Trip Log: 10/6/2001, Blue Spring State Park, Orange City, Florida - Hiking

I went hiking with my friends David and Hazal on this Saturday. This hiking trip was the start of David’s hiking training, he needs to get in shape for our backpacking trip next year. He was suppose to load up his new backpack with light weights, just like what I was doing. But at the last minute he chickened out, saying that he needs to “take it slow” (That why I asked him to load his pack with LIGHT weight).

My pack weight in about 29lbs on my scale at home. David and Hazal were each carrying a small daypack loaded with some water, some snacks, and David had his mp3-player cellphone with him (get back to nature?!). I remembered the trail at Blue Spring being 8 miles in and 8 miles out - a total of 16 miles, which in turn would take about 7 to 8 hours to complete. So we got up pretty early in the morning, prepared for a long day of hiking. When we got to the trail, it turned out that the trail is 8 miles IN TOTAL, 4 miles in and 4 miles out. No problem, we can still spend about 3 hours on the trail, right? Well, just our luck, half of the trail was flooded by the rain we have gotten recently. So the trail is reduced to 2 miles in and 2 miles out, a total of 4 miles. So we ended up hiking 1/4 of the distance we were planned to hike. The hike only took us about 2 hours. Besides a glimpse of a furry black figure diving into the bushes noisily away from us, the entire hike was pretty uneventful. The trail was flat and easy, like a stroll in the park.

• Resources:
  • Blue Spring State Park:
    • Webpage 1
    • Webpage 2
  • Phone: 904-775-3663
  • Trail difficulty: Easy
  • Trail length: 4 miles single-way (8 miles round-trip)
  • Admission: $2 for single occupant vehicle, $4/vehicle up to 8 people, $1/person after 8 people.
  • Florida State Park Annual Pass: $30/individual, $60/family
  • Operation Hours: 8:00 a.m. to sundown daily, 365 days a year
• How to get there:
  In Orlando, take Interstate-4 East to exit 53CB, which heads toward Orange City. Turn right on Enterprise Rd (one mile west of I-4 exit). Then drive another mile and turn right on 17-92 (S. Volusia Ave). Follow 17-92 for two miles until you see a brown sign hanging across the street for Blue Spring State Park, turn left on W. French Ave after the sign. Two more miles on French Ave and you will be at the entrance to Blue Spring State Park.