14 days left.

Monday Bruce and I headed out to hike the Croom Tract and even though things didn't go as planned, we ended having a great time.

It turns out that all the info for the loop and connecting trails that you'll find online is out of date. I didn't realize the footbridge that crosses from where we parked at Hog Island over the Withlacoochee river, and to the Croom Tract, was out.

Bummer.

Worst of all, I didn't realize that was my bridge when I passed it so that meant I ended up passing the only reasonable spot to cross through the water and hiking well into the night before I realized exactly what was up. I had to go to plan B and ended up camping out by River Junction since there was a water source there.

I got really lucky with my site selection since the next morning I woke up to this awesome view:

 

I had no idea. The moon was just a sliver in the sky the night before so I didn't know whether I had set up around the corner from a mud puddle or nice stream, all I knew is that there was water. It was definitely a nice backdrop to enjoy while prepping breakfast and gearing up for the hike back.

Geared up and ready to go!

The hike back was nicer than the hike in. We left too late the day before and had a lot of miles to cover so we didn't take our time and enjoy it enough but the trail was really pretty if you just took a second to look around. There were some really nice spots along the trail, especially where it came right along side the Withlacoochee River. Since we had all day to hike just a few miles I figured that Bruce and I might as well soak it in.

 

Bruce was checking out some burrows that didn't seem to have anything inside. I'm guessing otters.

Cooling off in the river.

 

It was a nice little break but eventually Bruce got restless and it was time to move on.

All in all it was a great trip. We might not have picked up a bunch of miles, but there's plenty of that coming up in just a couple weeks....

Friday is my last day of work. April 14th I start my drive. On the 15th I'll hike the approach trail and reach Springer Mountain and the AT. I don't have a lot of time left before I go and I want to be smart about how I use it.

-Nick