Florida Trail Ocala Section Pt. 2

Prairies, foot pain and HEAT

By 8:30 I had made breakfast (Heather’s Choice), topped off my water at the campground spigot and packed up. I said goodbye to Alexander Springs and headed 0.5 miles back down the spur trail to rejoin the Florida Trail.

In another mile, I crossed County Rd. 445 and re-entered the longleaf pine forest.

I have always found the longleaf pine ecosystem to be fascinating. Longleaf pine forests used to cover much of the southeastern coastal plain, but less than 3% of it remains due to extensive human interference. Man suppressed the fire necessary for the forest to thrive, harvested the trees for lumber beginning in the early 1800’s and cleared yet more forests for agriculture after the Civil War. Timber harvesting peaked again around the time of the first World War. Today, fewer than 10,000 acres of old growth longleaf pine forest remain, along with an additional 3 million acres such as in the photo above.

Fire is key to maintaining this forest. The longleaf pine TREE is extremely pyrophyric (fire resistant). Periodic fires clear out brushy undergrowth and stimulate regeneration of the grassland understory. Fire is also required to trigger germination of the pine seeds. The pine saplings grow for up to 12 years in a form resembling a clump of grass that is itself fire-resistant, all the while sending down a deep taproot and building stores for a rapid growth spurt designed to get the sapling above the fire zone as quickly as possible.

This ecosystem is one of the most diverse in the US, hosting as many as 27 endangered species. Carolina and southern wiregrass are the main grass species. Occasional stands of scrub oak and bogs containing pitcher plants break up the otherwise monotonous forest. Keystone species associated with longleaf pine forests include gopher tortoises, red-cockaded woodpeckers and gopher frogs.

Occasionally interspersed among the grasses are prickly pear cacti and yucca plants.

A ubiquitous but virtually never seen denizen of the forest is the southeastern pocket gopher. Their numerous sand mounds give away their presence. Quite often their mounds are right in the middle of the trail.

The thready darker stems in the photo below belong to Chamaecrista fasciculata, the Partridge Pea. This is an important food source for many animals, particularly bobwhite quail. I frequently heard their calls, but only flushed coveys on the first day of the hike.

These forests were obviously being well-managed with fire by the local forest service. The fairly numerous forest roads, jeep roads and ATV trails apparently were used as firebreaks, because often you would cross one of these roads and immediately enter a pine forest in a different stage, or even a completely different ecosystem such as scrub oak, aka “the Big Scrub.” Several miles into the day, I crossed a road and entered “the scrub.”

Technically known as Florida peninsular inland scrub, this ecosystem is characterized by sand pines, various small oak species (sand live oak, myrtle oak, sandhill oak and Chapman oak) as well as Florida rosemary, scrub palmetto, scrub holly, fetterbush lyonia and devilwood. It’s a very dense “forest” and seemed both hotter and more sandy than the longleaf pine forests. Cup lichens (reindeer mosses) were a common trailside feature.

Near the crossing of Forest Rd. 57 I noticed a hammock hung WAY up in the trees, at least 20 feet high. It was unoccupied. I think.

At 5.6 miles I reached Dora’s Pond, supposedly an important water source. I had left Alexander Springs with 6 liters to avoid drinking marsh water, but I did walk down to check out the pond’s edge. Bad move. I returned to the trail covered in tiny ticks. I flicked off at least 50, and was thankful that my pants were treated with Insect Shield.

There was a memorial nailed to a tree to honor the lady that the pond was named for. I searched, but was unable to find any information about her on the internet.

At 6.1 miles I hit the junction for a side trail to Buck Lake, which is fairly large and has a camping area. It was hot, and I didn’t feel like adding another mile to the day’s tally, so I forged on ahead.

Even though the temperature was only in the 80’s, the scrub felt mercilessly hot, and I was glad that I had packed extra water. It didn’t take me long to deploy the sun hoodie and take a water break.

At around 8.5 miles I came to the lower end of Farles Prairie and Farles Lake.

The use of the term “prairie” here refers to the extensive grassy component that often rings these bodies of water. If shallow or transient enough, the grasses will extend all the way across. This ecosystem is properly known as Florida Highlands Freshwater Marsh. Typical grasses are maidencane (Panicum hemitomon) and southern cutgrass (Leersia hexandra).

