I’ve been following you since you started the FT and I have to confess, I didn’t know there was a long trail in Florida! Thank you for sharing your adventure with us.
So glad that you enjoyed the FT part of your ECT hike! Your retrospective has great information and is extremely well thought out. We plan to share it with the FT community. Thank you! Best of luck on your continuing journey. Looking forward to your next videos. Jerry and Kelley
Great summary Masochist! Looking forward to following you on RU-vid as you go through AL, GA, and then on the AT. Will provide you a beer (and/or coffee) when you get to the Northern Virginia area! So will be watching! Hike on! Tortoise
Super interesting to hear about the triple crown comparisons - thank you Tater! And a lovely presentation - not to say you’re not lovely Matt, just in a different way 😆
This was excellent. Thank you! I’m doing LASH hikes thru the Florida Trail. Your information and videos have been very helpful. My next bucket trip is the Pinhoti. Onward to Canada!
Great, real life summation of the FT. The Florida Chamber of Commerce should have sponsored you! “Every day is a reset” great quote! Been in White Springs for a couple of weeks now doing work for stay at the B&B here. Don’t really need to but wanted to pay it forward to the owner Judy, that is truly a trail angle! I’m taking another few weeks off to paddle the 250 mile Suwannee River from Okefenokee swamp in GA. to the Gulf, should be a hoot. Take care and be careful on this Alabama section, the people there can be very friendly or very interesting.
That sounds awesome. I really want to come back out and do some more paddle trips. I did the mangroves along Turner River a few years back and that was a lot of fun
Serious thanks for your retrospective vides and your Florida Trail and Pinhoti Vids. I am leaving Aug 5 at Baxter to hike sobo through Florida and these vids have been a great resource. From your current pace on the AT there may be a chance I run into you on the trail - If I do, I surely owe you a dinner and all you can drink beers. Thanks again.
Nice recap and very helpful for those looking to do the trail. I guess I would have to say that the dogs were absolutely the worst part of that hike and the canals, road walks, and waist deep swamp walks not as bad as they seemed. I would have thought the bugs would be the worst but I guess they didn't really come out in force until evening when you had your tent to duck into. All in all.....well done !! Must feel good to have completed one leg of the journey....and on to the next ! Congrats again for that milestone ! Happy Trails Masochist !
Hey Matthew, glad you're doing ok! Concerned for you with the twisters and bad storms in Alabama and Georgia. Have been following you since Key West, really enjoy your information and the hike. Great info on the trail too! Thanks so much!! Hike on brother! From super swoop!
They make adapters where you can use your propane stove on a butane canister. Weights less than an oz. I use a multi-fuel so I can use gasoline if I can't find canisters. Little heavier but I'm not a gram counter. My sleep system is a hammock, tarp, bivy, and a bug net, no tent. Weights a little over 3 lbs. Haven't found a place yet I can't just step off the trail and make camp. Enjoy your videos and hope you make it to Main.
Awesome break down!!! I'll be out on the AT with you and hope to see ya! I would love to do what you're doing and may plan on doing it right after the AT, I dont plan on ending at katahdin, gonna make my way up to Canada boarder then if all goes well I'll go back to the AT start and work south, that way I'm hoping to beat the bad winter thru alabama and north fl and then have nice cool weather for south fl 😁 thanks for the breakdown and by the way, you're awesome!!!
I got hooked on your channel and caught up on all your videos! I love the honesty and humor too. I can't hike for long periods anymore so this is a real treat. Safe travels and good luck! I told my friends to subscribe too!
Nice video. A few years ago I bought an anti-wind umbrella with a 360 degree relief near the top, It worked for me. Well, I bought 2, lost one somewhere, it's very easy to forget your umbrella, especially if it stops raining.
New sub. Bought and sold. Enjoy your journey because I am. Dixie is doing the FT and has ingrown toenails. She saw 10 gators in 1 day and 10 was an absolute monster who slid quickly and unexpectedly into the water going toward her and 9 came along also. I screamed like a little girl myself on her behalf. Gators are dinosaurs and cool but scary.
Thanks! Gator photos always seemed to get the most reactions when I posted them but as with bears and snaked they’re generally less of a threat than people thing. They’re ambush predators so they almost always flop into the water as soon as they see you even if they’re on the other side of a canal. Except for that one in Rice Creek that was parked on the bridge and didn’t want to let me by
I hated those 3 pit bulls. They attacked and would not leave me alone. I walked backwards for a long way before they gave up on me. I'm sad to hear they bit some one and had to be put down. I understand the thought process of letting your dogs run free in these rural areas, but not if they are vicious. I love the FT. I've only hiked about 750 miles of it, but hope to finish it. I've been through Big Cypress twice, in a wet season and in a dry one. They both have their charms. Good luck on the rest of your hike.
