Gracious! November is almost over and I still haven’t done much hiking. That’s all about to change, though!

This weekend the North Florida Trailblazers will be having our Christmas Party in the Osceola Natl Forest. Unfortunately due to other obligations I won’t be able to camp out. However, I will make up for it the following weekend.

There’s a section of Florida I’ve been wanting to hike for a long time and I’m finally doing it the weekend of the 10th. I’ll be joining a few others at Torreya State Park along the Apalchicola River in the Florida Panhandle. The park is named for a rare tree that only grows along the banks of the river. I’m really looking forward to hiking the Torreya Challenge which is supposed to offer some of the best (and probably only) elevation changes in Florida.

I’m also really excited about trying out my Circuit pack and Incubator underquilt. I haven’t really had the chance to use the UQ in truly cold weather and right now we’re looking at 30s at night. I’m hoping that holds true for next weekend. I’m still debating on where to camp, though. I don’t know that an individual can get the primitive camping area so I’ll probably end up on a regular tent site. Of course the other concern is the state park’s animosity towards hammocks. I really don’t want to sleep on the ground but I think I’ll have to plan for that contingency.

Rest assured I’ll have plenty of pics to post when I get back! This will also be my first co-leader hike as I work towards becoming an Activity Leader for the Florida Trail Association.