Florida Trail Ocala Section Pt. 4

The final push to Rodman Reservoir

The three of us awoke to soaking wet tents. Who would’ve thought that camping on grass near a large body of water would lead to terrible condensation? As a result, we took our time breaking camp, doing what we could to dry out our tents and bags/quilts in the early morning sunshine.

Eventually, some time after 9:00 each of us departed separately to hike our own hike for a while, although Crazy Legs, Bear Spray and myself would leapfrog each other all day and occasionally stop at the same place for a snack or water break.

I was the first to leave, which conferred upon me the dubious honor of Spider Web Plow. You see, the first person to walk a trail in the morning is the poor sucker who walks into all the spider webs and clears them out of everyone else’s way. They’re always either mouth or eye level too.

After a mile or so I came to the only confusing part of the trail that I dealt with all week, a jumble of ATV and jeep trails. I finally discovered where the FT continued, and what I found posed a dilemma.

Well this sucked. The forest service had recently done a prescribed burn in the next section, very recently in fact. There were still spots in there that were smoldering. I debated walking around this section via jeep trails, but then I noticed Poet’s distinct shoeprints- he had walked right on through (probably yesterday) and therefore so would I.

It was kind of creepy though. Complete silence.

During one of these fires, the fast animals (birds, deer) flee to a safe area, whereas the slow ones (frogs, tortoises) simply burrow below it and wait it out. The pocket gophers are probably blissfully ignorant to the whole thing. In a couple of months, this section will have lush new grass growth.

I eventually crossed a forest service road that served as a firebreak for this particular fire and returned to unburnt forest. Another mile or so later I reached a jumble of ATV trails converging upon the Lake Delancy ATV corral.

This was an odd place that serves as a camping area and staging ground for ATV trips into the woods, tucked into the trees near the edge of Lake Delancy. It was a nice place to stop for an early lunch because it had bathrooms and trash cans. 5 minutes after I arrived I was joined by Crazy Legs and Bear Spray. An old guy setting up camp nearby kindly offered us water, but we were good.

Once again I was the first to return to the trail. The next several miles were through longleaf pine forests, and once again it was hot out there.

At 6.5 miles however I reached a veritable oasis in the desert.

Located just south of FR11, this was described in Guthook as a sinkhole that sometimes held water. It looked more like a spring-fed pond to me, and it was an active hub for wildlife. There were some large live oaks around the perimeter of the “pond.”

There was a ton of bird activity, and I also saw a bear print in the mud at the water’s edge.

But as soon as I crossed FR11 it was straight back into the pines again.

The next 3 miles alternated between pine forests and mature scrub. Being as it was early afternoon and uncomfortably sunny and hot, I took a couple of breaks in shady spots.

At 9.5 miles I reached the junction with a side trail that passed below Penner Pond. There is supposedly nice camping there, but my destination for the night wasn’t much further ahead, so I continued on. The trail eventually acquired that “worn” look that let’s you know you’re getting close to civilization….and then presto, I was at the shore of Rodman Reservoir.

Crazy Legs and Bear Spray showed up (perfect timing) and we set about looking for the great campsites touted by Guthook. One of them was at the water’s edge, where a mass of rotting aquatic vegetation made the air more foul than we liked. But further down the trail, we stumbled into a grand camping area ringed with tall oaks full of spanish moss. We got our tents set up quickly so that they could finish drying out, and then my partners were kind enough to make a water run while I started my dinner. Later while we ate, we reflected upon the completion of our section hikes, and then by 7:30 we were in our tents listening to the owls….and the local rowdies camped nearby at the road. Day 6: 11.0 miles.

In the morning when I went to retrieve my bear canister, I discovered that it had been knocked over, so quite possibly a stealthy bear had been within 50 yards of us during the night.

We all got up and packed early, but I was the last to leave after goodbyes were exchanged. In just a quarter of a mile I reached the trailhead at Kirkpatrick Dam Road.

I then turned left and began something that the FT is infamous for- a road walk.

As I approached the dam I noticed that there were roadside sentinels keeping an eye on weary hikers. Just in case they faltered.

As I crossed the dam you could see that its tailwaters were a popular fishing site, both for humans and birds. A number of cormorants were bobbing in the turbulent outflow.

I crossed and then took a side road towards what you can see at the upper left in the photo above. There was a really nice bathroom there, which allowed me to clean up a bit as well as toss some garbage before reaching my car.

Then it was back to the road to complete my walk to Rodman Campground, where my car awaited.

The folks at the Rodman Campground were very nice and gave me a friendly welcome, and I found my car in perfect condition save for the layer of pollen coating it. I tossed my pack into the back and set out for the nearest McDonald’s. Which I destroyed when I found it.

I’ll post more detailed reflections on this trip later, but suffice it to say that I somewhat unexpectedly determined that this was one of my all-time favorite section hikes. For what originally had been a Plan B, it had turned out to be an unqualified Grade A hike. Day 7: 2.2 miles. TOTAL: 69.7 miles.