ONF Florida Trail

[vfherman]

Planning to take a few days next week on the Florida trail in ONF. Has anyone hiked this in May? My only concern is the water sources being available. The Juniper Wilderness is where I'll be hiking.

Thanks in advance. Vinny

[moytoy]

The ponds are low but most still have water. I filter and treat it before I drink pond water. I mostly get my water from a well if possible and I carry a lot of water in this area because I just don't like pond water.

[WingedMonkey]

Be prepared for constant attack of deer flies in May. And the usual ticks.

[vfherman]

Thanks MoyToy and WingedMonkey. Will normal bug spray work on ticks and deer flies?

[theoilman]

Treat your socks, pants, shirt with Permethrin for the best tick protection. (available from most outfitters, I ordered mine from Sawyer.) Yes, ticks are bad this year!

[treesloth]

This past winter, I got 50 miles thru ONF (in three days) before blisters put me off the trail. I got them mainly because I was so eager to find the next water source, which are few and far between there. The JP Wilderness was the 2nd worse place for finding water, so you'd better be ready to camel some around. Hidden Pond is good, and there's various sinkholes around (especially one that's a mile south of Hopkins Prairie and juat a bit north of JP) but you need to be prudent about your water carrying and try to strike a good balance. To tell the truth, I probably wouldn't want to hike in May because of reasons listed above, as well as the humidity creeping back. Luckily, the days and mornings have not been too too hot yet. Good luck!

[vfherman]

Thanks all for the replies. I appreciated it.