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first backpacking trip starts Tuesday 4/24 (Original Post) onethatcares Apr 2018 OP
Very exciting, and smart to start with an easy trek! I did my first big pack GreenPartyVoter Apr 2018 #1
yeah, this is flat land. onethatcares Apr 2018 #2
Sounds wonderful...and it appears your head is in the right place before you start. Enjoy! c-rational Apr 2018 #3
I'm baaaaack. onethatcares Apr 2018 #4
WOW kat3rinamarquez Jul 2019 #5

GreenPartyVoter

(73,071 posts)
1. Very exciting, and smart to start with an easy trek! I did my first big pack
Wed Apr 18, 2018, 05:36 PM
Apr 2018

(35lbs) last summer, but there was no elevation so I was fine. My hips are weak, tho, so hauling that kind of weight up to a summit makes me nervous!

Have a wonderful and safe trip!!

onethatcares

(16,578 posts)
2. yeah, this is flat land.
Wed Apr 18, 2018, 05:41 PM
Apr 2018

hoping to build up to an uphill by the end of the summer though.

I just gotta get away from the smog and the fog and the people and the city.

Gotta see the stars the way they were meant to be seen.

oh, and thank you.

onethatcares

(16,578 posts)
4. I'm baaaaack.
Thu Apr 26, 2018, 07:20 PM
Apr 2018

nice sojourn into the woods of Colt Creek State Park outside of Lakeland FL. Had a campground all to my self and enjoyed the area.

Late Tuesday night an awful scream/howl woke me and I was scared. Almost enough to walk out in the dark but realized it could only be a weird sounding owl or Bigfoot. Neither of which could hurt me. Well, maybe the owl could but Bigfoot has been noticably absent from this area for a while, so I went back to sleep. Fitfully, I would say

The next night was better with the howls being further away. In conversation with a Park Ranger I asked if he knew what it could have been and the only thing he said was, "Well we do have coyotes around here. Maybe it was one of them. I've never stayed in the park overnight so I don't know".

Slept better. Only thing to disturb me was the sound of trucks all night long on Rt 471. Managed to sleep through most of that.

Anyway, I would give this hike/camp a 6 on a 10 scale mainly due to the traffic noise. I thought I'd be further away from it. Oh well.

Bring firewood, or you have to buy it. I got the last of the cut Tuesday. Bring water, there are no streams along the trail to filter.



Price was $5.00 a nite which was good. Enjoy before it's all gone and those ticky tacky houses are all over it.

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