Day Two: On Vacation
Discovering that the Big O Hike can be a vacation immersed in the beauty of Lake Okeechobee, I take the time to slow down and enjoy nature at my own pace.
Everglades, Interrupted
When you're traveling at the speed of feet, it's easy to spend hours reflecting on the Everglades that once was, the vast wilds erased by the agro-industrial complex that brought sugar cane to Lake Okeechobee.
Friends Along the Way
What makes the Big O Hike stand out from all other hiking events is the friendships that you make - good, deep friendships born out of traveling together at a walking pace for nine days around Lake Okeechobee.
Notes From a Small Space
Although we're writing a Florida Trail hiking guide, we decided to come to the Big O Hike since we met here last year, and it's time to try out the new TravLite!
O Okeechobee
It's a tradition at the Big O Hike to share your talent at Thanksgiving Day dinner. Mine is a poem commemorating the hike and our friends who've gone before us.
Okeechobee Wind
Atop the Herbert Hoover Dike, looming nearly forty feet above Lake Okeechobee, you expect wind - headwinds and tailwinds - as you hike the Florida Trail. A shallow basin of 730 square miles, the lake plays with the weather.
Okeechobee’s Last Wild Shore
Hiking Lake Okeechobee's ancient shoreline is a surprise and a delight. The trail bobs. It weaves. It curves around naturally scoured waterways, and tunnels deeply through a tropical understory.
Out of Time
Breaking away from the everyday for nine days to immerse yourself in the goal of walking around Lake Okeechobee brings on a certain sense of calm, a time out of the normal pace of time, despite time framing each day.
Pounding Pavement in Pahokee
For the first time since the Big O Hike started in 1992, the Army Corps of Engineers denied our hikers access to the dike. So to kick off the 2011 Big O Hike, it's a roadwalk through Pahokee.
Primrose and the Big O Hike
Our first outing with Primrose this hiking season was a trip to the Big O Hike. It rained, of course, in both directions to and from Okeechobee. But we had a splendid road trip in our VW camper.
Redirection
When a sudden dental problem threw our hiking plans awry, we kicked into research mode and went wandering around Lake Okeechobee in search of information for our new guidebook.
Seminole Reflections
Returning to the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation for the first time in a decade, I remember my visits of the past and celebrate the present with John with a panther sighting.