August 24th, 2008 Sandra Friend
Now here’s an ambitious project to see Florida by land and sea. The expedition team plans to follow the route of the new Florida Circumnavigational Trail under development, kayaking along the Florida Coast from Fort Clinch State Park at Fernandina Beach to Gulf Islands National Seashore in Pensacola. They’ll then put on the backpacks and hit the Florida Trail, hiking south to Big Cypress National Preserve. All the while they’ll be shooting photos and video to post on their website. Learn more at http://sunshineexpedition.com
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August 24th, 2008 Sandra Friend
I did so with friends when I completed the Seminole section of the Florida Trail some years ago. This is a remote spot south of Clewiston as you head from the sugar cane fields into Lake Harbor. Now I’m especially glad we heeded recommendations from Joan Hobson not to camp along that section. Here’s why, from the Palm Beach Post:
The water management district is still working on the canal and still finding cars. “We wait until they’ve got about 20 car locations identified before we go in and pull them out,” said sheriff’s detective Justin Wallace of the auto theft division. As of late last week, 107 cars had been removed from about a 6-mile stretch of canal beginning where the paved road ends and continuing to U.S. Sugar’s railroad track bridge.
Read the whole story….
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August 22nd, 2008 Sandra Friend
With Tropical Storm Fay hanging around the Florida peninsula all week (and as my good friend eArThworm pointed out, “thru-raining” the Florida Trail), chances are most all but the highest elevation (Lake Wales Ridge, Citrus, uplands of Ocala National Forest, uplands of Eglin) hiking trails are underwater somewhere along their length. Keep posted on park closures on the Florida State Parks website. At last count, 28 parks are officially closed. No telling what the overall flood damages will be. I live in a relatively high elevation spot for Central Florida, in a scrub habitat (Florida’s desert), and there are puddles all over the neighborhood. Be careful out there!
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August 15th, 2008 Sandra Friend
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.
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July 26th, 2008 Sandra Friend
It’s a project I devoted part of my life to for nearly a year, which started last summer with me learning a new content management system in which to present THIS website. Once I felt comfortable enough with it, I started on the makeover of the official Florida Trail website at www.floridatrail.org. Included are features you’ve seen here like zoomable maps and tabbed pages, but new (and what I plan to implement here as well) is the ability for members to directly submit content to the website, from trip reports to articles, photos, and the like. You must be an FTA member to get a member login for the new site; there will be detailed info on how to get yours in the next Footprint. Thanks to Linda Benton and Michael Owens for a great deal of support over the past few months to bring this huge (500+ page) site live.
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