Success! - The End of the Trail

"Key West or Bust" - Day 135

I've done it!  One Hundred Thirty-five days - Appalachian Trail to Key West!

I got up this morning and got out my bicycle and rolled it along beside me as I walked the last four miles of the Overseas Heritage Trail, the East Coast Greenway, and the Eastern Continental Trail, and reached the 'Southernmost Point'.  There I found a queue of tourists, so I got in line and waited my turn -- the slowest 100 feet of the hike.

It took nearly half an hour in line, but then I was officially done my trek.  The timing - the number of days it took - is wonderfully symmetrical.  It took me exactly twice that - 270 days - to hike the Appalachian Trail both ways in 2012.  That was a 2184.2 mile trail.  My route from the junction of the Appalachian Trail and the Benton MacKaye trail to the Southernmost Point was 1973.4 miles.  Maybe age has slowed me down a little.

The orange Bistro Mario Batali edition Crocs that I hiked in are about ready for retirement.  They're still as comfortable as footwear can be, but the no-slip tread on the heels is worn through.  Time to break out a new pair for the next adventure.

The 'Southernmost Point' is about as artificial as the concrete channel buoy that stands there.  It's not even the southernmost point that a person can walk to from the rest of the US without special permission.  That is on the beach at the nearby Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park.  The actual southernmost point of the island is on the adjacent Navy base and closed to the public.  The true southernmost point of land in Florida is either Ballast Key, nine miles west at 24°31′23.0″N, 81°57′51.1″W - a private inhabited island - or Sand Key, six miles southwest of Key West at 24°27′18.3″N, 81°52′37.5″W, where there is a lighthouse and where there once were trees and nesting birds (since washed away, so it now just a sandy shoal).

With the hike officially finished I got on my bike and biked the length of Duval St.  It's a tourist street like those found in many historic downtown areas across the USA.  The shops and restaurants have no distinctive Keys 'vibe' or Caribbean feel, and none are as quirky as establishments I've seen in other places.  For example Ocracoke, on an island in the Outer Banks along North Carolina's Mountains-to-Sea Trail, comes to mind.  If there were any locals at all, they were inside their business establishments catering to the throngs of visitors.  The most 'vibe' I got came from this pickup truck, complete with a "Please Assist" (insert money) slot.

Leaving Duval Street I headed a couple blocks over to the corner of Whitehead and Fleming Streets where US Route 1 officially ends - Mile Marker Zero.

By then it was a beautiful warm afternoon with wall-to-wall sunshine and temperature in the low 80's F.  I took my time meandering back, stopping at the beach at the south end of Duval St.,

I went out to the end of the long concrete pier at Higgs Beach and later captured a decent photo of one of the introduced (and considered to be harmfully invasive) iguanas at Smathers Beach.

I didn't take a photo of the free-roaming chickens.  They are just ordinary chickens, not distinctive like the diminutive creatures that are so iconic on Kauai.

And then the day was done.  "Key West and not busted" -- another chapter in 'PJ's book of hiking adventures' complete.  On to the next chapter.


Here's a map of the final leg of my hike, with link to more photos.



Key West at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best hikes in California and beyond

The Last Long hike - on the Threshold of Key West

After passing Key West Naval Air Station on Boca Chica Key the trail crosses Stock Island.  Then there's a short bridge leading to Key West itself.  I turned left there, as the Overseas Heritage Trail abandons US 1 and heads toward the south shore of the island along A1A, Roosevelt Blvd.  Seen here is the first view of the open waters of Florida Straight after heading south on A1A beside Cow Key Channel for about a mile.  This is about where I ended today's long hike - it was getting close to sunset as I trudged into town.  Technically this is the city of Key West, but the end of the trail - the Southernmost Point - is still almost four miles away.

"Key West or Bust" - Day 134

Today I did twenty-three miles - more than I had intended - between Big Pine Key and the island on which the city of Key West sits, which I guess is called Key West too.

The landscape is different here than on the middle keys.  The geography is so flat, and so perfectly poised right around sea level, that in many places it's hard to distinguish between land and sea.

Where mangroves get a foothold they can create land.  When storms come along and uproot them, their little islands get washed away.What would the birds do for vantage points if not for human construction in this pancake-flat country?

The bike path follows closely beside the road everywhere today except for a section on Summerland Key where a boardwalk takes the hiker/biker north for a walk beside a shallow lagoon.

Tomorrow, unless I drop dead overnight, I'm going to reach the destination I've had in my sights since I left the Appalachian Trail more than four months ago.  Watch this space.


Here is a map of the route hiked, and a link to more photos:





Big Pine Key to Key West at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find hiking trails in California and beyond

Walking on water - the Seven Mile Bridge

View west from the high point in the middle of the Seven Mile Bridge.  To the left is Molasses Key.  To the right is the old Railroad viaduct and US 1 route, now closed to public use.

