This time we were loaded down with supplies (did I mention we were only going for one night - haha) and new gear to test. We encountered a gator early on while he sunned on the bank of the creek. Then we saw deer, boar, heron, and otter tracks in the mud. That was pretty exciting actually. (Since Yellowstone, we're both much more observant of animals tracks now.) Then we left the main trail for the backcountry trail to our campsite. And much to our surprise it was wet already. We had been told it could be wet near the end, but right at the beginning was a bit of a shocker. We tested the waterproofing of our boots, went off trail a bit, learned to LOVE hiking poles, and eventually had to give up and wear our Crocs for the last half hour because the water was so deep for such a long stretch. It was do deep in fact, that huge frogs were swimming in it! Check out the video of tadpoles below. But, we finally made it not too worse for the wear, but we had hobbit feet and longed for a good scrubbing.
We set up camp in a little island of trees that were in the middle of a vast burned-out palmetto prairie (fire is a natural cycle that renews the soil and keeps vegetation from getting too thick for animals to use). We had the place to ourselves so we pumped and treated water, rinsed off a little, then took a nap before dinner. We woke up just in time to see a group of 3 guys come into the site too - they were part of a survival training group. Joy. Let's just say, I hope the leader was teaching the course for free because we could hear everything he "taught" them, and none of it wasn't something you couldn't read for yourself on the web. They did however manage to hack down everything near their campsite to make themselves "survival shelters". So, while we tried to not think about how disappointed we were not to be able to enjoy peace and quiet, we made dinner, had some hot cocoa, then lit a fire to enjoy. Finally we were tired enough that it was time to test out our new tent, so we turned in for the night. Fortunately, we had a lively chorus of bullfrogs and tree frogs that serenaded us to sleep.
The next morning we woke to a bald eagle calling, then the idiots making idiotic comments. (Had the two taking the class even been outside before?!) Fortunately, they packed up early and headed out so we could have breakfast in peace. While we were packing up, Wade went over to check out the other side and saw they'd hacked up quite a bit of palmettos and some saplings to make their shelter, then left it all up, along with their empty water bottles, smoldering fire, and a giant coil of rope. What?! Yes, they basically killed a bunch of trees then left all their crap for the next hiker to clean up before the site could even be used again. Nice job guys, apparently you've never heard of the "Leave No Trace" philosophy? That is something Wade and I always subscribe to - at a very base level, it means leave no trace that you were there so the next person can enjoy wilderness too. There's nothing worse than hiking for hours to escape people, only to find some moron left their garbage for you to pack out. So, we did was any previous good park ranger would do - took pictures and reported the morons. :) As much as I wanted to clean up and fix the site, I knew that it was the only evidence if the park decided to press charges, so we left it just in case.
We packed up camp and headed out early since it looked like a cold front was coming in earlier than expected. We took a different, drier trail back so we made better time (and saw a deer!), but we were definitely out of juice when we reached the car. We checked out at the ranger station, showed them our pictures, and lodged a complaint before stumbling back to the car from sheer exhaustion.
The furry kids were happy to see us when we got home, but it was nice to get out for the weekend and do something adventurous (and survive to tell about it!). We're looking forward to doing it more often. To check out pictures from our soggy adventure, go to our Picasa site.
