Florida Trail - North Florida Trailblazers

Do you need to walk off some of your big dinner! Stretch your legs. Join us as we hike on the Spanish Pond trail. This will be an out and back hike that starts at the spanish pond trailhead to the Timuquan Ravine, where we will turn around and hike back to our original trail head. On the way back we will be going a different wasy back to the trailhead so it will be a little londer than our previous hikes here.

Round trip this hike should be around 5.0 miles give or take. Please be prepared to bring enough water with you and snacks. At the turn around we can stop and rest, if the bugs are not biting to bad, before heading back. Even though most of this trail is shaded, you will want to have sun protection, and bug spray. Hikers are asked to make a personal emergency medical card and to place the card in an easily accessible location in your pocket or pack.
This area is rich in history, and we will be hiking past an old homestead (now gone) and an old grave site if we take the right turns. This trail is not flat as a pancake! We will get to enjoy some vert! Well vertical for Florida! 😊

Please no dogs or children on this hike.

Please note that you can bring a guest but we ask that they ride with you to the event so that everyone will have enough space to park.

*Please do not RSVP for this hike unless up are going to attend.*

We have a room at the Deerwood library reserved. Room A
Program TBD

Carrie Prewitt, a member of our chapter, will talk about backpacking and the AT. Details of topic will be posted at a later date.

SAVE THE DATE! February 1st & 2nd, 2025.

For FTA members only.... you must join FTA, not just the Meetup site.

Limiting the group to 8 plus leaders. RSVP opens Monday December 2nd 2024. Please do not RSVP unless you are committed to attending. If there is a waitlist, don't despair. Someone may not be able to attend, and we will move the next person up if that happens.

You will be contacted by email as the trip gets closer to confirm that you are attending, that you have all the items needed for the camping trip, and to provide details as to the location of the trip. No trip location will be provided on the Meetup post. Once the group is confirmed, we will plan a Zoom meeting a few days immediately before the trip to finalize details with the group. Messages will be through your personal emails.

We are going to be hiking out to our campsite for approximately 2 miles. We will set up camp, secure our food safely, and grab our day packs to hike further out on the trail.
This will be an overnight backpack trip. You will be required to provide your own gear and food. Please review the suggested gear list below. We will go into more details on our zoom call and through emails. This information is being written for someone to understand who has never backpacked overnight and has no idea what to bring.

Gear: The Big Three

1. Shelter: This should be your tent.
2. Backpack: Not a day pack but something between 43 and 61 Liters. (Average 52 Liters)
3. Sleeping System: Sleeping bag, Sleeping Pad, blow up pillow.

Food/Cook System:

1. Cook System: This typically consists of a small stove with a pot that you can boil water in. Do not forget spoons, a cup if you like coffee, and a bandana will work as a towel. If your food is not in one of the pre-made freeze-dried packs, you may want a bowel or plate.
2. Food: Snacks, you cannot have to many snacks. You will need Lunch and Dinner for day one and Breakfast for day two.

Water:

1. You will need a way to carry water. This can be in a camel style system that sits in your pack or water bottles. Please bring a water collection bag/bottle designated for "dirty” water collection.
2. Water filter and/or treatment system. We will be filtering water from the nearby stream. For safety precautions you should ALWAYS filter and/or treat your water before consuming.

Clothing:

1. This is only for one night so you can hike out wearing what you hiked in wearing. You will want a good pair of shoes and socks. You can wear what you would typically wear when going on a day hike.
2. Sleep wear: This all depends on how warm or cold you like to sleep. A big shirt and shorts work just fine. I usually bring a beanie to wear at night as it also eliminates the need to fix any bedhead hair.
3. Extra: Extra pair of socks, in case your first pair gets wet. This is Florida. Flip flops or camp sandals. If you can just slip into them your MN potty runs will be easier. Rain jacket. Puffy if you get cold easily.

Toiletries:

1. Poop System: Yes, I said poop system. You need a trowel or a small shovel to dig a hole, toilet paper/wipes, and hand sanitizer. We will go more into this before the hike.
2. Kula cloth- optional you can just use TP.

Other items:

1. Battery pack for charging your phone and other items. Don’t forget the charging cables.
2. Hiking poles
3. Bug spray
4. Sunscreen
5. First aid kit
6. Glasses or contacts
7. Toothpaste/toothbrush
8. Hat

*We will review more on other items on our zoom call.

Save the date and find out more details at: floridatrail.org/traildays

More details to follow...