"Key West or Bust" - Day 133

After leaving Marathon there's not much land for a while.  There's Pigeon Key--a little dot that Henry Flagler's railroad route connects to ...

and then tiny little Money Key and the two Molasses Keys that he didn't bother with ...

and not much else until Little Duck Key.  Flagler's Railroad bridge can be walked to Pigeon Key, two miles out from Marathon but access ends there (you can see the gap in the bridge at left in the photo above). The thru-hiker has to use the new US 1 bridge, which has no pedestrian walkway - see the headline photo.  That was a stressful walk, always worrying about getting sideswiped by some kid texting while driving or being blown off the bridge by an eighteen wheeler.  I enjoyed the views but was glad when it was over.

I walked other bridges today.  The next big one was on new highway across Bahia Honda Channel.  Here there are two new bridges side-by-side on a four lane divided highway, and they have wide shoulders, so I felt comfortable.  The old US 1 actually piggy-backs above the railroad trestle bridge here.  It looks like an engineering patch-up job, abandoned in 1969.  Hard to believe I drove this falling-apart old road bed back in 1967.

There were more railroad bridges that have not (yet) been restored for use by the Overseas Heritage Trail.  I hope they all will be someday.

The history of those old bridges is precious.  Of course time and the sea air are not kind to human construction.  I came across an old railroad mile marker.  Originally I expect that there was one like this every mile, but in my traverse of the Keys this is the only surviving one I've seen.

I ended the day on Big Pine Key, home of the endangered Key Deer.  They're tiny.  This skull was posted (literally) at an access point to a preserve area.

It's been a joy walking across the ocean.  I'm about three-quarters of the way to Key West already.  Barring some catastrophe I have just two days left before I reach the end of the road.  I'm already wishing it could go on forever.


Here's a map of today's segment, with attached links to more photos.




The Seven Mile Bridge at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best hikes in California and beyond

Walking Marathon

Bayside view from Key Colony Beach - the island in the distance is Bamboo Key

"Key West or Bust" - Day 132

The sign said "Marathon: it's not a sprint.  Take your time and enjoy".  I took the advice - especially the 'enjoy' part.

Once you're out here in the middle Keys, there are plenty of water views, both from land and on long bridges.  It's what I'm here for - the sense that I'm walking across the ocean.  So I did take my time.  I did seventeen miles today - nine short of a marathon - and did all of Marathon.

It's a busy area with lots of old development on crowded canals.

On either side of the island are long bridges.  Off the west side is the longest--the seven mile bridge, which I'll hike tomorrow.  On the east are bridges to Conch Key and to Duck Key.  The hike across Seven Mile Bridge doesn't take advantage of the old Florida Overseas Railroad viaducts, but the others do.

Yet there was nice trail with no water views too - a section that was screened from civilization.

There was even an opportunity to hike a 'green tunnel' through a short section of undeveloped trail.

I am being blessed with perfect weather.  Each day is a few degrees warmer than the last.  Overnight temperatures remained in the upper 50's and daytime highs were in the low 70's with low humidity and a nice breeze.  This is the weather that the tourists come for.  The locals think its cold.  It is winter after all - and that's proven by the blooming of the wild Poinsettia.

But I'm not always able to distinguish locals from tourists here.  In Hawaii that wasn't a problem.  But if that's my worst problem, then I don't have much to complain about.  The Marathon Walk was all good!


Here's a map showing the day's route, with links to more photos.




Marathon at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find hiking trails in California and beyond

The Full-Frontal Keys Experience

Because of the offshore reefs, Florida Keys beaches have little surf.  Here on Anne's Beach, a toddler inspects the one-inch breakers

"Key West or Bust" - Day 131

I'm talking about natural, not cultural.  I expect I'll have to wait for Key West for the latter.  But I'm more a nature kinda guy.  Well, I like monuments to human achievement too - things that have stood the test of time.  I got my first solid exposure to Henry Flagler's Folly - the miles and miles of Overseas Railroad bridges bringing land transportation to Key West, which he completed in 1912.  Here's the two-mile Long Key Viaduct.

The railroad route was converted to an automobile road in the 1930's, and served as the route of US 1 until the early 1980's.  Some of this has now been converted to a bike path and fishing pier.

Other parts have not been converted.  Here's a section that the birds have taken over.  When I last visited the Keys on a Christmas Break driving trip back in the late 1960's I drove this old bridge.

The Keys don't have a lot of long beach strands.   Sea Oats Beach on Lower Matecumbe Key is one of them.

Anne's beach, shown in the headline photo, is the more common situation - pockets of coral sand protected by mangroves.  The great thing about Anne's beach is that it has a quarter-mile boardwalk beside the water connecting two paved parking areas.  It is one of the few places where I could get off the bike path.

