Ocala Part 4- Cletus strikes back!

“Wish you were going Ewker..won't be the same without you. :)”

“thats true, you will have to drive instead of sleep now ;)”

“I was thinking like Coop said and we just find a nice enough spot north of Hopkins and camp.

This was the map I posted for the first Ocala trip but this time we will start more north than this scan covers.”

“That's not nice Ewker..”

“Hey HPM
What kind of mileage are you looking to do, per day.”

“hey will there be anywhere we can skinny dip along the trail or near camp?”

“SC - on the second night we will be camping at hidden pond - which is the quintessential swimmin' hole. The only bad (or good) thing - depending on your opinion of your fellow skinny dippers - is that the water is crystal clear so... also - for the men - the water is a tad on the chilly side...

We didn't skinny dip last time - but we did go "skivvies" dipping which is not as liberating but just as refreshing.”

“There are a couple of spots along the trail to swim.

The sinkhole above Juniper Prairie wilderness is nice”

“perfect :) I love skinny dippin!”

“The sinkhole is right off a forest service road though.
So be careful.”

“The gators are going Yum Yum right now. ;-)”

“Cool! gators!!!!!! I promised a friend a picture with me and a gator if I see one. :) I wanna poke one.”

“By 'poke', do you mean like a 'Lonesome Dove' kind of 'poke'?”

“Please explain "lonesome Dove" I have no idea what that is.”

“what about water, will we need to cache some close to the camping spots? i still have plenty left over from the hurricanes and am planning on bringing it if we need to. i can leave work anytime on thursday so i could take care of that sometime thursday afternoon. just let me know.”

“what about water, will we need to cache some close to the camping spots? i still have plenty left over from the hurricanes and am planning on bringing it if we need to. i can leave work anytime on thursday so i could take care of that sometime thursday afternoon. just let me know.”

“cant we just pump water?”

“I think HPM mentions this on the trip page. Pumping from most of the ponds is useless and expensive - clogging is nearly immediate. I will be treating and thus - drniking a good amount of dead creepy crawlies. We can't really cache at our campsites as we won't really know the first one and the second is miles from any road. We could cache at forest roads - although if I'm going through that much trouble then I will be caching Bud Light and not water. Also - on the morning of day two we will be passing a car camping sight with a pump (and rest rooms).

Reasonable Water Plan
Day one - Hike in all water for use through next morning
Day Two - Load up for hiking day from pump in early AM then pump from relatively clear Hidden Pond in evening
Day Three - load up from Hidden Pond
End Day Three - lots of beverages available at campground store”

“I hope adult beverages!”

“Thanks Coop, just the info I needed.”

“Yep, Coop knows the drill.

I've been trying to get my ducks in a row and get all the info out there but stuff keeps getting in the way.
~sigh~

Sorry”

“hpm mike still needs directions :)”

“I-75 down to Ocala, exit onto Hwy 27, head East on 27 thru Ocala until you hit Hwy 40, follow 40 East thru Silver Springs, stay East on 40 for 20-25 miles, Juniper Springs State Park on left. Gates lock at dark.”

“http://www.dep.state.fl.us/gwt/guide/regions/crossflorida/trails/ocala_nat_forest.htm

http://www.camprrm.com/Florida%20Campgrounds.htm”

“One big question.
Who would like to shuttle and who wants to park at Juniper Springs?
Post your answers.”

“Me and Nicole are going to pay the $30 and leave our cars at Juniper springs.I say $30 becuase when we get there it will be a day early and we are going to spend the night on the Fl Trail.

By the way Mike I think I have the Directions down pact!

I-65 South To I-24 East To I-75 South To SR-40 East End At Juniper Springs.

8)”

“shuttle or park? Willing to do either as needed with my pickup.

If raining Friday, may be best to park it and shuttle with another car.”

“NO RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


8o”

“How many peeps will show up this year?

I plan on bringing a 'prize' for each.”

“How may will show?
I dunno, maybe we could start a TT pool.

