Cracker Barrel (lol, fuck) for breakfast. I charge my stuff and update this blog. I don’t have any trouble explaining the obvious to myself: I am so lucky to have the life I do, NO COMPLAINTS!
From Cracker Barrel to Walgreens. I get bug stuff and manage to make important water bottle change. I was carrying 6x 1l bottles, which is something out of New Mexico. I buy 2x 1.5l bottles and ditch 4x 1l bottles. So now, 6l max in 4 bottles. Still, a lot of water. Map says I need it.
Starbucks for coffee and water to fill my old bottles. I call for a Lyft, it costs less than yesterday and arrives almost instantly.
Just before 930am, me and my lucky, lucky Starbucks life is back on trail. Warm and sunny.
Back on trail (road). Wonderful walking. Hot in the sun but not exhaustingly so. I make decent time and enjoy watching the world on the far side of the canal.
Farming in Florida is crop diverse, trying to understand what is growing, what is being harvested, and is quite impossible for me. I have a hard time distinguishing for certain between human food and landscaping plants.
The businesses seem quite small, 10s of acres. I see a few workers here and there and wonder what their schedule is like this time of year.
Just before SW 168th Street / Richmond Drive, I walked past a model airport. AMPS R/C Club is one of the coolest experiences I have had on trail. While walking, I have dozens of flyovers from jets that perhaps have a 4 foot wingspan. So great!
After the airport, I turn right and am quickly at an outdoor Cuban spot that to me seems built to cater to the agricultural labor that works the fields I have been passing. They don’t speak English but I manage to order asada and black rice, it was pretty good. Two Mexican like frozen dessert bars and fill my bottles. El Pirata Ranch, do recommend. If one is less gringo than me, probably the food situation is even better.
El Pirata Ranch Up and out at 4pm. Good times.
Above the canal north of SW 136th 
Sun goes bye-bye at 530pm No bugs all day. Not a one. As soon as the sun goes down, it’s a mosquito world. Yikes. But, I did buy a bottle of bug stuff, and even though I’m against wearing it, I find myself rushing to get it out of my pack and on my skin. Real quick. Lol, fuck.
The trail crosses the Tamiami Trail (Highway 41) to be on its north side. It’s quite a busy road and under construction. The trail crosses a canal that’s north of the road and travels west in a straight line for some time.
There is a campsite proposed in FarOut less than 3 miles from crossing the highway. I get there, and it is definitely not great. Trash, including broken glass. Tall grass that already had beads of moisture on it. Looks unappealing. But I set up anyway.
I’m in my tent at about 10 pm. It’s not long after that a car of some sort comes. They use a handheld beam to light my tent up. Someone in the vehicle says something about running the tent over. I yell back at them and get out of the tent to go face to face. By the time I do, they have driven off.
I get back in my tent, and a few minutes later, there is another vehicle. I do not know if it’s the same one. Things feel sketchy. The second vehicle drives a little ways looking to gage my response.
I make the decision to pack up and move. Nightmare, but I do an okay job. I go not very far to a gate on a lock. I reset camp beyond the gate and a little control building of some kind.
At both locations, mosquitoes in the tent tent tequire much killing after getting inside. Takes time and effort.
Also, at some point in all of this, I feel the sharp strain of accute back pain. Nightmare.
It’s now 11:10 pm. In tent exhausted ish. Worried for my back. Also concerned about returning tent visitors.
Milage
Started at m22.8 and am tented at the “water control structure” on m53.0, so 30.2 for the day. I’ve only had a few incidents in hundreds and hundreds of nights backpacking where I’ve been openly threatened. Quite unusual. I’m thankful to end the day alive and well enough.
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D5 – Privilege parade
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2025. Room 207 at Key Largo Inn. On m100.5 of the Overseas Heritage Trail (using the Startbucks pin on FarOut as a marker).
I woke naturally at 6 am. The hotel lobby coffee was not ready. I walk to the bakery. I got two guava and cheese pastries, a ham and cheese with onion on cuban bread breakfast sandwich, and a large coffee con leche. And, noting for fun, took a huge shit in their bathroom. Good lord, the last couple of days have been insane in the colon.
