The Florida Trail Exposed: A Thru-Hiker's View

By Deb Fuller, aka Nemesis

In the late fall of 2020, the author and her husband set out on a thru-hike. The goal was to hike from Key West, Florida to Mount Jacques-Cartier on the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec.

Informally this trek is known as the Eastern Continental Trail or ECT. It is not a trail per se, but a series of trails and road walks that combine to form a continuous path from one end to the other. Formal trails include the Overseas Highway Heritage Trail, the Florida Trail, the Pinhoti Trail, the Benton MacKaye Trail, the Appalachian Trail, and the International Appalachian Trail.

This book is a color photo account of their time on the Florida Trail.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Aug 23, 2022
• ISBN: 9781387730605

Book preview

A Thru-Hiker’s View in Color Photos

2021-2022

Copyright © Deb Fuller 2022

All Rights Reserved

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Introduction

In late fall of 2020, my husband Jim and I set out on a thru-hike. The goal was to hike from Key West, Florida to Mount Jacques-Cartier on the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec.

Informally this is known as the Eastern Continental Trail, or ECT. It is not a trail per se, but a series of trails and road walks that combine to form a continuous path from one end to the other. Formal trails include the Overseas Highway Heritage Trail, the Florida Trail, the Pinhoti Trail, the Benton MacKaye Trail, the Appalachian Trail, and the International Appalachian Trail.

This book is a color photo account of our time on the Florida Trail. Some key notes:

September 10, 2017, Hurricane Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys as a Category 4 storm, destroying homes, boats, and washing out sections of Highway A1A.

In October 2018 Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle as a Category 5 storm, the most powerful storm to impact that area in recorded history.

Approximately one year later, Tropical Storm Nestor spawned tornadoes that created more damage in the Panhandle.

2020 brought more storms and flooding rains to these already damaged areas. In August Hurricane Marco dumped nearly a foot of rain on the Panhandle, while Tropical Storm Laura caused sporadic damage in Key West. Several weeks later Hurricane Sally came ashore near Pensacola, with heavy winds and almost two feet of rain. The storm caused extensive damage to Gulf Islands National Seashore, temporarily closing the Florida Trail northern terminus at Fort Pickens. Hurricane Eta closed out the 2020 season with a bang. This erratic storm made landfall twice in Florida. Heavy rainfall and tropical-storm force winds were recorded across all the Florida Keys, South Florida, and the southern half of Central Florida, bringing widespread flooding. Eta's second approach and landfall brought storm surge and gusty winds to the west coast of Central Florida and supplemental rainfall to northern Florida.

The impact of these storms caused major damage to sections of the Florida Trail. With the onslaught of Covid-19, volunteers were not available to provide much-needed trail maintenance during 2020. Downed trees, unchecked overgrowth, and washed-out footbridges and campsites created challenging conditions.

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An Orange Blaze that marks the Florida Trail.

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Heading out of Navarre towards Eglin Air Force Base.

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Glad to be off the road and on a real trail.

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These weird fuzzy things are Cladoniaceae, a family of lichenized fungi.

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Our first sign of concern. The hiker registration box is beat up.

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The map board has bullet holes in it.

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The trail continues.

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Our home for the night. Until we had to pack up and run away due to military training exercises.

A restart the next day put us back on the road. So much for real trail.

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An exceptionally long, noisy, and dusty 14+ miles later, we reached a campground.

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After almost seven miles of road walking, we came to another trail.

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Lots of swamp and brush to walk through. This trail needs to get better.

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We stopped for a snack next to a small pond.

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Once we finish The Florida Trail, we will come back to The Blackwater Trail and head north into Alabama.

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Longleaf pines and underbrush.

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We hiked across