I hiked a ways up along the eastern side of the prairie until I found the camping area marked on my Florida Trail Guthook app. It was situated in a stand of tall pines a short distance back from the edge of the prairie. There I ran into John, a young guy who was on a shakedown hike as he prepared to start the Pacific Crest Trail on March 13th. We talked gear and technique while he built a fire and I cooked dinner. He had been working hard on his PCT-method bear bag hanging technique, which I watched him execute flawlessly before we turned in for the night. We bonded over some of my sangria and Sri Lankan curry.

John and I hit it off pretty well, once again proving that you can always find a friend on the trail. Day 2: 11.6 miles.

I was jolted awake at daybreak by the excited calls of sandhill cranes. When I’ve been lucky enough to see them migrating overhead in Tennessee, they are waaaay up there in the sky, and their sound is a melodic trumpeting. Not so up close and personal, whereupon they sound like a drunk yodeling turkey screaming out OHSHITITSDAYOMGOMGITSFREAKINGDAY!!!!!

I should’ve been happy to be awake before 7 AM- I had initially planned to hike 13 miles today to Hidden Pond. However, recent reports had indicated that Hidden Pond was now the domain of a BAD BEAR that knew how to take down bear hangs, and had even gotten into backpackers’ tents. I had therefore decided to pull up 3 miles short and didn’t even need to hike 10 miles today and I surely didn’t need birds on meth to wake me up so early.

John had a similar plan, except hiking in the opposite direction, so we piddled around in camp for a while. The dawn view of the mist floating over the prairie was worth getting up early for though.

John and I took the obligatory selfie and then said our goodbyes at 9:15. Here’s hoping he has a great thru-hike on the PCT.

Being that it was Day 3, I was starting to get my trail legs, so despite the late start I made great time. Early in the morning a pair of SOBO ladies blew by me with barely a hello.

The temperature climbed quickly as I circled around the northern end of Farles Prairie.

I crossed several jeep roads during the first 4 miles. They were barely noticeable.

I eventually entered an oak hammock, which is what I think the scrub turns into eventually if it doesn’t face fire. Live oaks begin to arch over the trail and provide some welcome shade.

I had been on my guard for the dreaded eastern diamondback rattlesnake, known to Native Americans as the Real Snake….probably because one bite from it could make you real dead. I never did see or hear one, but today I came across his little cousin.

Despite the warm temperatures, this little guy was pretty torporous. I know this because I poked at him with my trekking pole. That’s what they’re for, to poke snakes with.

About 5 miles in the oaks started to include palm trees! It was reminiscent of an actual jungle.

The oak-palm hammocks seemed to favor soggy ground, and several times the trail gave way to nicely constructed boardwalks to keep us hikers from slogging through the muck.

Finally, I reached the short spur trail to Juniper Springs Recreation Area. I was stoked, because it had a campground store with frozen cheeseburgers and a microwave. Can you say lunch?

I got to the store at 12:15 (after hiking 7 miles in merely 3 hours) only to learn that the store closed at noon. But it wasn’t a total loss- at least there were vending machines with Gatorade and SunChips. I procured my goodies and retreated to the covered picnic area for a brief lunch.

I killed time by reading the interesting poster that discussed the history behind the book “The Yearling” and the origin of the term “Florida Cracker.”

I then wandered down to the spring itself, which was really pretty. I was suprised that almost nobody was there, but I guess mid-day on a Tuesday during school season wasn’t prime time for tourists.

Since I had less than 3 miles further to go, I decided to kill the hottest part of the day here, periodically drinking some more Gatorades. I also refilled my water bottles and HydraPak in the restroom, then returned for a classic bandana bath, which left me feeling refreshed and at least somewhat clean, to the great amusement of an old man who wandered in mid-bath while I was flossing my crack.

Around 3:30, I finally hauled my lazy but now sparkling clean butt back to the trail.

Almost immediately, a sign informed me that I was entering the Juniper Praire Wilderness. No more roads or motorized vehicles of any kind!

Ruh roh, a closer look at that white post on the bottom left indicated potential trouble ahead.

This made me feel better about carrying my bear canister at least. There was one more spot with impressive signage that discussed the flora and fauna of the wilderness.

After hiking through the scrub for a ways, parts of Juniper Prairie itself came into view.

Around 5:00 I found my intended campsite, a small site with room for only one tent- mine. It was fairly close to the water, and as dusk approached mosquitoes made their presence known, so I built a small smudge fire and applied some DEET, then got about to cooking up a fantastic meal of Pasta con Caruso Sauce. I. Ate. It. All. I fell asleep to the calls of an array of different frog species and owls. Eventually it all became white noise and I was out by 7:30. Day 3: 9.7 miles.

CLICK HERE TO READ PT. 3