Day 14
Miles today:  18 miles
Miles so far: 221.5 miles
Campsite: Kicco Ghost Town campsite

I forgot to celebrate our 200th mile yesterday! Yay!

Enough with the festivities, let’s get down to business. Today we hiked thru the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. Our first 3 miles or so were pretty dry on the jeep road then it started to be ankle deep on and off. We arrived at the Ranger Station by 830am. They didn’t have much information about the trail ahead beside that it was wet… We started hiking out again then stopped and toyed with the idea to hitchhike to River Ranch. It was another chilly morning and the water was still brutally cold. No way I was going to get hyperthermia. We realized that it would be nearly impossible to hitch so we continued hiking.

Ankle, knee, thigh deep… The water was rising. We went thru a belly button high water, we were wet and cold. I was grumpy. Then the sun decided to come out and I was happy once again. The jeep road (or trail) was submerged so it was basically ankle or knee deep water for hours. Alex was ahead at one of the deeper water crossing and he turned to us to inform us it was waist deep but the second step he took, he went down to his sternum.

I held my pack over my head as to keep it all dry. I’m short, and I didn’t feel like submerging my gear. The water was chest high on me. It was funny. Again, if the boys weren’t with me… I would be absolutely mad. Ha! For 4 absolute strangers, we get along pretty well.

We saw many pigs today. I was rocking with my earbuds and looked up and saw a pig in the middle of the trail.. I yelled out to the boys PIG! That was stupid, they had already seen the pig and were stopped and whispering to one another… I was clueless with my earbuds in haha. We also saw 2 friendly otters who were super curious and walked on our path. FrontPage decided to continue hiking and they were following him along in the ditch. It was adorable.

After a few more miles, we were back on higher ground. Who knew florida had higher ground? Despite that, there was pockets of water… We made it to the lock where a nice lady let us through and the hike after that was a breeze. 3 miles to camp left.

We arrived at our location thinking this ghost town would have building but it nothing but a flat camping area. It was pretty. Some Rvers were here boondocking. Ideal and quiet location. Tonight, I am sleeping under a big wide oak tree. Branches so wide that when you’re laying in your tent, it feels like the tree is wrapping its wide branched around you. Kinda soothing in a way… This is a great campsite, even has a Porta potty. What else does a hiker really need?!

Tomorrow we push to River Ranch Resort. Where me and Alex will spend time on the premises to rest our legs after this 130 mile stretch. We’re dreaming of pizzas and beers. (a decent bloody mary would also be nice!)

I ran out of fuel so FrontPage let me use some of his heet and Alex, his fuel stove to boil some water for my dinners. Thanks guys!

That wraps it up for today. Hoping for a good night of sleep and a good short hike to the resort to rest. We earned it. Happy trails!