Category: Overseas Heritage Trail

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Monday, December 1st, 2025. Bahia Honda State Park Campground, site 13. Off m37.9 of the Overseas Heritage Trail. 75°, occasional breeze. 24.657882,-81.278230

I woke up about fifty times throughout the night. The temperature did eventually drop. A little wind did pick up, but it was a sticky mess inside my tent all night long. Uncomfortable. Bit up by bugs.

The moon was out most of the night. It rained for a few minutes just as it went down. I convinced myself to get up and pack up sometime after 6 am. With all my gear in order, I walked back over to the shower house to take another shower.

Yesterday, I washed my underwear and shirt in the shower. I put them on wet this morning, but it wasn’t bad at all. I eat a little breakfast and try do a good job with all the chores and stuff. Walking out from the state park a little before 730.

Wet underwear, high humidity, terrible red skin in my groin. Still hopeful there will somehow be no more additional painful chafing today. Lol.

It’s going to be a challenging day today. I really need to move and find distance. I need to try not to stop for too much food. Lol.

Most notable of the day’s obstacles, the Seven Mile Bridge. A trail famous feature. It comes on quickly departing the Bahia Honda State Park.

Walking into traffic gives the larger of the two bike lanes. Research on this situation says the worst part isn’t repeat impending death by oncoming traffic. It’s the inability to go to the bathroom.

Fred The Tree is an actual Florida thing. There’s no way to get to Fred. Even with a boat, you’d need a landing party with a grappling hook and ladder.

For me, the biggest issue over the Seven Mile Bridge was the fear of falling over the barrier and into the water. Seems possible and is absolutely inadvisable. I’m not a fan of the water or falling off bridges. Confirmed.

I make it off the bridge by 10:45am. A handful of vehicles came over the white line at me, but it wasn’t that bad. I even managed to figure out how to urinate, very relieving.

To celebrate not dying on the bridge, I go into the Seven Mile Grill. “We make our own sausage!” Oh well, omelet then, please. Rye toast, home fries. Good times. It was okay.

There is a Starbucks a couple doors north of the diner. I want a latte until they tell me it’s more than $11! Wow. Yeah, no. Regular coffee, please. Out from Starbucks, 12:15pm. I live an amazing life.

Working my way across Marathon Key and it’s hot! 77° is what the weather says. In the sun, on the sidewalk, keeping an eye on cars that might run into me, the temperature feels a lot hotter. At 1pm, I stop in to Publix for bathroom and water. That means I’ve had 2l since Starbucks, one hour ago.

Just before the sun goes down, I stop for a bacon cheeseburger at S.S. Wreck & Galley Grill. It was okay. Maybe. Sigh. I gotta stop stopping at these key restaurants, expensive and mediocre! I am carrying more than enough food for me on my back! I don’t have anywhere near enough money to eat like this, lol. Cheeseburgers are my siren song. Nightmare!

By 630pm, less than a mile after the restaurant, the trail offers me a protected bike lane. It is completely dark as I get ready to pass Duck Key. The moon is out. The temperature is fantastic, the no-see-ums are not horrible, and the wind is below moderate. NIGHT WALKING! LET’S GO!

The trail from Conch Key to Long Key was fantastic; the old roadway converted to bike path. The breeze is up, the moon is bright, and there are people fishing in the dark.

I take an excessively long break at the Long Key parking lot, where there is a semicovered park bench that I try really hard to talk myself into cowboying on. The breeze would have been lovely but very close to the road, and so I decided to move on.

I make for the Layton Trail, a quarter-mile nature trail out to a “viewpoint” on Florida Bay. To me, a viewpoint is an elevated situation. In this case, viewpoint is a break in the dense plant matter where there’s water. Between the road and the water, I find an open enough spot in the jungle leaves to set my tent. Miserable.

At 1030pm, I am on the ground, in my tent, in one of the most humid, stale air spots I’ve ever camped in in my life. Lol, hell. I probably should have cowboy’d at the parking lot. Sleeping will be difficult, and I’ll probably get eaten by a centipede.