I study the map and things look difficult. 7-8 miles to end the Overseas Heritage Trail. Then, beginning the Eastern Continental Trail/Florida Trail Connecter where there is very limited water.
I can end the Overseas Heritage Trail at a Circle K and then it’s 28+ miles to water. A 28 mile carry out here is not great at all.
I get myself packed up. I feel tired and somewhat intimidated. Out at 745am.
A bit of immigration enforcement across the highway from me this morning. At 845am, I stop at a Circle K to use the bathroom (you know, because counting shits is apparently a thing now).
The Overseas Heritage Trail is complete. By 1030am, I have purchased 4l of water at Circle K and filled the 2l I have. That gives me a 6l carry, which is a stupid amount of water.
I talk with a lifetime sailor Steve, 74 years old, about life on the move. He would never walk, I would never sail. Out at 1045am.
10.5 miles of not great, walking up highway 1. 
Looking over the bridge just out from Key Largo. The stretch of highway north out from Key Largo was not great. Miserable 1 of 5. I get to the off ramp towards the boat ramp and the Southern Glades Trail at 200pm.
Finally, off the highway. The trail comes off the east side and loops around, going back under the highway and then north on the west side. The bugs are in effect. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. The bugs get bad enough that I wear my bug net. I hate wearing it but if I’m going to carry something, probably I shouldn’t be shy about using it.
It begins. Something totally different than the urban mess of the Keys. 
The road along the canal looks paved, but it’s the old coral limestone floor, I think. 
My resting spot on the lock. At about 430, I reach a lock that crosses me over the canal. I have hopes that the bugs won’t be so bad on the lock, and surprisingly, it’s true! I take a good long break. I still have 3l of water.
I make the mistake of using my phone while on break to look at hotel availability. Lol. I know, I know. I was just looking. And then I saw that there were multiple cheap hotels. And Lyft to town for $20. I did press the buttons. Great shame to me! Lol. What kind of hiker am I? Terrible.
I walk fast and happy as the sun goes down and the excuse for my trip into town comes to me in full force while walking: hella mosquitoes. Like wow. Makes the bugs during the day feel like a joke. My bugnet did a great job in the day, the bugs never seemed to want my legs, but these mosquitoes definitely wanted my legs.
Sun goes away, and the mosquitoes come out in force. Full moon, absolutely beautiful. Too bad I’m a weakling who desires town food and a shower. Now, having a great reason to go into town, I walked with a passion! Lol. My Lyft arrived a couple of minutes after I made the road. Interestingly, I think he was drunk. Drove with his high beams on the entire trip. Never once came to a stop despite many stop signs and traffic lights. But, I arrive safely.
I admit that, after checking into the hotel, my visit to Texas Roadhouse had nothing to do with mosquitoes. I just wanted MEAT! Lol. I am the luckiest person in the world. I eat despite the horror of watching wait staff line dance in front of my table. There was only one woman in the group dancing for me, and looking at her, I could very clearly hear her telling me not to look at her. Lol. The part where I eat was good. The part where I was at fake cowboy Disney Land was bad; for them (her), I just sat there and looked like a lonely man thirty years older.
The hotel was indeed a dive. No towels. Okay, no problem, I just go and ask. I get a single towel, lol. There’s soap, and the water is hot, and I’m thrilled. SO LUCKY TO HAVE THE LIFE I DO.
Milage:
My hotel (this morning’s hotel, stop laughing) was at m100.5, and the Circle K, where I ended my time of the Overseas Heritage Trail, is m107.7, so that is 7.2 miles. I got my Lyft to the next hotel (yes, I know, it’s a parade of privilege) at the Ingram Highway CR9336. FarOut has it as m22.8. So that’s a flat 30 miles for the day.
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D4 – Seven shits to Key Largo
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025. North of m69.1, the Layton Trail. Near trail split, about halfway between road and the water. Dank, jungle like, slab rock covered in leaves and dirt. 24.823406,-80.817892
I wake naturally at 6 am to the sound of trucks barreling up the A1A. By 625am, I’m sitting in front of the Quick Stop. It’s not open, although it should be.