Other stuff today in the nature department included my introduction to this tropical shrub, the Florida Keys Blackbead, Pithecellobium keyense.

The curly seed pods (Pithecellobium translates to 'monkey's earring') hold a colorful surprise.

For me there's nothing like the super-fragrant Plumeria to give me that tropical vibe.  They're everywhere in Hawaii--a common flower used in leis--not so common here.

Finally, crossing the boundary between nature and culture, is this manatee mailbox.

The 'Force' was strongest on Lower Matecumbe Key where the ocean side was lined with nice waterfront homes that provided me with frequent glimpses of the glistening Atlantic Ocean.  Weather was comfortably cool with wall-to-wall sunshine.  It was the Keys experience I had been hoping for.


Here's a map of the route hiked today, with links to more photos.



Islamorada at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best hikes in California and beyond

Tavernier - where the 'real' Keys begin

"Key West or Bust" - Day 130

The vibe - the feeling of being in a special place - finally hit me as I was crossing the bridge over Tavernier Creek onto Plantation Key after passing through little historic Tavernier.  Here I got the first view of the open Atlantic Ocean and its tropical emerald blue waters.

The majority of commercial establishments along the road were beginning to appeal to tourists more than locals.  Resident artists had been employed to paint grand murals on the sides and fronts of buildings.  Most of them have an undersea theme, since snorkeling and diving and fishing are the big attractions here, but this one had a historic theme.

It depicts Henry Flagler and his Florida Overseas Railroad, completed in 1912, making the 'land' connection between mainland Florida and Key West.

Then I got to watch the drawbridge over Snake Creek open and close.

And while I waited I had plenty of time to absorb a much more expansive view of the ocean.

I finally felt like the Overseas Heritage Trail was delivering what its name promised.  Yes, there was still the noise and congestion of US 1 traffic.

The Keys inevitably suffer from too much love.  This time of year the 'snowbirds' flock here, and they all have to funnel through the same bottlenecks.  This one was at Coral Shores High School as it was letting out early, at lunch time.  Tourist rush hour is around midday here, so it was the wrong time to be on the road--better time to be hiking!

By the end of the day I had crossed Windley Channel, where I got my first good look at the Gulf of Mexico (bayside),

and an almost 180 degree view of the Atlantic.

I ended the day on Upper Matecumbe Key in Islamorada, and was finally feeling the 'vibe'.  Not a Caribbean feel, but a legitimate resort feel comparable to many of the Atlantic beach communities.


Here's a map of today's hike, with links to more photos:



Tavernier at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find trail maps for California and beyond

Key Largo - in search of the Keys 'vibe'

"Key West or Bust" - Day 129

Today, after ten miles of US 1 causeway, crossing over this high bridge, I arrived on the Florida Keys and started along the Overseas Heritage Trail.

The town that greeted me (and the island) is Key Largo.  The trail follows beside the highway at the backbone of the island.  I could see no emerald blue water, no serene beaches, no upscale resorts, only urban noise, clutter, and congestion of the sort I can find anywhere in the US.  It did not feel like a resort community, let alone the unique one that is the Florida Keys.

The best part of the trail was at the entrance to Pennekamp State Park.  The landscaping and decorative heavy fence lasted only a few hundred yards.

Otherwise the trail itself was nothing but a roadside bike path of the sort, once again, that can be found in urban settings all over the US.

I was looking for Poisonwood in order to get myself thoroughly familiar with this plant, so that I could avoid it.  Finally I spotted some, stopped to study it and memorize the blotchy bark pattern, the shiny oval leaves with prominent yellow center vein and closely spaced step-ladder-rung side veins.

Poisonwood protects itself with the same chemical that poison ivy has--it can give you a horrendous itchy rash that lasts more than a week.  I wanted to be sure that when I stepped into the woods to take care of business or to bushwhack to a view of water, that I wasn't making contact.

Satisfied that I could avoid Poisonwood, I returned to the search for the elusive Keys 'vibe'.

The Keys promote themselves as having a Caribbean flavor.  Perhaps that means different things to different people, but I wasn't feeling it, and never did today.  The closest I got was when I crossed the first canal, cut deeply into the coral bedrock.

That was at least distinctive.  The sheer vertical walls of coral were incorporated into the 'landscaping' of the various residences.

One other thing that promised a resort feel was the mile markers--in this case the distance from the southern end of US Route 1.  Plenty of vehicles sport the green 'Mile 0' sticker, indicating their love of Key West.  I'm familiar with the importance given to mile markers on many east coast beaches.  Today I got as far as Mile 100.

And that's where I had to stop, never getting the 'vibe' I was expecting.  Note the bike path beside the marker--pretty ordinary.  Maybe tomorrow.


Here's a map of the path I took today as I reached the Keys, with links to more photos:



Key Largo at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Florida