After flying into Orlando Airport, I was picked up by Steve, who was coming down from his new home in Georgia, and we drove the extra 90 minutes to Melbourne Florida the business location for Zpacks. We met the crew and chatted about gear and life and then left for the two hour drive over to Hobe Sound (the end of our trip) to drop off the cars, where they would sit for a few days. A shuttle had been arranged to take us about two hours back to the start of our hike
The walking part of our hike started right next to Lake Okeechobee at Lost Nena Trailhead
The Ocean to Lake Trail officially begins/ends here.
Day 1
It soon breaks out into a bit of a road walk, although hardly used, for a few miles
Lovely scenery
Then onto some burns along a canal
Then into the water. This would be the theme of this trip as about 58 of the 63 miles of this trip would be walking in ankle to almost waist deep water.
A little mid-morning break at a campsite with lovely views
The day ended after 15 miles on a dry section of burn next to a canal.
dinner and conversation
after dinner it was a lovely night to be camping
Day 2 was more good weather. Crossing over a land bridge of the canal we camped at the night before
Back into the water. A cypress and palm jungle
The trail isn't land but water.
Deep water.. alligator?
Why worry about a bridge at this point.... :-)
small wildflowers are noticeable everywhere
A little rest mid day
Now seriously, there has to be an alligator in here somewhere.
End of Day 2 and 17 miles at a Boy Scout camp in the middle of nowhere!
We hid out in the trees, trying to stealth camp on the Boy Scout property. Evening 2 was full of mosquitoes so not much going on after setting up if you didn't want to get eaten alive
Back into another conservation area
More boardwalks
More boardwalks
Over the bridge and late for a rest
Back into the water after lunch
out of the water and a long walk along a canal into a very nice park with trails
Nice dry paths for a few miles
We needed to go under and then along a highway
Huge amounts of pizza was ordered, but then no one was hungry! 2 slices maybe and we took a couple more with us to our campsite just a short distance away. For a road side plaza pizza shop it was excellent.
17 miles more today and a great night sleep under a giant palm
Diverse hiking today:
Water
Forest
Boardwalk
Burned areas
Highway
Neighborhood paths
over the bridge
and after 63 miles...down to the ocean and finished
Afterward post hike Mexican food.
This hike was really fun with some great people. It however was not too good for my feet, I limped in the last five miles and leaves me with more questions about my hiking future. In addition to just the damage to my feet, which I have always had problems with the callouses on the bottom of my feet. I strained the flexor tendons in the front of my right ankle with the repetitive nature of pushing water all day.
I am not sure how this will effect my TGO plans at this point.
The Video is Here:
http://mustexplore.blogspot.com/2016/02/video-of-floridas-ocean-to-lake-trail.html
