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A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (ECT Day 51)
- Hiked Today: 32.7 miles
- The Florida Trail (835.3 – 857.5 & 860.5 – 866.4)
- Random FTA Reroute (4.6 miles)
- Total Hiked: 1,077.3 miles
- Total Paddled: 99.5 miles
Weather: overcast early, turned sunny, a bit windy, 45-55°F
“Why do I stand up here? Anybody?… I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way. See the world looks very different from up here. You don’t believe me? Come see for yourselves. Come on. Come on. Just when you think you know something, you have to look at it in a different way “
– John Keating in Dead poets Society (1989)
Porter Lake Campground to Memery Island Camp
Today’s post follows my tradition of an “all pictures and videos” day in honor of making it 50 days on trail. I didn’t do it yesterday since it was essentially a half day with the rain. My original concept for the idea was to try and take 50 pictures, but we’ll see, that’s a lot! You’ll get a feel pretty quick what I mean by all this. I like doing this. I feel it offers a change up to the monotony of my regular style and also gets me in a curious and creative mindset. Let me know if you have a fav 🙂
The little description I will give of today is that I was in and out of water maybe more than any day before. From dry sandy forest trail to plunging back into the reddish brown hued water, and back and forth, and back and forth, through to the very end of the day.
Cheerio…
“Dodging Puddles in the Dark”
“Reminiscing #1” – walking on the boardwalks with my headlamp brought me back to when I lived in the dorms in college. My friends and I would go on night hikes through the campus nature preserve.
“Reminiscing #2” – These big old box TVs got me thinking back to the one that lived in the corner of my old house. Then, I imagined the even bigger and much older-styled one in my grandma’s old basement. It was a goliath encased in wood and my cousins and I would exclusively watch big time wrestling on it.
“Dawn of the FT Classic”
“Cable Crossing”
“A Bit of a Soggy Bottom”
“Wrinkled Petals”
“The Snozzberries Taste Like Snozzberries”
“Track of Florida Trail Hiker”
“We Be Swamping”
“Tiny Bubbling Spring”
“Just Around the River Bend!”
“Track of Small Lion Cub”
“Mud-Suck Broken, But Not Broken”
“Coneheads”
“I’m on a boardwalk to nowhere”
“Track of Wildebeest”
“Botched Johnny D Tribute”
“The Breakfast Lineup”
“Crouching Tiger Hidden Stevie”
“Little Green Tunnel”
“What Lies Beneath”
“Where the Red Waters Floweth”
“Straight as an Arrow Pointing to the Sky”
“Where Bran Flakes Come From”
“Jurassic Park Themed”
“This Is How We Do It”
“Tiny Moss Island”
“Burnt”
“Just a Little Guy”
“Yertle”
“Poop Pile”
“Caution… Tracks Out!”
“Pitcher Perfect”
“Move Shadow… Get Out The Way!”
“Very Oaky ‘Round These Parts”
“Island Camp View West-ish”
“Island Camp View North-ish”
“Staying Warm by the Fire”
“Cozy Socks 4 Eva”
Album of the Day: “Disney’s Greatest Volume 1 (2001)”
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Comments 14
Stevie! I am a fan of the pictorial blog! Your pictures are stunning and the captions are epic–some funny, some poignant, all of them capture the shot perfectly. Your light-heartedness is refreshing and always puts a smile on my face. 🙂 Thanks for your hard work!
Thanks for following along… I appreciate the kind words!
Island camp West for the win!
You just enjoy whatever’s thrown at you! Swamping was my favorite picture because it’s got to be hard staying wet & muddy but you do it with singing, too! You definitely are fun to watch & read! Thanks for the pictures!
Fabulous images. The tiny springs are known as Sand Boils. There are some fascinating ones in Ocala National Forest.
I loved the sand boils, thanks for the info! So cool 😎
Florida just isn’t the same as the stunning pics of the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada’s. But still a cool adventure.
I’m with you Kevin… The mountains always call me back. The Florida stuff has been a ton of fun for me though; a chance to expand my ideas of what “wild” natural spaces are. As always, thanks for tagging along.
No such thing as too many pictures, as long as you’re taking them. My nephew sent me a picture of himself tossing chicken thighs to the gator in his Crawfordsville, Florida backyard in honor of your passing by. He knows those woods well
Sumi sittting on a cup with an In and Out sticker and asking the question,
where is my next adventure? The Best is Yet to Come!
Thanks for the pics and your account of hiking this trail. Our piney flatwoods, springs and creeks are often overlooked. They have a quiet beauty that has to be appreciated differently than the mountainous trails. If you understand this beauty, you don’t miss the mountains.
I like that description, “quiet beauty.” Thanks Lee!
boardwalk to nowhere. honorable: coneheads
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I like that one too. Probs my top five. It’s always fun for me to see which ones folks gravitate towards!