Thankful Along Econfina Creek (ECT Day 54)

• Hiked Today: 20.6 miles
  • The Florida Trail (901.4 – 922)
• Total Hiked: 1,132.9 miles
• Total Paddled: 99.5 miles

Weather: overcast, light rain starting late afternoon turning to steady rain after dark, 40-60°F (?)

Hillcrest Baptist Church to Walsingham Bridge 

Sleeping in actual beds the last two nights, you’d expect I’d have gotten better sleep. Nope. Must be I’m too used to sleeping on the ground. Once up and moving, I headed straight into the church kitchen/gathering space to make coffee.

I perused on my phone while enjoying my cup. After a while Machine came in and started chef’ing up some eggs. Pastor Forest has said they have plenty since a church member has a bunch of chickens. Cliff a.k.a Specs (I guess he switched his trail name up at some point) joined as we were finishing up too. It was a nice start to the day.

I sent this picture of my church mug to Trip since he’s from Dallas. I get a kick out of choosing my mug; the more random and quirky the better! I’ll be on the lookout for quality mugs on this ECT trek and keep y’all posted. That should keep you on the edge of your seats, I imagine.

Following this, I started packing up and cleaning up. I take cleaning up seriously in these kinds of settings. It’s up to us hikers to keep a positive relationship with our hosts and doing our part to help keep things clean, organized, and maintained in these spaces is huge. Sadly, there are always stories of things going sour after a bad experience when one hiker ruins it for the rest. So, as my Grandpa Mearl used to say, “Leave it better than you found it.” 

Machine was first to get going a little after 8:00 am. Then Specs and I took off together a half hour later after chatting and thanking Pastor Forest. So much thanks for this wonderful stay here with these wonderful people. 

The first chunk of the day, about 10 miles or so, was all roadside walking. In that stretch, I hit up another DG for a quick resupply. I got a few select items including a banana because I like to believe they are my health super food out here. A banana a DG keeps the doctor away… I’m pretty sure that’s a common saying here in Florida.

Unlike every day prior to this on the Florida Trail, I hiked with someone pretty much the whole day. Specs is from Orlando and it was great chatting with him, getting to hear about his extensive gear knowledge, Appalachian Trail section hike intel, and plans for once he’s done hiking this year. He’s even scheming to switch it up and keep hiking after the FT, continuing on the ECT route!

Once off the road, it was pretty great foresty creekside trail the rest of the day. We were digging it.

Econfina Creek, not Aquafina Creek like I kept thinking in my head 

A couple of really nice bridges today.

A few posts ago I talked about how unique each river has been. The same was true for this creek today. What stood out to me was the beautiful copper color. In deep parts it was dark like the others have been, but being shallow often, the sandy bottom displayed the golden brown hue nicely. There were also some captivating high bluffs overlooking the creek, some with evidence of being eroded away over time.

We also bumped into Kitty Hawk, an FT “flip-flop” hiker and Carmen San Diego, an ECT southbounder! It was so great talking with them, especially getting the chance to ask Carmen about her experience up ahead. I was geeking out a bit talking with her. She’s “almost” done… just the rest of Florida to go! 

Me, Carmen San Diego, Specs, and Kitty Hawk… we were all munching on Bugles.

A very nice suspension bridge.

The last two hours of the day we hiked with a light sprinkle. Specs had been texting Machine and found out he’d stopped at a site ahead of us with some pavilions. It was a free reservation and he’d kindly booked it for all of us! Amazing. We rolled in around 5:30 pm or so. 

As I started cooking dinner, with the no stove hikers looking on slightly jealous, I was shocked at how quickly it was getting dark. It was overcast and rainy, but still, it didn’t jive at all with what I’d been experiencing. Then it hit, we’d crossed the time zone boundary, going from eastern to central time. That through me for a loop at first. I’d thought my phone was stuck in a time vortex earlier in the day when it first happened. 

I decided to set up my tent even though I was underneath the pavilion roof. Rain was supposed to pick up and I was worried it might come in at me sideways. The other guys cowboy camped under the bigger awning. For those not familiar, cowboy camping is essentially laying out your sleep setup directly under the night sky, exposed and all. A lot of hikers prefer this. It can offer up a very connected feel to the outdoors in a new way and is quicker and easier to set up and take down. I did it once in the Everglades on a chickee, but there’s been so much condensation on the FT and I also learned how many spiders are lurking, that I prefer to set up my tent!

Doing all the things… cooking, eating, hanging, and setting up while staying dry was such a boost. And it was a fun night with these guys camped along Econfina Creek.