Part 3 of 3, the thru hike across the Florida Trail comes to an end! This is the final episode. We finally enter the swamp, see some snakes, 100 alligators, and go more than 20 miles without water? Weird, I know! Unexpected to say the least. In this section I actually hit my 10,000 miles as a thru hiker. Fitting it would be on the Florida Trail!
Our journey starts out on the Seminole Trail, a 20 mile bike path around the outskirts of Orlando. It's a lot of fun, and we get to play a lot of Pokemon Go. Expansive sections of Palm hammocks, and old growth oak tower above us. We travel in and out of long open wetland prairies. Bull Creek, Forever Florida, Three Lakes WMA, Kicco WMA and the Kissimmee Prarie Preserve (the darkest place in Florida, known for astrophotography) leads into the Kissimmee River, and Lake Okeechobee. We bare witness to the the vast fields of sugar cane, a lake half the size of Rhode Island, and continue our southbound thru hike.
Both excited to enter Big Cypress National Preserve, despite the immense difficulty, and the weird trail conditions this year. We hike through swamp and mud for miles on end, I accidentally step over a venomous Water Moccasin / Cottonmouth snake, and we finish what is known as the hardest hike in the United States. Both wild and remote, this swamp in the everglades is not to be underestimated, whether you're a fresh nobo or a hardened sobo.
Thank you for coming along with us on the Florida National Scenic Trail!
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