Okay so we have not been able to do an over night hike in some time now ( about 9-10 months. Shawn and I have had a lot going on and its just not been possible for us to do one. But now things have settled down and we are good to go. So after a few talks we decided its time. And we have a stretch in Ocala that needs to be done and it will be a good over nighter. So he gets on the ball and gets to talking to Ken and James to see if this is going to be one that they are both going to be able to do. They say yes they are good with this weekend so now its on. Its a date ;-)
Okay well all this time while planning this hike the weather has been so nice. In the lower to mid 80's during the day and most nights in the 50's. Nice hiking / camping weather. Now i'm excited. Because as all of you know Ocala has proven to me more than once that it doesn't like me. Ocala is not my friend. That place either tries to freeze me to death or burn me up so bad that I almost have a dang heat stroke. Never a good time in Ocala with the weather for me. LOL So yea beautiful weather in Ocala Im excited. But it was short lived ... my excitement. As time drew closer so did a cold front. OMG !!!!!! SERIOUSLY ????????? I SWEAR THIS PLACE REALLY DOES HATE ME !!!! LOL
Against my better judgement I agree to continue with the whole thing. I have missed hiking and camping so I am pretty much willing to withstand what ever mother nature throws at us just to be able to go. And let me just say that mother nature can be so cruel at times LOL
Okay I get things squared away here at home. Our friend Kym who lives across the street is going to tend to the dogs for the weekend. ( Thanks Kymmi ). Sara, Colin and I go to Walmart and grab the things we need for our trip.( Thanks for taking me all over Gods creation on Friday Sar. <3 ) Shawn is in Jacksonville with KO for work stuff so he isn't able to go with me to get the last minute things we have to have. And I had to go by Zorba's Eatery to get my soup and hummus and pita for my dinner on Saturday night.
Okay all the running part is done. Shawn comes home and we get things moving. Getting all of our hiking and camping gear out and spread out all over the living room. We get everything together and packed up in our bags and head off to bed.
Saturday morning we get up and get things loaded up and head out. Here we go ... aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh yep still excited even though I know mother nature is going to try to turn me into a Popsicle again.
Shawn and I get to Salt Springs Marina and are there for about 20 minutes waiting on James and Ken and realize that we are in the wrong place when they don't show up. And we can't get a hold of them because we don't have cell phone signal out here. hmmmmmmmmm
So we go down the street and find where we need to be. Yep there they are waiting for us. LOL
Okay so we leave James' car at Salt Springs and pile into the truck and off we go to Hopkins Prairie. We get there and to our amazement there are a lot of cars there. Okay no big deal so a lot of people agree that today is a good day for a hike.
We start out on our hike. First we come across a thing about Bats and a HUGH Bat house. Kinda neat.
Okay now here we go. Here is Shawn and Ken just after we start the hike.... gotta love the prairies in Ocala LOL
Okay we are moving along and we come across a few people here and there. Yep it appears that its going to be a busy trail today. A lot of day hikers seem to be out today.
As we move on we come across a few young guys who seem ummmmmmm .... well how does one put this ??? Dirty and shoe-less and yea .... LOL somewhat interesting to say the least. They give a polite smile and Hey, how are yall ? And keep moving. HMMMMMMMMMMMMM is all I could say...
We keep moving forward talking and laughing and carrying on being our normal selves and low and behold we come across a few more " dirty, shoe-less dread-locked headed guys. Again a polite hello, how are you smiling faces...
Okay so they must be with the two young guys we just passed. No big deal.
Then after walking a little ways we come to a bunch of camps in this straight stretch of the trail. Coming up on them it looked like a bunch of campers. getting closer to them we can see where each camp site has a name. They have named their camp sites ? Okay then whatever. Then as we get closer we see that they are the same dirty shoe-less type people again. LOL Im a little taken back at this point. Yes they are all nice enough but Im confused and uneasy about what we just walked into and what these people are doing out here. Are they homeless ? Whats going on ? It feels as if we are invading their space. And that makes me uneasy. I keep my head down so as not to show my uneasiness to any of them.
We get past that stretch and my heal starts bothering me. I tell Shawn I have to stop and check my foot. Yep I have a blister forming again. I change my socks thinking maybe the ones I had on were just too thick. So I put on a thin pair and we press on.
