Cowboy on the Florida Trail

The Florida Trail was my first long distance backpacking trip. I had backpacked a little in my local area of Central Florida, and had joined the Florida Trail Hikers group on Facebook. There I learned about a kickoff event for aspiring thru hikers. I was ready for a challenge and my daughter drove me down to the Everglades. Don’t you remember the excitement of starting your first long backpacking trip?

By the end of day three in Big Cypress, I was feeling exhaustion rather than excitement. When I reached Thank God Island campsite, the first person I saw there was Cowboy. He looked like I felt, exhausted by the swamp and ready to eat and fall asleep. He was gone by the time I woke up the next morning, but I caught up to him at the first bit of dry land after 30 miles of water, mud and limestone solution holes. There he was taking a break on a downed log so I sat next to him and we had our first conversation, commiserating on how hard the swamp had been and how wonderful it was to finally reach solid ground. At the I-75 rest area, the local FTA chapter had set up chairs, a foot washing station, food and drinks. Heaven!

I had become nervous about one thing. I had gone through the swamp with 2 other hikers who were younger and faster, and I would not be able to keep up with them. And that was true of the few other hikers who had started in the past couple of days. Would I be hiking alone?

Outside the rest area I saw Cowboy again and we began walking the 4 miles to Nobles Campsite. We discovered that we had the same pace and decided to walk together. We would continue together for the next 6 weeks.

Mosey and Cowboy on the trail

Resupply at the Clewiston Walmart

Waking up to frosty tents…in Florida!

During our times of hiking and camping, I got to know him better. His trail name Cowboy is because of the cowboy hat he wears. He was a 74 year old Viet Nam veteran, a retired nurse, and a volunteer sawyer with a disaster relief organization. He had recently recovered from Covid, and needed a knee and hip replacement. Wow! But every day he worked hard to put in about 12 miles. We made it up to mile 500 on the trail together, where he realized that he needed to take care of his long delayed joint replacements.

Mile 500 on the Palatka-Lake Butler bike trail

If mental determination was all he needed, he would have kept going. But he knew he needed to invest the time to fix his joints. And in the past couple of years he has done just that.

I finished the trail with another hiker who had joined us along the way. Cowboy and I remained friends who get together for lunch now and again and he always tells me that he is working hard so that he can return to the Florida Trail. I know that’s true, because I know how hard working and determined he is. We still got outside quite a bit in the meantime: we hiked through the Keys, kayaked and camped along the Suwanee, and tested out new gear in the Green Swamp. 

Hiking the Florida Keys

Hiking the Green Swamp, on the Western Corridor of the Florida Trail

Camping along the Suwannee River with his dog Ginger, the best dog ever!

This February and March we will resume hiking where he left off 3 years ago, at mile 500, just west of Palatka. Please join me in celebrating Cowboy’s return to the beautiful Florida Trail! I hope you will enjoy reading about our journey.