Last year I did my first bikepacking trip at St Marks Wildlife Refuge in Wakulla County Florida. I did a fairly simple two day, one night thru trip making 83 miles with resupply points available along the way. It was a great trip fueled by the posts of some of the more prolific bikepackers here on mtbr. Those posts added an entire new dimension to my biking and combined two of my favorite past-times. So where do I go next? Well, before my trip last Fall, I really didn't know how many options I really had as bikepacking simply doesn't seem to be done very often in Florida aside from some individuals in central part of the state - most of which seemed more geared towards ultra-racing. There are actually lots of options, Florida is teaming with state and federal parks. Its just a matter of connecting up enough trail. What better place to go next than the largest park in Florida, which just happens to border the city of Tallahassee(where I live)?
The Apalachicola National Forest is 567,742 acres of a mix of lowlands, swamps, sandhills, and flatwoods with a smattering of sinkholes, springs, sand ponds, lakes, and 6 different watersheds. The ANF houses more than 300 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. There are several hikes available at different areas of the forest, several recreational areas for swimming, the Florida Trail(which runs the entire length of the state) spans ANF, and there is even a system of singletrack for mountain bikers called Munson Hills which contains two major loops called Munson Hills and Twilight, between the two containing just over 20 miles. Its a great place for all sorts of recreational activities and happens to have forest roads, secondary roads, and tons of unmarked trails running all over it. You can pick up a great waterproof map from one of the two ranger stations that shows all the main roads.
It took a few weeks to finalize my route. I haven't moved up to treating my own water, so it was mostly based on potable water sources. Didn't take long for it to be clear that I'd have to pack food along for the first two days of this trip as resupply points(outside of water) were pretty much nonexistant along the route until the end of day two. I'd be doing a three day trip this time, so a little extra gear in the form of some extra clothes, and I'd be packing away legitimate meals rather than just snacks. I learned that packing everything on the rack on my last trip definately had an affect on making my bike less balanced. This trip, the sleeping bag would go up front, sleeping bag on back, and the clothes would go in the framebag my fiance made for me. Food would go in the hydration pack.
Enough of all that junk, onto the trip!
I started at my house, left just after sunrise loaded up and ready to go on a Friday morning. I'm a halfmile from a "rails to trails" paved bike path called the St Marks Bike Trail, that runs from Tallahassee to St Marks, FL.
From the St Marks bike path, I followed pavement just a couple miles south to the trailhead parking lot of Munson Hills mountain bike trails. I'm gonna start my bikepacking trip off with the fastest singletrack in Florida!
Following Munson counterclockwise, I hopped on the west connector which crosses a gasline before connecting up to Twilight. Instead of going to Twilight, I hopped on the gasline and headed west. Then off to a service road and jumped over Crawfordville Hwy and Munson Slough before heading back into ANF via some unmarked trails. I meandered my way around until I found a nice little sinkhole that laid at the bottom of an 80' depression. Water was blue and its a great place to dive, just remember to bring a rope if you plan on going to the bottom.
From here I went south and west some more until I reach the Trout Pond recreational area where I ate lunch.
From here I jumped on the GF&A bike path, which is another paved rails to trails route that winds just 2.5 miles south. At the end, I jumped back off onto shared OHV/forest road that was often pretty loose with sugar sand. I caught a light shower that just helped cool things off and kept heading west when I found this little green snake crossing the road. He was no more than 10" long and pencil thin.
Saw a dinosaur at the crossing over Lost Creek
I stopped at Brown House hunt camp for a little breather then continued down more forest road over the Sopchoppy River. There were all sorts of flowery things on the sides of the road, especially around water and swampy areas.
Eventually, it started raining again, this time alot... and quite heavy at times. It wasn't refreshing like the previous showers, it ended up being downright miserable after awhile. The majority of the forest roads and trails in the ANF is sand over clay. The rain helps pack the sand down to a point, but these heavy rains seemed to mix the sand and clay. It was sticking on everything, my person, my camping gear, and especially my bike(and its drivetrain). The majority of the rest of my 3 day trip would have my bike creaking and popping like crazy.
The good news is wildlife was out in force. I saw several black racers, lots of whitetailed deer, and was continually getting the crap scared out of me by turkeys exploding out of my perifial vision as I passed them. ANF also has several areas flagged and fenced(the zappy kind to keep bears out) off for bee hives. Kinda neat.
Didn't see anything particularly dangerous on my trip. Thought maybe I saw a small blackbear cub on Sat morning, but couldn't be sure due to the fog and distance. Bears don't bother me much, hogs worry me the most. Snakes aren't an issue for me, nor are spiders(although I should worry about them more since I've got two brown recluse bites/scars now over the years). Hell, even the plants are carnivorous around here though!
Finally the rains blew over and friendlier skies shown through, just in time for me to cross the Ochlockonee River and reach my first nights camp at Porter Lake. Sorry for the condensation/bluriness, it had just quit raining and the lense was fogged.
Porter Lake camp site, and it has potable water, as long as you don't mind a bit of brown tint to your drink!
I had reached my destination for the day, only 46 miles in, but still my longest ride to date. My legs still felt strong, and unlike my first trip, my knees were giving me absolutely zero issues after the first stretch of trip. I'm not sure if its because I didn't push it any, typically keeping my gearing down, or if my stretching and preriding had that much of an impact. Maybe both? Either way, I set up camp and hit the bed early, out by 7PM. The mosquitos were simply awefull, so I couldn't hang around outside once stopped and geared down.
