Harold Williams Cooney

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

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.

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.

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.