Looking west as the sun comes up, sitting in front of the Quck Stop waiting for it to open. I did get a little sleep. The temperature seemed to drop a little, and I wasn’t wetted with sweat like I was previous nights. I can feel the tight burn of skin on my neck, sunburn.
I’m in a pinch for water. This store is late opening. There is a restaurant across the street that opens in an hour, 730am. But other than that, it’s a long way to water. I basically have to stay here and wait for the best to happen.
Sitting out front of the convenience store, I’m getting absolutely destroyed by no-see-ums. It sucks.
A woman does come to open up at 7am. She turns out to be an amazing woman, an immigrant from Bangladesh with a daughter, three years old. I get starbucks from a little robot machine. I tried to get tap water, but she said it’s dangerous to drink. She gives me one liter of bottled water.
She asked me about my relationship with god, and I told her that I was very encouraged by her presence in the world. We have a brief conversation, absolutely lovely. I love immigrants. Long live multiculturalism in America.
I am able to shit. Walking north ay 730am.
I am able to pick up a liter of water at the Monroe County Fire Rescue by a dude washing Ladder 1. It’s a bit of a uncomfortable situation. He leads me into the inner sanctum of the fire station, and I use their water machine to fill up my bottles. I spill a bunch on the floor, and it has to be cleaned up.
I walk with a wonderfully friendly couple along the bike path for a couple of miles. Can we talk about all sorts of things. Life in America. Technology. Cuba.
When we reach the spot where they are turning around, the guy asks me if I have a YouTube channel, and I say no, but I have a blog. He looks really deflated and says, “Oh well, I’m not really in the blogs. Thank you anyway.” Lol, sounds about right.
Nothing says contemporary America like “The Gulf of America.” 
Channel 5 Bridge. I was able to use the bathroom to shit and use my shirt to bathe a little bit in the sink at Annie’s Beach.
The roast is on! It’s hot. I ask a group of dudes smoking blunts out back of Robbie’s of Islamorada for water, and they hook me up. Thank you!
Brief rain gets a rainbow. A couple biking past me was ecstatic, “A RAINBOW JUST FOR US!” I get a burrito bowl at Bad Boy Burrito, skirt steak with salsa Verde, very good but I eat the whole thing in about one minute. I could easily eat three or four of them. And, it cost a lot of money.
Less than two miles down the road, I walk into a Publix for a pubsub and kombucha. It was easier on the wallet, but there was no place to sit. I take two shits in their bathroom.
And a mile or so after that, lol, into Starbucks for coffee. I take a shit in their bathroom – what the fuck?
It’s easy to see I am no survivor man. I like food. And air conditioning. And fresh coffee. And taking shits, apparently. Writing it out here is embarrassing. I’m so lucky, so privileged! Food! Coffee! Other people’s bathrooms!
Studying the map makes it look like getting camping on the south end of Key Largo will be difficult. I take advantage of that assertion to get a hotel. More privilege! 90 after taxes and fees, ending me at about 30 miles for the day. Stoked. And that’s not just the coffee talking.
It’s a long afternoon. The sun goes down. The bike path stays around, but it’s a lot of cars, and it’s not interesting.
I made my reservation online. But the hotel called me to confirm my check-in time. I told the woman from the front desk that I would arrive at 930pm, that’s a half hour before they close up for the night, and the lady was directly not pleased. Hurry up, she said. Lol. Fuck. Okay.
I managed to make it by 830pm.
On my way into the hotel, I stopped at Pinecrest Bakery – Key Largo for a Cuban sandwich. Ate half walking the two blocks to the hotel, the second half in the room. I showered and walked back for a mini Key Lime pie and a fruit tart. Fantastic. So happy with the universe.
I try to stretch out in the comfort of the AC but all I want is sleep.
Mileage:
Started at the Layton Trail, m69.1, and, using the Startbucks marker on FarOut, the hotel is on m100.5, so that’s 31.4 miles for the day. I’m very tired. And I think I took 7 shits today.
Harold Williams Cooney 