Happy Hoofers Hoopla Volume 25, Issue 3 www.hoofers.floridatrail.org 1-877-HIKE-FLA Inside this Issue 1 2 3 5 7 Eagle Scout Project Memorial Fern Forest News Chair s Corner Trip out West, part 3 Upcoming Hikes, Meetings and Other Events Chapter Officers and Committee Chairs www.floridatrail.org Newsletter of the Happy Hoofers Chapter of the Florida Trail Association Eagle Scout Project Improves the Trail The Happy Hoofers in conjunction with Boy Scout Troop 333 are happy to announce the addition of a Trail Kiosk and picnic tables to the trail system in Big Cypress North Section II. The Kiosk and picnic tables were part of a project for Scout Colton Pray. The Kiosk is located at the trailhead on the north side of I75 at Mile Marker 63. We positioned the Kiosk next to our old mailbox where the maps and sign-in book were located. One of the picnic tables was placed at Nobles campsite. You can now find the new fire ring and picnic table back in the shade of a small oak hammock next to the water hole on the south side of the main campsite. We intend to clear this area in the shade to accommodate more tents during the work hike in November. It appears that this was once a road that parallels the old runway that has overgrown. The second picnic table was placed at Panther camp near the fire ring. We would like to give a big thanks to Scout Colton Pray and the scouts of troop 333 for their hard work and planning. We would also like to thank Bob DeGross and the Park Service for further enhancing our trail system. Larry Alesi Picnic table at Nobles Camp Picnic table at Panther Camp Boy Scout Troup 333 Happy Hoofers Hoopla..............
We are missing you In June of this year long time Florida Trail member Steve Rodney lost his battle with cancer. Steve had been fighting valiantly for over two years. He still went to work and continued hiking and paddling throughout everything. He was quiet, didn t complain, he just kept on enjoying life and nature as best he could. He will be in our thoughts and he will be with us on every trail and river when we think of him. Gone, but not forgotten Fern Forest News Congratulations Ranger Rick on your retirement. It has been a pleasure working with you for all these years. Best of luck in your retirement. Starting with our October meeting, we are going to try something different. We will start refreshments at 7:15 pm, instead of after the meeting. This means you can pick up your refreshments while you are mingling and signing up for activities before the meeting. The meeting will start at 7:30 with a business meeting and a program. When the meeting adjourns, we will put our chairs away, as usual, then if there is time, we can continue with refreshments and socializing. We still need to be out of the facility by 9:00 pm. Chair s Corner August 2015 I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer. It s hard to believe it is time for the kids to go back to school already. It is also time to begin our activities for the 2015-2016 hiking season. Your activity leaders met the beginning of August and came up with another year of fun activities. Some old favorites, some new activities. Some are just for the day, some are overnight, there is something for everyone. See page 5 for activities, as well as check our website at http://hoofers.floridatrail.org/ or the State Florida Trail website at http://www.floridatrail.org/ then click on About then click on Calendar or visit our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/67137159048/. We need a new newsletter editor. I m throwing this one together myself, but I really would like someone else to take it over. We only do a newsletter four times per year, once per quarter. It can be done in Word or Publisher, I m not that picky, just so we let our members know what is going on. Please contact me if you are interested, I ll be glad to help you get started. I am also starting to think about officers for next year. My term expires in January and I would like to let someone new take over the reins. If you are interested, or you have someone you would like to suggest, please let me know. It s not that hard, we have a terrific group of committee chairs that make the chapter chair job easy. If you have taken an interesting vacation somewhere this summer, consider writing an article about it for the next newsletter. For now, you can send articles to me at ma12thom@bellsouth.net until I find a new newsletter editor. Our meetings start September 10 th at Fern Forest, the following one will be October 8 th. Tom McDaniels is working on interesting programs to educate and entertain you. Check our Facebook page for the latest updates. See you out there Lynn Thompson Chair Happy Hoofers 2 Happy Hoofers Hoopla................
