Going to do a training hike for my upcoming Foothills Trail trek this coming Sunday and Monday, and I figured that I should throw it open for whomever wants to come. Note that it's going to be a long one, though.
The plan I have so far is to park at the FT trail head at FR 50, right at the north end of the Juniper Prairie Wilderness Area on the night of Saturday, 6/9. Wake up on the morning of 6/10 before dawn and hit the trail by 06:30. Hike down past Alexander Springs to the vicinity of the boardwalk across the stream there (unnamed but in the Data Book as "northernmost boardwalk"). It should be about thirty-one miles for the day, plus any side trips to get water. The longest stretch between water should be about ten miles (from Whiskey Creek to Farles Prairie). If I find that I'm getting too tired, there's a stop at about mile twenty-two for the day at Dora Pond that has water (though it's a pain to get to); it may even be possible that Brook Pond has water again after the storms during the last couple of weeks (there wasn't any in there in January).
If worse comes to worst, and there is no water at the creek under the boardwalk on 6/11, the plan is to camp there for the night and then hike into Alexander Springs and pay the day-use fee ($5) to get water from the restroom there--about four miles from the camp site.
If anyone wants, we can put together a shuttle system for 6/11 so that we don't have to do back-to-back thirty milers. The trick would be to park at either the Alexander Springs, Salt Springs, or SR 19 trail head and then hike to the car before driving back up to FR 50. Otherwise, the plan is to hike right back on up and, depending on how tired I am, either spend the night at the FR 50 trail head or drive on home.
If anyone's interested in going, let me know!
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Originally Posted by olddog
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