![]() (v) To camp somewhere other than an officially designated campsite. (n) The noun form is usually “stealth site.” “Our packsĪre already so heavy from resupplying, let’s camel up and get more water at lunch.” We have not found any scientific evidence that this actually happens, but hikers do it nonetheless. Water like a camel stores water in its hump, so they don’t become thirsty later. The hope is that their body will hold that (v) Since water is heavy, hikers may decide to drink a lot of water while in camp or stopped for lunch, rather than carry a lot of water between stops. Grow so quickly and trail maintenance is so irregular, it can feel like you are bushwhacking while nevertheless remaining on the FT. In order to make progress you have to whack bushes and branches out of the way. (v) To hike off-trail and push into the undergrowth. “I bounced the second half of my guidebook to White Springs since I won’t need it till then.” (v) To bounce refers to the act of mailing a bounce box. As long as you do not open the package, Priority Mailīoxes can be forwarded for free, and thus “bounce” down the trail from town to town with you. Usually this is Priority Mail box sent from post office to post office. The box to themselves and send it to a location farther up the Trail. ![]() Rather than mail the stuff home, they address (n) Refers to a package of gear, clothes, other items that a hiker does not need currently and so does not want to carry, but may want in the future. The origin of the term is not known, but appears first sometime in the sixteenth century, most often in reference to Florida. Sometimes spelled as "hummock" or even "hommock" though "hammock" is the dominant form. (n) Ecologically identical to "tree island," ecologists and other scientists use hammock to describe stands of trees (usually hardwoods) that form an ecological island that contrasts with the ![]() Hammocks are much larger and their edges/boundaries can only be seen at a distance or In our experience as Florida natives, "tree island"ĭescribes small hammocks whose edges and boundaries are visible and obvious when standing just outside of it. Scientists use the term "hammock" (see below) instead of tree island, but locals and non-scientists use the two terms interchangeably. In the Juniper Wilderness to visit Pat's Island, the real-life inspiration for The Yearling.Ĥ) In the Everglades, tree islands are true islands, teardrop shaped lands carved by the flow of water through the freshwater marsh. The characters in The Yearling homesteaded in such an island, and FT hikers can take a side-trail while Surrounding scrub like islands on the sea, and are where frontier settlers lived. Little can grow tall in the scrub, but there are a few places where the soil retains more moisture - just enough to support pine trees. So dry is this hill country that it is almost desert-like, and For example, in Myakka River State Park (not on the Trail), backcountry campsites are tucked into places with names like Bee Island.ģ) Dry sandy hills run through the center of the peninsula like a spine, the remnants of ancient sand dunes. The impenetrable marsh grasses mean many or most coastal tree islandsĢ) In central Florida grasslands and prairies, tree islands are small clusters of hardwoods (usually oaks) that provide much-needed shelter from the sun in these hot, Palms are technically islands since they are surrounded by water, but often only at high tide when the salt marsh floods. Confusing it is, since the term is unfamiliar outside the American southeast, mostly used in Florida, and used four different ways.ġ) Within the salt marshes that line Florida's Gulf Coast, small mounds of soil build just high enough to allow palm trees to take root. In Nimblewill Nomad's memoir Ten Million Steps, heĮxpresses confusion over the term "tree islands" on his maps. ![]() Generally it refers to a stand of trees that form an ecological island different from the surrounding landscape. Seasonal variation and unique plant species live in the prairies. The Ocala ecosystem is adapted to this extreme During that time they resemble the prairies of the Midwest. In winter the grasses turn brown andīrittle, the ground beneath them so thoroughly dried-out that one can walk across it. These grasslands flood in the wet summer months, becoming freshwater marshes and even lake-like if the rainfall is heavy enough. In Ocala National Forest, the Trail hugs corridors of grasslands Picture is very different in central Florida, where the word prairie refers instead to seasonal wetlands. ![]() Images come to mind of bison herds and prairie dogs standing watch over an endless expanse of bluestem and switchgrass. Out in the Great Plains, prairies are dry, wind-swept grasslands. ![]()
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