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Late June 2007 (June 24th to be exact). Haven't been to Hidden Pond for a year. Time to head out there.
There was a major fire here in the last year. Most of the area I hiked had been affected.
It was Sunday late in the day (after 6PM), so I didn't expect to see any other hikers. I parked the truck, put on my birthday suit and boots, left my clothes in the truck, checked my pack, put it on and began hiking. I didn't bother with an 'emergency' towel.
Once on the trail, I was surprised to find a group had hiked out earlier that day. The tracks were still fresh enough to show the damper earth turned up. I must have only missed them by hours. Judging from the shoe designs, there were 3 people. (unless some were stepping on other's tracks deliberately).
This is the first time I had encountered evidence of a group of campers in summer time other than the group I took in last year for Nude Recreation Week.
I was in a hurry to get in camp by dark, so I only saw one deer (buck) on the way in. I arrived in camp uneventfully and got the tent up before dark.
I was sitting in my tent just after sunset when I suddenly realized I had never put up my signs. I have 2 lightweight signs which read "Nudists in the Area" which I like to post to forwarn other hikers/campers. I really didn't expect any this trip, but I like to be 'safe' in the sense of not alarming other campers by unexpectedly appearing nude.
I fished the signs from my pack, and headed for the trail on the other side of the pond. (I place the signs on the trail where hikers going either direction will see them before turning off the trail to the pond campsite.)
Before I could reach the actual trail, I heard a female voice say 'Oh great'. I saw no one, but realized that from the northbound trail approaching the pond, my tent would be visible as you come down the hill. I started to head back to camp, then realized I would be fully visible to the hiker(s). But I also realized that it would be more awkward if they came on into the campsite with me hiding behind the one clump of bushes on the path into camp.
So I walked back to camp, hearing them chatting normally behind me. When I got to camp and looked back they were gone. I don't know if they had looked my way or not, but their conversation didn't show it. I decided my signs could wait till morning.
I was up before 7 AM and was hungry. I took my cookpot and two signs to the pond. I decided to get the signage out of the way first, so I posted them and got water to boil for breakfast. I had only gone a few steps with the water when I heard a female voice ask 'what's this?'. Three college-age girls were standing there looking at my nudist sign. It sounded like one of them said it was there last night, but I'm not sure if that's what she said.
They looked my way. There was nowhere to go, they had just seen the sign, and there were 3 of them so I didn't think they would feel threatened, so I continued walking back to camp, water pot in hand, casual as possible. I said Good Morning as I passed them.
They were quiet till they were out of sight, at which point I heard giggles. Guess they weren't too freaked out.
Considering they had hiked in just before dark, and back out before 7 AM, I assume that they were trying to avoid the Summer heat. I prefer embracing the heat and going nude, but different strokes for different folks I guess.
After breakfast I decided to try and reach Juniper Creek. The map shows the trail coming really close to the creek, and I figured it wouldn't be too hard to find. I took my GPS, a bottle of water, and wore my boots (no pack, no towel, no problem - it's late June remember).
Finding the creek was easier than I had expected. Hiking from Hidden Pond toward rhe South, you will come to a small wooden bridge on the trail going over a small creek. Just north of this bridge is a trail going East. This trail leads into an exceptional Naturist campsite. Put a sign back near the main trail warning of nudist campers in the area and you're good to go. Behind this campsite, there's a path marked in orange surveyor's tape leading to the creek. There's several downed trees, but I found the creek easily. This campsite offers a good alternative to Hidden Pond on "crowded weekends", while still offering skinnydipping opportunities on Juniper Creek.
The rest of the time Monday I spent getting GPS coordinates for naturist campsites in the area of a mile or so from Hidden Pond (again for those 'crowded weekends'), and reading one of Tom Brown Jr.'s books on Nature observation.
I decided to take Tom's advice of hiking ultra-slow on my way back to the truck on Tuesday. Keep in mind, it's late morning in Florida on June 26th. Most larger animals would have gone to shade to wait for evening, so I didn't expect to see much. The first wildlife I saw was a couple of red foxes walking along a lakebed. It had been dry for months, and most of the lakes and ponds were dry. These foxes were probably looking for water. After several minutes, I moved on. Next thing I saw was the rear-end of a bear disappearing into the bushes. My pack had been snagged by a branch just seconds before, and the noise likely alerted the bear. Next, I came within 20 feet of a doe lying in the shade of a tree next to the trail. She decided to leave when I tried to get closer (but she walked - she didn't run). After that, I encountered two doves sitting in the trail. One of them saw me and took off, scaring the other one. The commotion of the two birds spooked a deer about 100 yards away. So I got to see 2 foxes, two does, a bear and 2 doves more than I expected to see.
Despite hiking out so slowly, it was still early enough in the day to visit some of my 'old haunts' in the forest and get their GPS coordinates as well. I will be posting this campsite info in the campsite area of this website.