It’s been a great day. I probably shouldn’t have gotten the omelet and cheeseburger, but I did. I really need sleep. I’m low on water, but there is a convenience store fairly close to here that opens at six.

Milage:

I started today at m39.7, and am now camped at m69.1. So, that’s a 29.4 for the day. Seems about right to me.

Sunday, November 30th, 2025. Tented south of Overseas Heritage Trail m11.3. Across the street from the Monroe County Fire Rescue Station 9. Google Maps had it as Porpoise Boulevard. Old asphalt covered in organic debris. 24.597448,-81.654341

Wind and a little rain overnight but minimal. Woke naturally to the sound of wild roosters doing their thing at about 6 am. Toss and turn all night, but I do think I got some sleep. Very humid and sticky.

At Around The Bend Hostel, I was talking with another hiker about morning routines. I had said that making coffee, packing up, and two poops and all that, it took me an hour and a half. I told the hiker this frustrated me and that I called it a 90-minute morning

Today, I am sitting in a Cuban like coffee shop at 635am. Walked south about half a mile to Big Coppitt Coffee. They have steamed milk and coffee in a styrofoam cup. Just like Puerto Rico.

Reading the map, it seems like the thing to do is make a tenting reservation at Bahia Honda State Park. After fees and everything, $49. I feel it is expensive and am a little frustrated with myself. Wouldn’t it be better if I just stealth on the side of A1A? Lol, probably not. It’s gonna be a great day. I wish I could speak Spanish. I wish I could drink another coffee, but it’s definitely time to go. Out the door of the coffee place, 720 am.

I stopped at Baby’s Coffee. Cuban sandwich, key lime pastry, another coffee con lache, and some electricity. Oh, man, do I love food and coffee. Delightful. Out at 930am.

Somewhere on Summerland Key, I have explosive diarrhea. The first LNT violation of this trip. Perhaps Jamaican revenge, who knows.

It’s hot, and I stop several times to rest. I have the feels in various body parts, notable my left knew, this is unusual.

My food bag is heavy. Not helped by all the restaurants along this roadwalk. At 330pm, I stopped at Pop’s Smoke Shed – Big Pine Key, hoping for BBQ but getting a Cuban. The waitress is over the top, either she thinks I’m a retard or she’s an alcoholic. Food was not great. I told her it was. Gross.

In the afternoon, I start having hiker related body problems. Lol. I did a reasonable amount of work before coming out here, a thousand miles in Ohio, but still, I’ve got the problems.

For one, and not really that funny, I have obvious hotspots and blisters growing on both feet. Good times.

For two, and definitely funny, I used an electric hair trimmer to cut the hair on my head and face down to the shortest level possible before checking into Around the Bend Hostel. That’s how I feel the most comfortable, with very short hair on my head and face.

The funny part is that I’m an idiot and for some reason, I decided to keep using the trimmer with its shortest possible setting on my pubic hair. If you don’t know, pubic hair helps lower skin on skin resistance of activities like walking. Less hair means more resistance, and now I have a terrible rash in my groin, and it’s very painful. Lol, hell.

I get into the state park just as the sun is going down. The first thing I find is the bathhouse, and I’m thrilled. I washed my underwear and shirt in the shower and did my best to clean the areas that have been experiencing high resistance friction all day.

The moon is out, and I set my tent up by moonlight. It’s quite beautiful, although there are a lot of mosquitoes out and I get ate up. Lol.

It’s hot, relatively, and I’m a sweaty mess in my tent. I roll up both rain shell doors to my tent to try and get some circulation in this thing as I write this update.

Another fantastic day, I’m thrilled.

Milage:

I woke up at m11.3, and the state park is m37.9, so that gives me a 26.6 for the day. Good times. Probably there’s some worthy extra distance there going back for coffee this morning and trying to get into the state park this evening, but I’ll just call it 26.6 miles.

So thankful. A great day