Harold Williams Cooney

Tuesday December 23td 2025. Tinted next to a sign post at the intersection of an equestrian trail and bike path off m413.7 of the Florida Trail. 58° and calm. Woke naturally at about 630am. 28.982126,-81.550810

It takes me quite a bit to get going. I work in my tent to update blog. I work with the map to try and have any type of supply plan for Christmas day. I dude walks by while I’m in tent and says hello, makes me feel lazy. Lol. Up and out at about 730am.

Later in the afternoon, I reached Farles Lake. There was a large group of people wearing blaze orange. Men and several children and probably a dozen hunting dogs. Six or eight pickup trucks, one of them with a boat and boat trailer, both the boat and the trailer were outfitted to carry hunting dogs. It was an unusual situation. I had to kind of meander through the group to get to the boat ramp, I needed water somewhat badly.

They were friendly enough. They served me many pieces of bacon wrapped venison fresh off their grille. They asked me questions about where I came from and what I was doing, and when I explained, they weren’t really believing that it was true.

Sometimes, I meet hunter people, like people who see themselves as outdoor people, and their main message to me is that I must be stupid. They asked me if I was aware of the dangers of bears. They were particularly keen to let me know that there were crazy and dangerous people in the woods. Wasn’t I scared?

One of the children, a girl, maybe ten or twelve years old, quite hilariously, she asked me, “Don’t you know there’s rainbows out here?” I knew immediately what she was talking about, but I asked her, “You mean like hippies?” She nodded her head vigorously in the affirmative and said, “They’re crazy.”

There was some animated discussion between myself and the group mediated by the children about how I protect myself from bears and rainbows. I told them the truth. I have a sharp vocabulary. This answer did not go over well.

One of the girls was unbelieving that I was out there alone, and why would anyone do that. She asked me, “Don’t you have a wife or kids or nothing?” I chose her. “No, nobody likes me that much.” She looked at me like I was retarded, which is an expression I’ve seen from a tremendous number of people in my life.

In previous experiences where hunter types have asked me if I’m concerned for my safety on account of murderous humans in the woods, some measure of alarm bell goes off in my head letting me know that these people might be the crazy people in the woods. Their group dispersed before my water was filtered. The guy with the boat trailer did a marvelous job backing up to retrieve his boat.

I don’t know what was left by them and what was there to begin with, but the whole entire area covered in trash. Sad. Trail north from the boat ramp, probably a hundred toilet paper blooms, just disgusting.

I make some time after dark but not too long. Tired. I need to let myself lay down. I’ve been through quite a lot of water today, which is another sign that I’m not doing that great.

Around about seven o’clock or so, I’ll find a good spot and pitch my tent. It’s cool and calm, and there’s almost no mosquitoes.

I’ve got a problem that I didn’t get the mileage that I would like. Tomorrow’s christmas eve and i’m gonna run out of food unless I reach the dollar general, which is a good long stretch from where i’m camped. Nothing will be open christmas day, so I gotta make it there.

Milage:

Start of 413.7, end of 438.9, Farout has it as 25.2 miles. Seems about right. It’s probably twenty-five miles to food. So I have that problem to deal with tomorrow.