Another small part of a 42 day trip Summer 2014 By Kathy Bonvouloir July 27, today we find ourselves driving thru the Navajo Nation along the Vermilion Cliffs. We are going to take a guided tour of Antelope Slot Canyon, which is on the Navajo Nation lands. The tour costs $25 a person and $16 to enter park. First we get into the back of a truck, 7 trucks in the caravan, and drive out on this dry riverbed. The ride itself was an adventure of bumps and jolts. The Antelope Slot Canyon is a narrow canyon; at some spots you only have about 3 feet of walkway. The colors of the canyon are many and the formations are beautiful. This should be on everyone s itinerary. Interesting fact, the Navajo s do not change their clocks. We are using Garmin to direct us to our next stop. She has us turn down this road which is very nice, small ghost town and farms. Next, she has us turn down Skutumpah Road. This road ends up being 37 miles of dirt road, another adventure thanks to Garmin. There are signs all over saying Flash Flood Warnings. The road is bumpy and narrow and at some points steep. Out here they let the cattle run loose and several small bulls tried to run into us. At the end of the road is our camp ground, Kodachrome Basin SP, 2 nights $38. This is a beautiful spot with lots of chimney spires. July 28, today we are going to Bryce Canyon NP. We hiked Queens Garden and Peek-a-boo Loops, for a total of 6 miles. This park is full of chimney spires and these trails are a must do. Next we drive thru the Grand Staircase/Escalante area. We stop to do a hike to Calf Creek Falls, 6 miles. The hike leads to a beautiful waterfall and a lovely pool which several people are swimming in. We thought about giving it a try but then we heard thunder and lightning and we had 3 miles to hike out. This was another great hike. On this hike we meet two young ladies that we had seen at Bryce Canyon, small world. July 29, we leave the park and drive up Hwy 12. This is a beautiful scenic highway. This takes us along a ridgeline, with quite the views. At one point we are driving over the Boulder Mountains at a 9600 ft elevation. Views are in every direction. We drive to Capital Reef NP. This was the home of the Grifford Farm. The original fruit trees still grow here. We did several hikes at this park. First one was Hickman Bridge, 2 miles and the second one was into Conah Canyon, 2 miles. We are on our way to Moab. As we leave the park we enter an area of grey/black/white desolate lands. Just before we get to Moab the skies open up and pour down rain and hail. The hail is big enough to crack our windshield. We find a camp site at Sand Flat Campgrounds 3 nights $30; there are about 155 sites and only 4 sites taken. We select C3, the best site there, it s out of sight of the rest of the sites and it s up on a hill. We felt like we are on top of the world and no one else is around. This campground is only 1 mile from Moab. July 30, we are going to Arches NP for the day. The Delicate Arch, which is the most famous arch at the park, is closed because of the storm and flash flooding. We head up to Devils Garden which is a 7.2 mile loop hike which took 4 hrs. There are lots of arches along this hike. Half of the trail is a primitive trail; there are lots of challenges along this path. Several spots along this trail we need assistance to traverse over rocks and climbing down slippery ones. There was one spot that Rene had to drop into a pool of water and assist me so I would not fall. This was a great hike. We saw our first snake, it was a bull snake. Next hike we did was Tower Arch, which first we had to drive down a 17 mile long dirt road. There is only a couple cars at the spot; one car is a ranger s car. It s very hot, but the hike is very interesting with lots of rock formations, hike is ¾ miles and 1.5 hours. Met up with the rangers at the arch, they were there to survey storm damage on the arch. As we drove on the main park road we saw that the Delicate Arch Trail was open. This is a 3 mile hike and it took 2 hours. At the start of the trail there was a small homestead, not much bigger that a tool shed. I looked in the open window and almost put my face into another bull snake. Yikes! The hike itself was all up hill and the hill was a solid rock surface. It was a hard hike but well worth it in the end. The Delicate Arch was high up on a ledge and the view was amazing. This is another must do hike. Back at camp that night there was a terrible wind and rain storm so we spent the evening in the tent watching a movie. July 31, we are going to the Needles at Canyonlands NP. First stop of the day was Newspaper Rock State NM. There is some beautiful petrography here. We stopped at the ranger s station and he suggested we hike the Elephant Hill Trail. This trail is a linear trail. We decided to hike an hour in and then turn around. We hiked about 2 miles and came to a small canyon area; it was so narrow I was able to hitch myself up it. Just beyond it was another canyon that looked very intriguing, but time was up. Wish we had more time to explore. On the way out of the park we did a small hike on the Cave Spring Trail. This led to an old cowboy camp under a rock overhang. It was a nice little hike and very interesting. Next we drove 100 miles to the other section on the park, Canyon in the Sky. We did a couple quick hikes to overviews of the Green and Colorado Rivers. Back at camp we had a lovely fire and a nice evening under the stars. Aug 1, we are heading home. It s really sad to leave Moab, what a wonderful area................happy Hoofers Hoopla 3
Antelope Slot Canyon, Navajo Nation Lands Delicate Arch, Arches National Park Queen s Garden, Bryce Canyon National Park 4 Happy Hoofers Hoopla................
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Visit the Happy Hoofers activities page for further updates at: http://hoofers.floridatrail.org/activites.htm Chapter Officers and Committee Chairs Chapter Chair Lynn Thompson 954 850-3668 ma12thom@bellsouth.net V. Chair Tom McDaniel 954 473-8533 gthomasmcdaniel@bellsouth.net Secretary Kathy Bonvouloir 954 234-5657 threebons@aol.com Treasurer Esther Muram 954 658-8386 itailusa@gmail.com Chapter Council Rep Kay Ferrara 954 609-4727 KayFerrara@bellsouth.net Chapter Committees Activities Esther Muram 954 658-8386 italusa@gmail.com Trails David Denham 305 667-8643 ddenham@consultant.com Public Relations Karen Smith 954 263-8109 ksmith623@bellsouth.net Programs Tom McDaniel 954 473-8533 gthomasmcdaniel@bellsouth.net Membership Mary Halferty 954 522-3265 mhalferty@outlook.com Editor Hoopla vacant Website Larry Alesi 954 445-9251 LarryA1049@yahoo.com Volunteer Hours Kathy Bonvouloir 954 234-5657 threebons@aol.com Hospitality Historian vacant vacant Our Facebook group is: https://www.facebook.com/login.php?next=https%3a%2f%2fwww.facebook.com%2fgroups%2f67137159048%2f...............happy Hoofers Hoopla 7