SECOND ANNUAL FLORIDA HIKE-N-HANG (planning)

[FLRider]

I appreciate the offer. I wouldn't ask anyone to carry extra for me, and I'm sure what i'll be carrying will be fine if I'm careful with it. I just have always tried to carry plenty of water since my very first hiking experience was hiking through Juniper Prairie Wilderness and running out of water . Besides, I can always just stick an extra liter or two in my wife's pack and not tell her about it.

Heh. Well, if she decides to make you sleep in the hammock 'cause of that...wait...

They are sugar sand roads as far as I can tell from google maps. Not exactly prime biking routes. If the end of Pole Bridge Road is right at the trail, we may be able to drive up there Saturday morning to drop some off before we park at the fire tower.

Duh. Should have checked Google Maps. There are days...

I think you're right. Without actually being on the ground to look at them, it's hard to tell, but it definitely looks that way. And the Street View of the turnoff onto Porter Gap from SR 50 definitely is dirt. Can't tell whether it's hardpack or sugar sand, but it's most definitely not asphalt.

[Grinder]

re. the water situation. there is a well with a tap we can access at the water tower. You can taste iron IIRC, but big deal!!

If we bring containers, we can fill and cash them down near the intended camp ground in the morning. (like we did last year.)

I'll have containers in the car, at the main entrance.we could drive to get them if needed.

I'm walking in from by Main gate to the Green Swamp west.

[MAD777]

First of all, thank you Olddog for the recon mission!

I'll throw a few gal s of bottled water in the trunk of the car. We can work out the logistics of the cache Saturday morning. I'll be there Friday. but will hike back to the Firetower Saturday morning. We need to establish a meet-up time.

[emcee]

Yep, exactly what MAD said!
I will be their about 6pm Friday. I'll bring some extra gallons. Even if it's just to dump on my head come Sat. evening.
BTW, FlRider it looks like 4 miles each way from the parking lot to the intersection of Porter Gap and the trail.

[olddog]

Pole Bridge and Porter Gap Rds are hard packed dirt with PB ending right at the trail and leaving a cache there wouldn be easy. I'll be going in noonish on Friday and can place some then. Plus I'll be carrying around 10 liters. As far as meeting up Saturday morning I'm going to opt for waiting at the Friday night site and wait for the Saturday morning group to meet there.

[FLRider]

Thanks, everyone! I should be arriving at the fire tower somewhere between 6 and 9 PM (it really depends on the wind and how long my breaks are along the way; this'll be the longest ride I've done yet) on Friday, and I'll be bringing extra water containers (I'll save the ones I buy on the way).

Really looking forward to this one!

Yep, exactly what MAD said!
I will be their about 6pm Friday. I'll bring some extra gallons. Even if it's just to dump on my head come Sat. evening.
BTW, FlRider it looks like 4 miles each way from the parking lot to the intersection of Porter Gap and the trail.

Huh. Yeah, I guess you're probably closer to correct. I was thinking that the straight shot down that road was straighter compared to the north loop distances given. It's not; it's closer to a mirror of the loop, actually. Doesn't swing quite as far out to the west as the loop does to the east, but it's enough. Thanks for pointing that out.

[hangNyak]

Well, we'll only be about a quarter mile down the trail from the parking area. When you come to the parking lot and about to turn into it, there will be a trail right across the road from where you turned in. You just go down that trail. But if you like, and you're sure that you'll be there at 8pm, I could meet you and walk you down the trail to where we'll be.

Thanks Ricky. If it's as easy as Mike says, I don't think I'll have a problem. I was just concerned about showing up at almost dark. Work is a little crazy right now, so if I can't get on the road in a timely manner, I may just wait till Saturday morning. Tampa traffic can be brutal at rush hour. I really would like to make Friday, though.

[MAD777]

Pole Bridge and Porter Gap Rds are hard packed dirt with PB ending right at the trail and leaving a cache there wouldn be easy. I'll be going in noonish on Friday and can place some then. Plus I'll be carrying around 10 liters. As far as meeting up Saturday morning I'm going to opt for waiting at the Friday night site and wait for the Saturday morning group to meet there.

OK, in light of olddog's info, I will drop my water cache at the end of Pole Bridge road at the trail when I arrive Friday evening since I can drive up Pole Bridge road to that point.

If anybody sees a flaw in this ointment, let me know.

[Great White]

From what my schedule looks like, I will be arriving around 8:30pm, Friday. I will bring some extra water as well.

[olddog]

I'll take care of the water cache at the end of Pole Bridge Rd. We will all be topped off Saturday morning to start our hike. Some of the Friday bunch may want to hike back out to the tower to refill. I figure 5 gals. should be adequate for Saturday evening and the Sunday hike out. After going down Pole Bridge Rd yesterday I don't believe that I'd want to be finding my way in there in the dark. So if that sounds ok it will save Madd & Flrider trips in to cache and others carrying a bunch of water jugs. As far as meet up time Saturday morning how about 9:00am at the tower and 9:30 at the Friday site with the hike starting at 10:00. That should give everyone time to arrive and still leave plenty of time to enjoy the hike and get to the Sat. site with timeto set up. Spring is definitely in the air in Richloam! Doing a rough headcount I'm thinking 10 to 12. How does that sound?