Very thorough summation of what we watched. So you're off the FT now and in my recommended up pops Dixie...out on the FL Trail. She's not bothered by wildlife as she spent a lot of time in FL as a youngster. I on the other hand, am not sure I want to relive the trauma of the blistered feet. What I found most interesting is; compared to the #NCT.MI section in my state, you really have your pick of where and how you want to train for #AT & #PCT. Florida or Michigan.😉🥾👉
Thanks! California also has all sorts of options but they aren’t as developed. Before I did the PCT I did the San Gabriel Backbone Trail and the first bits of the CA Desert Trail and Hot Spring Trail followed by about 190 miles of bushwhacking along the Condor Trail. Resupplying and doing things thru hike style is harder on those however
I too looked like I had chicken pox from the noseeums in the keys. Just awful. We have them here in the Adirondacks but the bites don't swell and itch like down there.
I enjoy the way you film and narrate your videos. RE: Florida Trail 2021 It appears this was an unusually wet hiking season in Florida. I've watched the video series by Chris Berry who did the trail in 2016. He had a much drier hike season. Also, it was before the hurricane. God Bless for safety and success on your journey!
SOBO is great as long as you don't end in March. Also depends on which "side" you take. Usually people go through the east side in ONF. There are flood threats in the Suwannee section, so SOBO helps with that because it is much drier in January.
Also, will say, there can be a LOT of bushwhacking because it is not as well maintained as other trails. Greenbriar, sawgrasses, saw-palmetto, and thistles will rip your legs up and stickers and sandspurs will stick to your clothes. Cheap pants like Frog-toggs are a kinda good idea to have for those situations. You can toss them and get a new pair after it gets too bad. This is also usually better in the winter, as the plants are somewhat dormant and don't grow as much and the trim lasts longer. You will have sections that are pretty poorly maintained and trees down, overgrowth, etc.
I was a Dixie fan, but you are far better ( at least for me ). I am looking forward to the balance of your hike. Walking through miles of water where you can't see your feet would freak me out as much as the dogs.
GOING SOUTH instead NoBo is tip #23 on my list of ways to make the Florida KEYS walk survivable and possibly quite pleasant (I discourage people from making this walk. But if you must connect your footsteps there are many things that can be done to make it safer, slightly more scenic impossibly enjoyable)
I’m sure you have already mentioned this in a prior video, but what is your expected end point? You say “Canada”, but do you mean just the border, or do you mean the end of the North American IAT in Newfoundland?
@@FirstChurchofTheMasochistHikes Thanks! The Chic Choc range of Quebec is amazing- and a great opportunity to see caribou. I hiked there in late September and it was stunning.
I would love to do the ECT/IAT someday. Which means having to do the Florida Trail. But I would never just do the Florida Trail on its own. All those people & taxpayers in Florida & that trail just looks like the Stone Ages.
I finished the pct this fall and am now unexpectedly doing the Florida trail. Seems absolutely wild. The pct looks like a walk through heaven compared to this.
@@FirstChurchofTheMasochistHikes lmao I’m not even on the Florida trail yet and I am already there!!! However, the Florida trail being so isolated and relatively undisturbed unlike the pct or at makes it seem worth it. Doing the pct in 2022 can be summed up by the fact that I once had to wait in line to cross a river in the Sierra. Soooo many people. I met people I love but I wasn’t out there to socialize
@@JazzFlop212 the pct is an amazing trail but it’s kind of amazing how busy it’s gotten. Seeing pictures and comparing it to our experience in 2020 is mind boggling
@@FirstChurchofTheMasochistHikes Yeah absolutely. It’s spectacular and glorious but oh my god I almost feel like it needs a few years without any hikers just to recover from 2022. I can’t even imagine what it was like in 2020, I’m guessing it was pretty blissful.
@@JazzFlop212 under 300 of us finished the trail that year. You could go for long stretches without seeing people. I had the I10 oasis all to myself. Downside some of the towns and such were closed down and there was a lot of uncertainty especially around the start with the PCTA pushing people to get off the trail. The biggest downside though is I loved the whole pct experience but I don’t think I could do it again under current circumstances. Crowds would just be too mich