Store 88 to Lake Delancy - Ocala National Forest

We woke up a little late.  We made coffee and breakfast. One of our luxury items is a plastic french press. We can accomplish anything if we start the day with real coffee. J.J. drinks it black and I like it a little creamy. I'm trying to drink it black or I'll grab one of those tiny no refrigerate creamers.  After we packed our gear back up, we went to thank the owner again. He offered his spring water on tap so we could fill our water bottles before the journey.

It was a nice walk, granted we had 2.5 extra miles because we couldn't do the night before.  The trail was well blazed and easy to walk. We passed different terrains. Started with grassland with some trees growing in dispersed locations then it became a dense thicket. Stepping out of the thicket, the smell of pine  was everywhere. Total visibility but dense pine forest.

After a few hours, we saw a sign for Lake Delancy Campgrounds. I noticed a lot of people there, partying and constantly riding their ATVs. It was so loud compared to us just being in the forest. I read in an old FT guide that there was supposed to be a water faucet here but seeing people with water jugs at every camp, I got really worried. we asked around and someone mentioned the faucet was on the other side of the campgrounds. I sat down in a patch of grass to wrap my head around what we were going to do. J.J. scoped out the other area and he came back to me saying it was much quieter over there.

We trudged to the other side of the camp, I was exhausted and we're low on water.  Reaching the other camp, we found out that there was no water faucet anymore.  Make sure your guidebook is up to date.  I learned that lesson that day.

I grabbed my platypus dirty bag dirty water bag and walked to the lake.  My shoes got a little muddy and even with a big opening, I couldn't get much water in. I walked back and found a beer can in a recycling bin. I cut it in half to make a scoop and walked back to the lake. I managed to fill my bag up with black lake water. As I came walking back, the look on J.J.'s face was priceless. Disgust, I believe. I was just thrilled that there was water. Through trial and error finding out which bags I should be using for particles filled lake water, I got it to be clear with the first run through and with no particles on the second run through.

Before filtration

After 2x filteration

I felt proud that I could do this and make it work. Granted, it tasted like stagnant lake water but it was safe.  Thank goodness! We cooked with it and filtered enough to the next and final day of our weekend hike.

We made dinner and tried out one of those Mountain House meals, the Chicken Teriyaki. It was really tasty but it sucks that it's expensive for one meal. So I'll buy them as a treat or a once in a while thing.  We had  some tuna after then we retired to our tent.

It was really nice, both of us relaxing together, reading our ebooks. J.J. seemed to be enjoying his time now. I calmed right down after I filtered that water. It's amazing what becomes super important in an instant.

We tried to go to sleep but was kept up by a party of young people at the other camp.  It was funny , they all came in with a line of Jeeps. There had to be at least 10 Jeeps.

They were loud but thankfully were muffled slightly by the distance between us and them. Another reason I was thankful for J.J.'s suggestion  to coming to this area. It wasn't as cold as the night before and we had no trouble with wildlife.