2014 Local Spring Hike Ideas

Lite Packer Lifestyle

Recently I have been day hiking the short trails nearby in Central Florida during weekends with friends for most of the winter.  Add work plus all that had to be done to relocate and shift my personal life around.  Now that we have begun March, there are about 8-12 more weeks of local hiking before the weather gets too hot to really enjoy the outdoors in Florida.
Too hot for me is above 90 degrees (with the heavy Florida humidity), though I can handle an afternoon peak of 90 degrees much better than I can handle beginning the day at 90 degrees.  The bugs also come out 'en force' with warmer days and nights and I try to avoid those too.
I plan to go north to the Ocala National Forest and document a day hike or two there along the Florida Trail, and to discuss backpacking in that area as an overnight trip.  At least one weekend could be taken up with a drive south of Central Florida with a hike or two 'down' there.  And I would like to go on a 'bird watching' hike with close options both to the north and east.  With a couple of bike rides thrown in, that should provide plenty of interesting material to discuss here. 
There are also a few DIY project stories I have been working on that have to do with packing ultralight supplies that I plan to publish this summer.  And I still owe you a menu for my cooking bag Chicken-Mac-n-Cheese dinner from last summer.
I also want to announce another project, my Facebook page, Lite Packer Lifestyle.  Drop by daily to check for new material and please LIKE the page for me.  I cover all my interests there including the great outdoors, hiking, backpacking, canoeing, photography, video, bicycling and gardening.
Also while there, download the Free E-Book, the Ultimate Ultralight Backpacking Book from the fine folks at hikelight.com.   This E-Book covers it all, from reducing weight of the 'big three' items, changing from boots to trail running shoes, and mostly about how to have fun outdoors, and it is free.
As usual I have another project in the works and I will reveal that in a week or two.  Thank you again for reading my blogs.