We come around a bend on the trail and I can not believe what I am seeing. These people are EVERYWHERE they could possible make camp. WHAT IS THIS PLACE ?????? WHAT HAVE WE WALKED INTO ???? WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE ???? WHY ARE THEY OUT HERE LIKE THIS ???? Now im kinda freaking out. I dont know what to think but I do know that I am not comfortable here at all. I just want to get passed all of this and with a quickness.
As we pass the ( camp signs ) and the people were all nice enough. One guy smiles at me and says Welcome Home... after he passed I looked at Shawn and said " did he just tell me Welcome Home ??? " Shawn kinda giggles at me and says I have no idea what he said. And we keep going.
Well by now I am really uneasy with all these people that we can see and the MANY that we cant see but can hear clearly in the trees.
Ken for some reason has lagged behind us and I decide then that this is a " NO MAN LEFT BEHIND HIKE ". LOL
Person after person group after group... we move on. Up ahead of us I can hear a lot of coughing .... yep I know the sound of that cough ... So I tell James " hold your breath when we get up here ...." he says HUH ? I said trust me just hold your breath and walk fast. LOL Sure enough we get up a little ways and there is a group of about 6 or so not so friendly people passing around a few joints in their circle. We get passed them pretty fast and James giggles and says " Wow my shoulder doesnt hurt at all anymore " LOL We all laugh.
The we come across a camp named " Coffee Camp " we all joke that thats the came we belong at. And a guy says "Welcome Home. Welcome to Rainbow Land .... Yea hes got coffee and cigarettes there. Anything you need hes got there ". HMMMMMMMMM okay then.
Still moving on. I hear a voice from behind me say " excuse me can I get passed you all ? We all politely smile and step aside and he makes his way threw up and then he takes off running. OKAY WHYYYYYYYYYYY IS HE RUNNING ?????? Should we get running too ? LOL Talk about being uneasy and nervous. I truly am. But not Shawn , Ken and James. They all seem more interested in these people and what they are doing out here and why they are out here. Unlike them I dont want to sit and have a pow wow and I dont want to really know what they are doing out there now. I just want to get away from this oddness. I want to get far enough away so we can start looking for camp. And not have to worry about any of these people coming up on us while we are attempting to sleep. LOL I just want to be able to relax away from all of this. I WANT OUT OF RAINBOW LAND. I WANT AWAY FROM THIS HIPPY COALITION / COLONY OF PEOPLE.
We are finally coming to the end of these people and we pass a lady who is carrying a 2 1/2 dozen flat of eggs and she smiles and said i have breakfast for my kitchen. Really ? what kind of kitchen could you possible have out here ???? UGHHHHHHHH get me away from here pleaseeeeeeeeeeeee .... Then as we get to a dirt road there are a few more people with an old U-haul sort of truck and a MASSIVE amount of water. All we could come up with is that was the water supply and the food supply and God know what else. LOL
We press on and to my relief there are no more Rainbow Land Hippies. Feeling as if I can breath again I am feeling much more relaxed. Then I realize I am exhausted and my sugar is pretty low because I hadn't eaten threw the day.
So we decide to start looking for camp a good distance away from the Coalition. Feeling safe Im ready to make camp, eat and go to bed.
While the guys are clearing camp and gathering fire wood I sit down to eat some Hummus and Pita and get some water boiling for some much needed coffee.
The sun is going down with a quickness and its starting to get chilly now.
They guys get our camp site cleared while I get Shawn and I some coffee made. Then we get our hammocks hung up and Shawn and James put my rain fly up in case there is dew or a heavy frost over night, I dont want to wake up soaked. And then Shawn and James and Ken get our mats and emergency blankets set up so that they will hold in the body heat from the underside of the hammocks ( and mine also had my rain fly to hold in body heat from the top side. James and I were the only 2 to use the rain flies. Shawn and Ken didnt use theirs. ) Okay beds are made and ready now.
Now its time to start the fire and get some dinner going. Im starving and so is everyone else. Besides that its COLD now.
