Pages 1 - Happy Hoofers Chapter

Happy Hoofers Hoopla
July-Aug-Sept 2015
Volume 25, Issue 3
www.hoofers.floridatrail.org
1-877-HIKE-FLA
Inside this Issue
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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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
July-Aug-Sept 2015
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 10th at Fern Forest, the following one will be October 8th. 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
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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.
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July-Aug-Sept 2015
Antelope Slot Canyon, Navajo
Nation Lands
Delicate Arch, Arches National Park
Queen’s Garden, Bryce Canyon
National Park
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Happy Hoofers Hoopla
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July-Aug-Sept 2015
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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
V. Chair
Secretary
Treasurer
Chapter Council Rep
Activities
Trails
Public Relations
Programs
Membership
Editor Hoopla
Website
Volunteer Hours
Lynn Thompson
Tom McDaniel
Kathy Bonvouloir
Esther Muram
Kay Ferrara
Chapter Committees
Esther Muram
David Denham
Karen Smith
Tom McDaniel
Mary Halferty
vacant
Larry Alesi
Kathy Bonvouloir
Hospitality
Historian
954 850-3668
954 473-8533
954 234-5657
954 658-8386
954 609-4727
ma12thom@bellsouth.net
gthomasmcdaniel@bellsouth.net
threebons@aol.com
itailusa@gmail.com
KayFerrara@bellsouth.net
954 658-8386
305 667-8643
954 263-8109
954 473-8533
954 522-3265
italusa@gmail.com
ddenham@consultant.com
ksmith623@bellsouth.net
gthomasmcdaniel@bellsouth.net
mhalferty@outlook.com
954 445-9251
954 234-5657
LarryA1049@yahoo.com
threebons@aol.com
vacant
vacant
Our Facebook group is:
https://www.facebook.com/login.php?next=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fgroups%2F67137159048%2F
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