Florida Woman, but not “Florida Man”! or am I?

Yes, that’s right, I am from the beautiful, humid, often Sunny, sometimes rainy, low-lying “flat” land state of Florida and I am a PROUD Floridian. This Florida woman however will not be partaking in some absurd; irrational act in Florida that will spark a March headline much like the entertaining popularized meme of “Florida Man”. Instead, I will take my antics to the West Coast to attempt to thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). This trail runs from the US/Mexico Border to Canada going through the States of California, Oregon, and Washington for approximately 2,653 miles. Which I admit to some may or may not be considered absurd, irrational, or downright CRAZY AF.

 

Anyway, welcome to my very first blog post. Whether you are one of my friends, a family member, or a stranger I hope for this post to be an opportunity for you all to get to know me a bit better.

Small City, Big Dreams

HI! I am Slim-Jim, a 25-year-old lover of all things outdoors, who has been known to take it quite literally when someone has told me to “take a hike”. I will be setting out to attempt a complete thru-hike of the PCT on March 23, 2023. I am a recreation therapist and was originally born and raised in the small city of Bradenton, Florida. Although small, it is not far from the larger cities of Tampa and Orlando to the North and is the sister city to the city of Sarasota to the South, known for some of Florida’s most beautiful beaches of Siesta Key and Lido Key, and home to The Ringling Museum of Art. I attended the University of South Florida in Tampa obtaining an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences on the pre-med track. My big dream was then to become a doctor. Boy, how that changed.

 

Later, I took the leap I needed and moved out of the state (for the first time) to North Carolina for grad school. I attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). Not the more famous school recognized in the UNC school system that can be found in Chapel Hill, but a great school nonetheless, especially for a future recreation therapist. It was here where my love and passion, but up to this point hobby of hiking, became a job, one that I loved. I started leading as part of my first-year a hiking group for veterans with varying mental and physical disabilities in the Greater Triad area. I still maintained hiking as a hobby in my personal time hiking on the Appalachian trail every chance I would get finishing almost 600 miles when schools went remote. I lived in North Carolina for a short two and a half years but it was the most transformative years for me as a student, professional, friend, hiker…. human. I Gained a greater sense of direction with where my life was headed and started to prioritize living in the here and now. This helped lead me in the direction of where my next step would land.

It was where my “Big Dream” of thru-hiking the PCT one day became more real in thought than a once distant idea. It was not when I first learned about it though and not even when the dream was cultivated, so let me take you back.

Day Hiker Turned Thru Hiker

It was a day just like any other day, well kinda. I was on a hike with a friend and her dog at Hillsborough River State Park, a park known for its river rapids, wildlife-viewing and dog-friendly trails on a weekend back in 2018. We met a couple who also had a dog and were very friendly and instantly a true connection was made between the pups, and the people. We sat and talked for a couple of hours admiring the class ll rapids present before us and they mentioned that they were planning a hike on the Florida Trail the next weekend and invited us to join. I had no knowledge of what the actual Florida Trail was but was always up for a hike. We enjoyed a day hike along the Florida Trail in the Croom tract a part of the Withlacoochee State Forest area on the Central Florida Western corridor. Before joining them for the hike I did what any college-aged student would do in the 21st century to find information and that was turn to the internet. A quick search on Google and YouTube opened up the floodgates for all of what the Florida Trail is and the entire world of thru-hiking including learning about the PCT.

Homemade Wanderlust and Darwin onthetrail were soon the most watched channels on my screen day and night.

I thought for a second “maybe I could do that too. I loved my time of day hiking in California years before.” As if day hiking could compare to hiking for 5 months with a full pack 20 miles per day. It was the idea of taking off on the trail hiking, both the challenge and freedom/independence that comes with it and being able to travel by foot to all these places with just a pack on my back that quickly intrigued me. It all seemed like a dream. It took only a couple of hikes with the couple, Becca and Zach, to commit to thru-hiking the Florida Trail with them in 2019. I had not backpacked before but was an enthusiastic day hiker and camper. Mostly, I was all for diving in head-first.

Throughout undergrad, I worked for campus recreation and stayed very physically active by playing softball among other sports my whole life. I was heavily involved in outdoor travel to National, State, and County parks and was interested in backpacking but did not know where to start. I had over a year to prepare for this. In other words ‘learn how-to backpack’ and get my shit together. I had all the lists and spreadsheets. What was I going to eat? Where were we to camp along the trail?

It was nice to have the knowledge and experience of two thru-hikers during this process though.

The biggest piece of advice was to not stress out about planning and go with the flow of the experience. Let me tell ya, Great Advice!!

 

I went on to complete a thru-hike of the Florida National Scenic Trail in 2019 with Becca and Zach two of my best friends, which became the third long-distance thru-hike for the pair following the Pacific Crest Trail and Appalachian Trail, and my first. They later moved to Colorado, but we’ve always kept in touch and met up for various backpacking trips over the years. They joined me for part of my thru-hike a year later of the Colorado Trail in 2020.

Now onto the Big Leagues!

 

It’s Only a Month Away…

Oh, how far-fetched that idea, turned dream, and now turned reality of leaving my job, postponing school, and hiking for 5+ months on the PCT seemed years ago. It is now almost game time and I am more ready than ever to step up to the plate. Forgive me, I am a softball player and will never part with my good ‘ol softball analogies.

I feel like a first-time-thru hiker all over again. The excitement of logistical planning solo and preparing for something of this magnitude is new. The people I have yet to meet, the places I will see, and even the hiker trash essence that comes with a thru-hike. I am holding on to the saying “Go with the Flow” and the rest will fall into place. I grew up believing that no challenge was too great. Here I am hoping for just that, a challenge! I am carrying the lessons I have learned from the past and hoping that they have prepared me well enough to take this on. I will surely see in less than a month when I step foot on the PCT and head North.

 

That’s more about me than you probably anticipated. I am looking forward to what lies ahead on this adventure and sharing this dream with you. That’s all for now.

 

Happy Hiking,

Slim-Jim