Episode 004: Florida Trail at Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park (18:59)
This podcast is a little different. I’ve had it in mind for months, since I received a stereo digital recorder for Christmas and immediately took it out hiking with me on New Years’ Day. The tough part was editing down the sound from the entire hike so it wouldn’t be the length of the hike!
My friend Phyllis (aka ShortCut) is still working on her end to end hike (as am I). She needed to cover Gold Head and Etoniah, so we headed up there for the holidays and I just let the recorder run. This is a linear hike from the ranger station to the south gate, a 3.5 mile segment of the Florida Trail.
Play or download the podcast with the tools below. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed for the Florida Hikes! podcast, or download the series from iTunes.com
A new free resource for hikers: head on over to the Florida Trail website to download yourself a set of Grab-and-Go Hikes. I just finished them up today as one of my wrapup projects as I close out my days as an FTA staff member. These are mini-guides to popular day hikes (many with opportunities for camping) along the Florida Trail, and include mileages, directions, and a map. The set includes:
Juniper Prairie Wilderness (Ocala)
Juniper Creek Trail at Blackwater River State Forest (Pensacola)
Little Big Econ State Forest (Orlando)
Big Oak Trail at Suwannee River State Park (Live Oak)
Hickory Hammock Trail (Sebring, Okeechobee)
Green Swamp West (Lakeland, Dade City)
Etoniah Creek State Forest (Palatka)Download, print, grab, and go! Just in time for hiking season.
After starting a vocal pushback in the media some five years ago against Marion County commissoner Randy Harris wanting to sell a county park to a developer … which led to the formation of a Friends group that carried the banner and fought for the park (bought with Pennies for Parks money from taxpayers!) to stay a park, I am very pleased to read that Horseshoe Lake Park, east of Citra, is thriving. It’s a lovely getaway, a former private camp on the lake. Back when Harris was claiming it had no visitation and was a tax drain, I attempted twice to visit and hike the trail, only to find the park gates locked at times the park was posted as being open on their own onsite signage. So no wonder there were problems. Now, the county is putting aside money for the nature trail to have interpretive signage. Read more about it in the Ocala Star-Banner.
Here’s a new one for the blogroll: Florida Footpaths, a website celebrating the stories along the trails of the Ocala National Forest by actress Kim Crow. She and her husband have a home in Hog Valley, and they meander the byways and trails soaking up stories and sharing them via audio and video presentations. See the site!
The Big Shoals Trail is certainly one of the most spectacular short hikes in Florida when you catch it at the right time of year: say hiking season, when the Class III whitewater appears as the Suwannee River rushes through limestone formations. Check out this armchair tour hike based on my visit this February. While the easiest in-and-out walk is only 2.2 miles, you can explore much more of the state park on a variety of multi-use trails and forest roads. It’s Hike #4 in 50 Hikes in North Florida, and you’ll find more information about the trail here.
Episode 004: Florida Trail at Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park (18:59)