Mike you are welcome to drop in at my place on the way south but be aware that I live at (not on, ain't doing THAT good) the Beach in Jacksonville. Well EAST of I95. Meaning that it is at least an hour or two out of your way coming south on I75. If that's cool with you and the Free one than it's cool with me.

As far as shuttle it'll be a self shuttle thing. There isn't a shuttle service for the forest if that was what some of y'all were thinking.”

“Hey HPM
I live in Starke, and have room to park here if anyone wants to carpol from there. I'll be heading down on Friday.”

“I'm leaving Knoxville Thursday afternoon/evening. Depending on how many need shuttled, I can remain flexible on that.”

“Oh and Matt, thanks for that email.
Very informative.

Just so y'all know Flatlander Matt heard form the FTA that the Juniper Prairie section has been mostly cleared of hurricane blowdowns. there might be one or two left by the time we hike.”

“I am 70% on this hike right now - we are in between houses and closing on the old one is the next week. I'm intending to come though. I'll know more as it gets closer.

Depending on Dub's plans - I don't mind shuttling.”

“Chili, you and trooper going together again or is cottonsocks going”

“as in the past, anyone driving down from the north is welcome to crash at the om dome if they wish on Thursday evening and on their way back as well. I live very near HwY 27 and I-75 , and it is a couple of hrs. to Juniper (or less if you drive faster than i do).
I will not be able to participate in any escorting or shuttling this year because i do not have Friday off, chocky and i may come out on Saturday if I can swing it, as it gets very hard to drag me away from the river lately, but i really would like to see you all again.!”

“Hey OM, I don't know how well you know the forest, but you can park on the west side of the wilderness area on the forestry road and hike to hidden pond. It's only about a mile.”

“we will be coming up on thursday afternoon from the st pete area. will probably stay at juniper springs campground(guess i need to make reservations) and will check to see how many tents you can have on one site. if they are full i may stay with my cousin. i will be bringing water left over from evacuating hurricanes and may still cache some by a road. will park at juniper springs, hard to shuttle with a celica.
last edited: 1/24/05 1:24:56 PM”

“Om you have to come out you are my favorite TT sweetheart!

8)”

“mikey...if anyone can drag me away from paradise ...it would be you kiddo.
flatlander matt...i may just have to do that...:) thanks. starke , eh? ...u in prison? heh, kidding.”

“Well, I am back to maybe! It turns out that I have to go to court possibly Friday and the next week so I cancelled my out west trip. As it gets closer I will know more!”

“Sorry you had to cancel the trip though.”

“Prison! Well doing time at UF. Let us know if you are going to come. I can hike out to the forestry road and meet you. If you have never parked there it can be a little confusing. There are a couple of entrances on that side. I think the old road # is 78 that goes to Silver Glenn, but it's not marked. Now that I think about it, you can hike now from the east off 19. The new Yearling Trail head on the west side of 19 at Silver Glenn will take you to the FT not far from Hidden Pond. There is a new parking area close to the 19, and maybe safer. There are maps at the tail head.”

“thanks fm....i have done such a thing once or twice, but i forget everytime.

doing time at UF? as a student or a warden? heh....i am doing time there too... everyday,
eeek...gotta go ..getting late!”

“Warden”

“Oi! It appears that you are talking about hiking 13-15 miles on the first day, looking at the maps provided by you and Big Coop. That will leave me about 2-3 days behind the group! Hmmmm.”

“??

Lemme check that when I get home.
I'm not going to do that to you.”

“Thanks Coop. Yes, a bit disappointing but I'll just reschedule. I hope you can make it with all your house stuff.

Treebait you showing up?

I think I will be at the Springs on Friday.”

“nowslimmer, you are right.From grassy pond to the north west corner of hopkins is 12.2 from cr316 at hunt headquarters would be 10.6. But no worries I'll hike with you if you want to shorten the day up, we can put in at many spots. I was thinking of packing a larger format camera. So slow would be good.”

“dang, where are my maps?”