Nomadic 2005 ‐ Canaveral National Seashore -- Freaky People

2005-09-23

Where AM I? (29.035 N, 81.084 W)My mom always tells me not to talk to strangers. Today I did my best not to even look at them.

This morning, I got up, said farewell to Barnacle Bob and headed into St. Cloud to finish up some business. In the Home Depot parking lot, I managed to build a cot that fits in my new car. Technically, it's three 2x6's cut to 75" with some padding on top. It provides a level surface for sleeping.

From St. Cloud, I drove East, passing through Christmas, the town I would have reached today or tomorrow had I kept thru-hiking. Between the pines, palmettos, cypress hammocks and cattle ranches it looked exactly the same as the previous one-hundred miles. I regret nothing.

From there I continued North-East all the way to Canaveral National Seashore. I thought a stroll along the Atlantic ocean would be a good change. And I assumed I'd have the place to myself, because I also assumed (wrongly) that the area would only be open for hiking and bird-watching and such stuff.

Well, sun-bathing is allowed. And the people there seem to take it very seriously--Mediterranean style. And these people were all middle-aged and ugly and, and...well, there should be laws against such things! I had hoped I was far enough away from Miami. I guess these people were the Miami rejects.

Anyway, I had upped two extra dollars for a "backcountry pass," which meant I was allowed to hike farther along the beach than most, so I quickly left the naturalists behind.

This stretch of Atlantic coastline is identical to every other stretch of Atlantic coastline I've ever walked: it's a long, narrow strip of brown sand with waves on one side and grassy dunes on the other with a few sand pipers and a few pelicans and hardly a decent seashell to be found. But it's kind of relaxing and is definitely a change from inland Florida. I hiked just under eight miles altogether.

There were also a couple trails (real trails) heading off into the dense, jungle-like foliage of the West side of the island. These were interesting. One was a boardwalk tour of Turtle Mound with plaques describing life of the ancient Timucuan Indians. I'm continually amazed at how people could live in this environment without modern infrastructure.

Critters: the already-mentioned birds, a couple of fast-moving tortoises along the road, a crab and some live barnacles clinging to a piece of paper and an almost-tame armadillo.

I soon left the coast with its resorts and beach houses in order to find a place to sleep for the night. I really have no idea where I AM now other than some GPS coordinates and a knowledge that I must head Southwest tomorrow. I pulled into a utility road along some power lines and hid myself back a little ways. I suspect I'll see hunters in the morning, but nobody before that.

Well, time to see if the new cot works.