By Lino Cappelli.

It’s Sunday morning and I am anxious, we are running late. People are waiting. We have four days of dirt roads, trails, campsites, and new cultures to take in. Yet somehow, I did it again- stayed up late preparing, overslept, and got a late start. 

Google Maps freezing as we get closer to our meet-up point adds to my nerves. Our Ford Ranger leads the partial convoy through multiple U-turns and questionable three-lane crosses in a tiny town west of Jacksonville, FL. 

My dad is riding shotgun, his characteristically calm demeanor brings me back to reality- and I breathe out: “Everything is going to be okay.’ The sun is out on this early March day, and chances of rain are allegedly low. 

I consider myself fortunate to have my dad on these adventures. Growing up a child of divorce, the weekends and holidays we spent together were really special to me. This was quality time away from my responsibilities, a rare commodity as a new father. For the next four days, it was us, the truck, and the Florida Adventure Trail (FAT).

Our first destination is Lochloosa, a state forest located smack in the middle of the Florida Adventure Trail, an unofficial route designed to keep you on backroads, dirt, gravel, and trails as much as possible while crossing the northern section of the state. I was fortunate enough to consult with Jon (Birkmire), the creator, immediately before our trip. We agreed that Osceola forest, the section north of our starting point, is flooded this time of year and risky to drive through with our group of varying skills and vehicle capabilities. 

When we arrived at the picturesque water crossing within Lochloosa, I donned my waders to check the depth of the water as a crowd formed. This was the first “real” obstacle we came across and if it was too deep, we had to take the bridge instead- but what fun is that?  I could feel through my waders just how cold the water that rushed under the bridge. The water was crystal clear but the ground under it was dark and muddy, which distorted my depth perception. Any sort of visual confirmation of depth was useless, I stumbled around and mentally noted how high the water reached: up to my shin in some places, up to my waistband in others. A unanimous sigh of relief swept the group as I stood in waist-deep water to mark the deep spot and pointed at the shallower side for everyone to cross, starting with the Ranger. 

This section of the Florida Adventure Trail is easily drivable with a high clearance vehicle, with a mix of sugar sand, mud, and shallow water crossings on a single lane surrounded by pines and a variety of oaks up to a hundred feet tall. This area is the southernmost place you’ll find water natural oak forests in the country. After we came out of the southernmost exit, we continued heading down toward our next destination, another unique water feature, a man-made one. 

Pulling into Rodman Dam, we could see storm clouds forming on the horizon. As we drove on a westbound bridge over a vein of St John’s river we could see storm clouds forming past Rodman Dam. The sky-high view of the area gave us a bird’s eye view: On one side, Lake Delancy unit of Ocala National Forest, and on the other Lake Ocklawaha. 

Back on the ground, it was business as usual for the locals. People of all ages and backgrounds were fishing on the downstream side of the dam. The noise of the water rushing is overpowering but soothing, much too loud for speaking unless absolutely necessary. This year lake Ocklawaha provided one of the most special wildlife experiences of my life: A bald eagle dove for and caught a fish, flew up hundreds of feet, dropped the fish, dove back down, and caught it before it hit the water. If only the fish would have had the same luck as me. I kept asking: “Did you guys see that?!” to confused looks and shrugs. This would not be the last wildlife sighting of this trip, but unfortunately, my bad habit of forgetting to grab the camera would also make more appearances. After I gave up getting people to believe what I saw, we entered Forest Road 74 through Ocala’s northernmost point. 

If you are familiar with the trails in Ocala, you know that FR 74 has an offshoot that has roughly 30-40 mud holes that can be anywhere from half a foot to three feet deep. The group was getting into a good rhythm, both man and machine had properly warmed up to each other, and the terrain, so we decided to do this optional trail. 

The sky opened up. As daylight disappeared, I grabbed my raincoat and redonned my waders for this very wet section of the Florida Adventure Trail under the rumble of thunder. There was a specific mud hole marked on my Gaia App that had badly stuck one of my vehicles just last year. This optional trail has always been a challenge, but up to this point, I had only completed it with one or two other vehicles. The seven-vehicle convoy under the pouring rain raised the stakes. I would have rather been anywhere else, but we had to keep it moving. 

I was tense, again. Everything felt more difficult. I kept looking at my map to see how much trail we had left. The burden of leading over a dozen people through unknown (to them) terrain in terrible weather was fatiguing. My dad, fortunately for my psyche, seemed unshaken. He suggested I sit on the tailgate while he drove to speed up checking the water depth and keeping the interior as dry as possible. At this point, the rain became white noise, my entire body and soul had been saturated. We got our groove back as we sped ahead of the group and radioed back the side of the trail that was more shallow. We assumed, as long as we didn’t hear anything back, that everything was okay in the back. 

Poetically, the rain slowed to a drizzle just as we saw the end of the trail. Our group got smaller as we headed to one of my favorite trails in Ocala Forest: an offshoot of FR 19 locals named the Powerline trail. Our friend Tom had to take his yellow Bronco, and his girls home, tomorrow was a school night after all. It really was, too bad for him. The changes in terrain from 74 to 19 on the Florida Adventure Trail occur in the blink of an eye. The wide open sugar sand hills of the powerline trail are a stark contrast to the tightly wound pine and oak forest single lanes. 19 is a trail where light vehicles and properly valved suspensions really shine, as the other vehicles quickly disappear from the Ranger’s rearview mirror. 

The group continued to shrink as day 1 wrapped up. My dad and I in the Ranger, our mechanic, Luis, in his Cayenne, and our photographers, Camilo and Annabel in their Tacoma, would be the only ones to continue the journey south through the Florida Adventure Trail. Off the side of the road on our way to Juniper Springs, we spotted a black bear with two cubs. Slowly shouldering our vehicles over a hundred yards away still caused them to gallop through the woods. It was very humbling to see several hundred pounds of fur and flesh gallop between trees, over bushes, and around boulders. They disappeared in seconds. None of us were quick enough with a camera to capture even a blurry photo. 

Stay tuned for part 2.