Florida Trail Project

[Whitesnake]

Hi. My name is Joel and I have begun an adventure to section hike the entire Florida Trail one weekend at a time. I have a website to document my adventures. If you would like to see videos and pictures or read blogs from the Florida Trail go to www.floridatrailproject.com . You can also email me at [email protected] .

For those who have been to the site before, but not for awhile, there have been many additions to the site:

- Navigation menu to help make the website more "user friendly"
- New videos and photos
- "Bucket List" feature

Since I am only hiking on the weekends between October and April, I estimate that this adventure may take around 8 years to complete. Hopefully I will be able to see this adventure to its completion.

Hope you enjoy the site.

Joel (Trailname - Whitesnake)

[Manwich]

What's the total elevation gain of the Florida Trail? 8ft?

[Gray Blazer]

Pretty nice. I'll try to follow this and maybe join you one weekend.

[stumpknocker]

What's the total elevation gain of the Florida Trail? 8ft?

No...it's a little more than that. :)

It's a harder Trail to walk than the AT for me. It's not easy walking on the flat all day long. You never change the muscles you are using like you do walking up or down a hill.


Good luck on your walk Whitesnake! :)

[wahoo]

I agree with Stumpknocker. Just because the FT lacks elevation does not make it an easy, or uninteresting trail to hike. It's harder than most people think.
Hey Stumpknocker, I think we've met before. Was it you that I met one year checking in at a hotel in Waynesboro? From Sumterville?

[wahoo]

Whitesnake -

The site looks great! Love the lower thirds on the videos, really good stuff. Keep it up, I can't wait too see more.

[BigBlue]

Very cool web site Whitesnake.
Any idea when you'll be on the section between Lake Marion and Lake Okeechobee? Love to join you for a weekend.

[jnetx]

Since I am only hiking on the weekends between October and April, I estimate that this adventure may take around 8 years to complete. Hopefully I will be able to see this adventure to its completion.

Joel (Trailname - Whitesnake)

Good luckwith your hike Joel. It can be an interesting hiking experience. I started out with the same weekend goal almost 2 years ago, but was fortunate to be able to complete the trail this past January.

Have you considered adding a bicycle to your backpacking gear? As a solo weekend hiker there were many areas where having a bicycle allowed me to double my hiking distance by hiking linear instead of out and back. I found that cycling the route first worked best. I would park my car at my intended hike destination and follow the quietest roads available that would take me back to my start point, lock the bike to a fence or tree, then set off hiking for the weekend.

This works particularly well on the road walk sections because you just bicycle what you can easily hike in a day, walk back, return to pick up your bicycle, and then find a campsite for the night, return the next day to repeat on the next section.

I basically day hiked the entire FL trail. There were only a couple of sections that needed to be backpacked, and a couple that we (I picked up a partner about halfway) backpacked just because we had a week or so available. I can probably help you get into some areas that may seem inaccessible.

Please let me know if I can help in any way.

[Mercy]

My computer locked up when I was trying to view the site, and my virus scanner went nuts

[Mags]

There you go again...hiking the trail on your own.....


(If I have some bad 80s music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKTiwCez6Zs)stuck in my head, you must have to as well! :eek:)

Seriously, sounds like an interesting project. Good luck!

[mudhead]

Nothing bad about that song. Sadly, it has not aged well. But it was something back then.

[floridahikes]

Joel,
Nice job on the website and especially the videos. I just blogged about you at Florida Hikes. I know it will take a while for you to complete the trail this way and applaud your effort. Do you have folks helping with shuttles? Give a yell once you get down to Ocala and I'll do my part.

Cheers, Navigator

[Whitesnake]

Wow, I was not expecting so many replies ... where to begin ...

I'll try to answer all the questions ...

floridahikes - At the moment my wife helps me with picking me up and driving me back to the car. As I get further away from home that will not be possible and I will most likely hike, camp, and hike back the next day.

Mercy - Sorry about your computer problems. Nothing bad on my site. You can also view a limited version of my site at www.trailjournals.com/whitesnake

jnetx - Wow, never thought of bicycling, but that sounds like a great idea. I will have to see if my bike is still usable...have not used it for quite awhile :-?

BigBlue - Not sure when I will be between Lake Marion and Lake Okeechobee. With my current plan I will just be finishing the Eglin AFB section before this summer and not sure if I will hike during the summer. Not sure how long it will take me to get to that area.

wahoo - Thanks for the compliment on my videos. Had to look up what "lower thirds" meant. Don't know all the video lingo yet :cool:

Totem - Very true what others have said in response to your entry. The Florida Trail is a very different trail with different challenges such as heat, bugs, alligators, etc. I actually miss the scenery of hiking in the mountains, but the Florida Trail is closest to where I live. I have enjoyed it very much though, discovering new wildlife that I had never seen before.

floridahikes, jnetx, BigBlue, Gray Blazer - I would love to hike with all of you when I am in your area. Just give me a buzz at [email protected] if you see me coming to your area. I will warn you all ahead of time I tend to be a slow hiker who does not hike very far as one of my main goals while on the trail is filming wildlife. If you don't mind going my slow pace, you are welcome to join me.

[floridahikes]

I've never been a speed demon myself, what with taking photos (and now video), taking notes, taking GPS readings, pushing measuring wheel (or conning someone else into doing it) ... tough to truck along when you're trying to pay attention to it all, soak it all in and report back on it. That said, LWOP can attest I've pulled major mile days as need be. I'm happy with my 2 mph pace, get to see and experience everything. ;-)

[BumpJumper]

Sandra, I am with you on the slow going.... I am learning to slow down just to take in all the beauty the FT has.

[BumpJumper]

Snake...so how is it going?

[Whitesnake]

Snake...so how is it going?

The hike so far is going well. I have seen numerous animals on the trail and most recently a lot of birds as I have been hiking on the beach. A couple more weekends and I will be in Eglin AFB.

If you would like to follow my hike, visit www.floridatrailproject.com. If for some reason the site does not work for you, my backup site is www.trailjournals.com/whitesnake. I have started a new journal on trail journals for 2009, so you may have to click the link on the left of that page to view my latest journal entries.

[BumpJumper]

I am ...thanks.