Florida Swamp Runners!

[muttly]

Gaiters keep a lot of sand and debris out.

Gators also keep the tourist population down. Oh, did you say Gaiters?....

[wetware1967]

Welcome Flack,
Another Florida Hanger here. Most of my hiking is day hikes. Camping is left to truck camping with Cub Scouts.. It can get pretty cold down here. Cold cold enough this last March to freeze my water bottles out at Forever Florida. But mostly you end up using a personal fan, and light weight sheet, and wishing the humidity would just STOP already. Haven't tried Cannibals 'soak your shirt and wear it to bed' concept. Mostly because my shirts are usually already wet through with prespiration and it doesn't seem to make a difference... Might have to try a quick wipe of rubbing alcohol before bedding down for the night to see if it helps any.
We do suffer the same problems here that our Colorado brethren face; namely the state parks do not allow hanging anything from the trees in the 'front country' campsites. I haven't discussed back country hammock camping with any rangers yet.

[Flackfizer]

omg! how have we missed talking about fire ants?? If there is one (million) reason to hammock hang it is fire ants! Just set a tent at dusk on one happy little mound--and that will send you off to Hammock-Mart post haste! I have not a banana spider bite--just hitchhikers. I liked to watch them on my Lekis until they started to walk up the stick. Then I knocked them off.
--Wetware: I have not seen any restrictions listed in the parks I have been at. Do you know of no-hang prohibitions? ANd what about on the Florida Trail?

[Flackfizer]

yeah--the only "gators" i care to see on the trail are the nylon kind. I do see unreal huge monsters sometimes kayaking.

[wetware1967]

Hrrm, I had looked up the regs at one time. But the site has been redesigned, and regulations updated for this year... I've just sent an email off to the Florida State Parks system to get a clarification. Can tell you that other Cubmasters I've spoken with have told me the same thing. Which is why I'd looked it up in the first place.
I'll post back when I get a response.

PS - The below info came from another site with no ties to the state parks system. I can't vouch for the validity of it, but the regs that are mentioned all mesh with what I've been told before. I've marked the important bit in red.

Common rules and regulations in effect at most of Florida's State Parks include:
•Check in is usually 1:00 p.m. and check-out is 11:00 a.m. (Cabin check in is usually 3:00 p.m. and check-out is 11:00 a.m.)
•Quiet time each evening is usually from 10:00 p.m. or 11:00 p.m. until 8:00 a.m. the next morning.
•All plants and animals are protected. Do not feed wildlife. Do not cut any trees or vegetation. Do not attach ropes or tie any object to trees.
•Children under 16 must be supervised at all times while inside the park.
•Children under 16 must wear a helmet when riding a bicycle.
•Gray water and sewage must be dumped in the dump station.
•No alcoholic beverages are permitted outside of designated campsite or cabin.
•Fires are limited to grills or fire rings. Firewood is usually on sale at the Entrance Station. No collecting of live or dead firewood (limbs, branches, logs, etc.) is permitted inside the park.
•Pets must be confined or leashed at all times (leashes may not exceed six feet). Pets must be well behaved all all times and confined within the campers' unit during quiet time. Pet owners are required to pick up after their pets and properly dispose of droppings in trash containers (they make this easy by providing Mutt Mitts at restroom facilities). Pets are not allowed in cabins, restrooms or park facilities.
•Horses must have proof of a negative Coggins test.

[wetware1967]

Found the statute:
Relevant bit is at the end.

62D-2.013 Park Property and Resources.
(1) Objective. All state parks have been established for the protection and preservation of their natural features or historic significance and for public use and enjoyment of the areas and facilities. The objective of these rules is to provide maximum public use consistent with the preservation of the natural features and historic value. State parks include all real property in the State of Florida under the jurisdiction of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Recreation and Parks, or which may come under its jurisdiction regardless of the property’s designation. Among the designations included in the state park system are state park, state recreation area, state archaeological site, state historic site, state geological site, state botanical site, state preserve, state garden, state museum, state reserve, state cultural site, state wildlife park, state folk culture center, and state trail. For purposes of this chapter, Department shall mean the Department of Environmental Protection, and Division shall mean the Division of Recreation and Parks of the Department.
(2) Removal or Destruction of Park Property and Resources. No person shall destroy, injure, deface, mar, move, dig, harmfully disturb or remove from any park area, or the waters thereof, any buildings, structures, facilities, historic ruins, equipment, park property, soil, sand, gravel, rocks, stones, minerals, marine plants or animals, artifacts, or other materials. No person shall cut, carve, injure, mutilate, move, displace, or break off any water bottom formation or growth. Nor shall any person possess, break off, or in any way damage any stalactites, stalagmites or other cave formations. No rope, wire, or other contrivance whether permanent or temporary, shall be attached to any natural feature or property within a park.

[MAD777]

Impressive research! That means no bear bags either! I've never considered this prohibition and have gotten away with hammocks & bear bags (I always hang my food).

However, I never "car camp" in what look more like picnic areas. I always hike in to "primitive" areas, as the parks call them, usually solo. I also tend to favor National Forests over State Parks due to less regulations and less people: not less banana spiders though

Plus, I almost always stealth camp. Except for my hammock, I'm an ultralight backpacker. I use a tiny Pepsi can alcohol stove for freezer bag "cooking" of dehydrated foods, etc. No one can tell whether I've been there or not, except the mocassins, diamond backs and coral snakes, the gators, bears, panthers, wild boar and don't forget the occassonal noisy armadillo! But, all in all, I still feel safer than I do in Miami

[Flackfizer]

Indeed, those are distressing words--but like Mad777 i end up in national forests and wild life and forest management areas rather thanks state parks ( i think). We have small state park near us that I have never overnighted in. May be time go all Rosa Parks on their asses! And yeah-bear bags? We always hang food regardless of if we are ham mocking or not! This may a cause worth fighting for.

[MAD777]

... Might have to try a quick wipe of rubbing alcohol before bedding down for the night to see if it helps any.

Now that's what I call a gram weenie! Wetware leaves his alcohol stove at home ... he is the stove He's my hero!

[wetware1967]

A true gram weenie gets liposuction the day before the hike.