Hidden Pond in the Ocala National Forest

[greyhound352]

Well at I hit the trail at 2:40 PM and began my solo hike to Hidden Pond in the Ocala National Forest. Not sure of the trail, the directions said head East for two miles until you hit the Florida Trail and then South for half a mile to the destination. Sounds simple so I set off on an easterly direction until the trail just disappeared, walked to the right no trail and then the left and there it was so continued on. I really appreciate the previous hiker marking the trail with bear scat droppings it was easy to follow. My journey was joined by numerous pairs of Florida Scrub Jays, I have not seen these birds before and they sang and chirped along as I hike down the trail.

Filtered some water from the pond as it was hot on the hike in and then setup camp. I was expecting Florida Hanger & Gravey to arrive that evening but the site was wipe cleaned up firewood and didn't look like previous pictures from hangs at the pond. So I start scouting out the area and found the regular site behind the pond. Plenty of wood was available so I started stockpiling wood near the fire area. The guys showed up later than I expected so I helped out where I could.

The next morning the guys showed me around the pond and spoke of the history of previous hangs. More folks trickled in throughout the day and I enjoyed meeting more of the Florida hangers. After it cooled off a little in the afternoon I went for a hike South of the campsite to explore more of this diverse preserve.

The next day was a longer hiking day, the morning hike was a total of 4 hours and covered a little over 9 miles. On this hike I was able to see a coach whip snake, lots of Florida Scrub Jays, a bald eagle, and tracks from raccoons and bears. Florida hanger was telling me about the sink hole, cemetery,  and other remnants of the homestead from the 1800's.

I really enjoyed the hang and meeting a bunch of the Florida hangers on this trip.
Here are pics.

[crashdive123]

Awesome.  Glad you had a good hike and hang.

[Yellowyak]

Looks like a great trip Ron. Glad to see you getting out in the woods.

[madmax]

Glad to see you out and about.  I may need to tune my hammock set up and join one of these camps this winter.  Hidden Pond is very close to me.

[Sarge]

Looks like a nice trip.

[wsdstan]

Nice place, looks like a good time.

[wolfy]

There's a lot to be said for solo trips like this.....go where and when you want, no arguments or 'discussion' on when to start or stop for the day and the cook always pleases everybody.

Thanks for the photo/journal report, GH....glad you got out!

[Mannlicher]

in my more active days,  I hiked that area often.  Many a hike from Juniper Springs up to Pat's landing.  The Yearling trail is a nice side trip.  Miss seeing you Ron.