583. Wanda's Wanda-rings: Florida Trail
A short new section of the Florida Trail near the Look and Tremble Rapids of the Chipola River, with stamp by Kirbert

Well, it seems that when I first backpacked the Florida Trail back in 1983, it was quite a "let-down" for me: flat, hot, wet and buggy because I started too early, right after my first Appalachian Trail and first Long Trail and well before the traditional "winter hiking season", so it seemed like everything was going wrong. What I mostly remember were days of slogging through murky bogs with seemingly interminable road walks in between, so I can't really say that I much enjoyed backpacking the Florida Trail back then. However, all of my subsequent trips down to Florida have been much more pleasant, so now I actually look forward each year to going back to re-hike some of the nicer sections and am especially glad to hear of any new sections that take the "trail" off some of those long, long road walks!

One such section that recently got taken off the road and put onto a nice piece of trail is just a few dozen miles west of Tallahassee off route 274, a mile or so east of Chason. To find this letterbox with its fine Kirbert carving of the Florida Trail route that I took way back when, begin by parking at the picnic area on the east side of the Chipola River bridge on route 274. (It is apparently called Look and Tremble Rapids Park, but the only thing to "look and tremble" at might be the graffiti or some leftover trash!) Anyway, head south through two wooden posts with orange blazes on them. Once you get away from the traffic noise, pass a metal gate and chain link fence on your left, then cross a gully, cross a nice footbridge and find a campsite right along the river. Soon afterward, as you curve left away from the river, note a thin orange-blazed cedar on the left with a rotting woodpecker tree on the right. From that spot, about 30 steps from the turnoff, take another 30 steps to an orange blazed "pony tree" on the right (not quite large enough to be a "horsey tree" to sit on yet, but getting there!) Now go 20 steps off trail at 25 degrees to a tall c.16-inch diameter pine, then 4 steps further north, and look under bark in the front V crook of rotting logs on the ground to find the Wanda's Wanda-rings Florida Trail letterbox. Now enjoy a leisurely stroll back along the river to your car - one more "brief reprieve" from the "long and winding road"!

P.S. I actually bumped into Nimblewill Nomad in Ocala National Forest a few days before planting this box, and he told me he really likes road walks, but then he probably enjoys the public exposure, too, which I always wanted to avoid while backpacking, so "to each his own" - I'll take "real trail" any day!

P.P.S. For more information on other trail that I have backpacked, please visit "Wanda's Wanda-rings"

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