A tipped pot never boils Journaled on this page are the travels of Jason and Chad along the Big Oak Trail. This hike is being used to test out some new gear we plan to use on a 4 day hike in the Smoky Mountains in a couple months. The Route This loop trail is part of the 1300 mile Florida Trail system and is located with the Suwannee River State Park in North Florida. The hike itself is not very difficult and is around 12 miles in total length. Two primitive campsites are along the route and we plan to camp at the second site we pass which is directly at the confluence of the Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers.
The Hikers Chad will drive up the night before and we will leave Gainesville area early in the morning to get a good start on the trail as we plan to take our time.
The Hike First Day We both get up in the morning at my house and leisurely make a big breakfast. After packing our gear and making a few jokes about the weather we head out and make it to the parking area at Suwannee River State Park at 10:37am where the temperature was 62 degrees. To fine tune the straps on our backpacks we take a short 1 mile loop trail near the parking area and go past an old cemetery marking what appears to be one of the last landmarks of a town called Columbus of whom 500 people lived there during the mid 1800's.
The start of the trail from the park is quite forgettable as you pass through private property, major roads and bridges before coming to the real Trail Head at Desota Park which we reached at 11:46am. This was when we first got excited about hiking this route as the trail resembled what we imagined: a tight winding trail of medium sized trees and brush masking very large oaks in the distance. After crossing rail road tracks the trail eventually wondered along the River and we took one of many side trails to the shoreline to get a closer look. Along this section were some large boulders of what I am guessing is limestone and we climbed them pretending it was some sort of crash course in mountain hiking. Chad ascended the 10 foot high boulder first and managed to scrape up his hand, Big Oak drew first blood at 12:11pm.
As we continued along the hike Chad would take at most 4-5 steps before reaching around and adjusting straps, the pack was giving him a pain and it didn't look centered on his back. At 12:37pm we arrived at a primitive campsite/parking area and my temperature gauge read 58 degrees. We set our packs down on a bench and Chad began inspecting his pack and found the owners manual tucked away. We could hear the low hum of vehicles less than when we started which was nice and meant we must be going further into the woods. We both ate a Power Bar and an orange and continued on. We saw many interesting trees and growth on the ground. As we reached the FTA Log Book we spotted an armadillo, after he hopped away we both made entries in the book.
Past the Log Book mailbox we hiked along a paved county road which crossed the River just before we hiked back into the woods now traveling the other side of the Withlacoochee. Initially we were on a Jeep trail, which I find enjoyment on while in my Jeep but not so much walking, but after a short while we turned following the blazed markers to the first of many sink holes. We stopped here for a little while listening to two Barred Owls talking to each other. Continuing on we came across a fallen tree which would take you to the far side of a sink hole near the River shoreline and even got to see the other side of the rocks we climbed when we started our hike. We spotted many excellent cigar smoking spots but pressed on to locate the campsite.
It was 2:42pm when we made it to the above pic of the rocks and at that point I could begin to feel that familiar fatigue in my legs I get when I have not hiked in a while, also noted it felted quite a bit warmer. At 2:55 we made it to a fire ring and an excellent looking place to setup camp and we were fooled into thinking this was the camp until minutes later our senses returned and observed there was no confluence within sight. As we pressed on I picked up a good looking walking stick that simply needed breaking and managed to cut my hand between my thumb and index finger enough for blood to pour out, second blood. At 3:24 we finally arrive to the campsite and confluence of the two Rivers, I simply wrote "tired" in the journal. We both laid out our sleeping bags in the closest shady spot and took a power nap.
After a short rest and allowing the sun to go down some we set up camp for the night which included a 4.5 minute tent setup and 6 minute boil time for 3qts of water. We timed some of our camp duties to know just how long it might take because you never know when you might want to compete against another hiker. We finished our soup and other food items at 7:17pm and it was now 52 degrees. Dinner was not without some issues, our little chimney stove came apart as I did not align all the rivets when I assembled it causing second course of high quality river water to not only spill out but extinguish the fire entirely. The moon was beautiful, the sounds intriguing and our smokes capped off a nearly perfect evening in the woods...until we went to sleep. We both agreed on sleeping very close to the waters edge which meant up on a bank about 15 feet up from the water line. This location provided 24 hour waterfall sounds that you normally pay good money for on a CD thanks to a run off across the river. The problem with this location is that the air coming off the river is quite cold in comparison to say 80-100 feet away. We hunkered down in the tent around 11:30pm and awoke shivering at 1:15am. I was wearing next to nothing as common knowledge would advise however my sleeping bag was underrated for this and I did not have my sleeping pad yet (on delivery), the coldness of the ground and air was simply too much and we both were not prepared. We made a fire pretty quick, boiled some water for coffee, spilt some water on the fire and began to list off numerous items we either need to buy or invent to prevent this from happening again. Chad returned to the tent around 2:30am and I remained by the fire leaving only to either relieve myself, get more firewood or chase pairs of eyeballs I could see with my flashlight (I'm guessing more armadillos). I returned to the tent at 4:00am keeping most of my clothes on which turned out to be a good idea.
Second Day We woke up, ate some hot oatmeal, packed our gear and made some jokes about the previous night. We left camp at 10:11am with the temperature at 60 degrees and cared little that we got started so late. The trail back bordered the Suwannee River this time and we saw many large trees including the Big Oak that the trail is named after. We were hiking much faster than the previous day and impressed ourselves by arriving to the connecter trail at 11:10am although I'm sure our speed was finally reaching average for the typical hiker.
As we continued on the trail much of our discussion was reflecting on the day before. We saw an interesting tree on the way back that I referred to as "The Considerate Tree" and Chad took many pictures of it while saying "What's the best way to capture this that tells the story?". I continued to journal what I thought was noteworthy including my rather thorough test of wet wipes. We arrived at the truck at 2:08pm and got ready to enjoy our final cigar for the trip on the ride home of which Chad slept a bit through.
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