( here is James by the camp fire. You know its cold when James is bundled up. LOL )
The fire is nice. My front is nice and warm but my back is freezing. LOL James goes and gets another emergency blanket and rigs it up behind Shawn and I and WOW now im happy. LOL My front and Back are toasty warm. Guess I can stay up and talk for a while since Im not freezing. LOL
As our day is coming to an end. We can hear Rainbow Lands is just beginning. Sound travels out here. And man do these people know how to party. LOL ( and they partied until about 3:00am FYI )
Shawn and I say good night to Ken and James and head for our hammocks. I decided I should pee now before I get all comfy cozy in my sleeping bag and hammock for the night. I go pee with a quickness cause let me tell you the temps are dropping hard and fast. BRRRRRRRRRRR RABBIT ITS COLD NOW.
Okay potty business done. Walk over kiss Shawn good night go to my hammock ( a short distance from Shawn's ) climb in slide my feet in and the fight starts there. LOL I battled with that stupid sleeping bag for a good hour before I got comfortable enough to kindly figure out what I was doing wrong... then it took me a good part of the night to really figure out what I was doing wrong. LOL
And of course every time I would get comfortable I would have to pee AGAIN. Three times I had to get up in the middle of the night to pee. SMH ( shaking my head ) you have got to be kidding me.... its too dang cold to be getting out and going pee again and again and again. LOL
After being awake most of the night with a few cat naps here and there. I finally doze off. I wake up 2 hours later to 2 voices. I get up ( and yes I have to pee again LOL ) and James and Ken are up and have the fire going.I go pee and I ease over to Shawns hammock and hes still sleeping so I grabbed the cigarettes and head out to the fire where Ken and James are.
Come to find out poor Ken didnt sleep at all. He had issues with his sleeping bag and was freezing all night long. I felt so bad for him. Thats how I was my first cold Ocala trip. It was so miserable. But he made it threw the night somehow and was awake bright and early to talk about it. James said he didnt sleep well either.
As im getting water boiling for Coffee. Ken showed me his camel pack and its got a ton of ice in it.
Shawn wakes up and comes out to the fire and come to find out he didnt sleep well either. LOL Great none of us slept and we still have a 4ish mile hike out of here.
After waking up and drinking some much needed hot coffee and munching on some fig newtons ( i know breakfast of champions ... but I wasnt too hungry just needed something in my stomach ) and talking and taking our sweet time we decide to get our camp broke down and packed up and head on out.
I get my blister covered and get my shoes on. OMG this is gonna be a long 4ish mile hike out with this thing...
Off we go....
Blisters hurting, kinda tired but feeling pretty good considering the lack of sleep , I put my ear phones in and get the music going. Waking up good now. the hike out was pretty relaxing with the exception of the booger scare that we all had that turned out to be a black charred stump... and my blisters it was pretty uneventful.
We reached Salt Springs Marina and realized the trail ends there. So Ken stayed with me while Shawn and James went 1/2 mile down to road to get James' car. And come back to get Ken and I. We pile up in the car and we go to where we left the truck. Say our good bye and it was funs and headed home.
Over all this over night hike was my best so far. It was nice not to hurt and it was nice not to freeze to death. Shawn and James are pretty sure the temps were in the 25* - 28* range. And due to their creations I didnt get cold while attempting to sleep. That was nice and a big change from the last over night hike in Feb in Ocala.
Today ( Monday Feb.4,2013 ) my body feels a little tight. My left hip is pretty sore. I have blisters on the back of both feet and my back hurts. But those were all expected. Its been months since we have done this so.... none of these aches and pains are a surprise to me.
Im excited to go on out next hike. I believe Shawn said we are going to plan a 3 day hike. We havent done that yet so its really exciting to me. I will for sure post the good the bad and the ugly on that hike. And hopefully get more pictures then too.
Thanks Shawn , Ken and James for a wonderful overnight. I had a blast !!!!!!! And cant wait for the next one. <3 <3 <3
Oh yea I almost forgot .... Rainbow Land .... harmless group of people. Im just a paranoid kind of person when it comes to different I guess ;-). Here is a link on what they are all about and what they were doing out there.
http://flrainbow.org/Ocala/
WELCOME HOME EVERYONE !!!!!
HERE IS A LINK TO SHAWN AND KEN'S BLOGS. JUST CLICK ON THEIR NAMES BELOW....
SHAWN
KEN
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