It was a long night, Diego got upset a few times about something outside, his low rumbling growl growing to a snarl and then he let out a few nasty barks. Whats out there? Then a crash in the bushes within 100ft, it sounded big. I listened closely for a minute but not so much as a leaf crackle. I got up put on my sandals and with Diego by my side we went outside to investigate. I shined my flashlight every direction looking for the reflection of eyes or any hint of a wild beast lurking in the forest. I realized that if it were to be a bear I was supposed to be talking and making noise to let it know I was a human. I started talking loud… HELLO, WHO’S OUT THERE?, ITS JUST ME AND MY DOG DIEGO. I don’t know what to say. Then I started feeling kind of silly standing out there in my underwear and sandals talking to an imaginary bear.

First Camp Morning Light

The morning light was coming through the trees with a reddish orange glow. I got up packed up camp and we were back on our way. The packs were still heavy but somehow felt a little better. We passed a couple of forest roads I believe were North Hurricane Lake Rd. I could then see a shimmering silvery glow through the trees, there it was Hurricane Lake becoming clearer as the trail curved us into a great view through the tall pine trees.

First View Hurricane Lake

A few minutes later we arrived at the entrance to North Hurricane Lake Campground where we would rest for the day. There was several campsites front row on the lake and several more spread out through the campsite I chose one right on the water. As I was setting up camp I met my neighbors, my “Camp Angels”, Greg, Amber and their son Sean, while Diego met their dogs OhGee and Ricky, two Australian Shepherds. After I got all set up Diego and I went down to the lakeside to a bench under a young tree relaxed and took in the view.

OhGee and Ricky

My neighbors invited me over for a sandwich, definitely a welcomed offer, roasted chicken with lettuce, tomato, cheese and mayo things that would be tough for me to pack-in. After lunch and a short nap I was able to wrangle some thoughts down on paper.

Later that evening I was again invited over for some lasagna cooked over the campfire and apple crisp also cooked over the campfire for desert they even had ice cream, wow they really know how to camp. As we were enjoying dinner and listening to some jazz on their radio that was often interrupted with updates on Hurricane Ida headed straight for us. The conversation switched to my plans which had not changed I was still going to get up hike to the next campsite and wait out the rain.

I finished my evening off in front of the fire writing in my notebook and taking a mental inventory of everything I was carrying and what could be left behind.

As I laid in my tent I was wondering what sights and adventures the next day would bring, what kind of weather I would be subjected to, but much more optimistic and ready for the journey.

November 7th I will begin my Thru-Hike of the Florida Trail, with my dog Diego, this is approximately an 1100mile hike from the Alabama – Florida state line in The Blackwater State Forest to Big Cypress Preserve at the edge of the Florida Everglades that will take around four months to complete. I will be posting here along the way about my adventure as often as possible, you can also follow me on twitter (@MarcusAdkins) where I will be tweeting in real time (depending on my phone batteries and signal)

Fernandina Beach

This has taken a lot of planning, from proper gear to permits. I became a member of The Florida Trail Association, a requirement to hike certain areas of the Florida Trail, and highly recommended, they are very helpful with information and they arrange the permits for Eglin Air Force Base, Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation, and inform other private land owners of your plans to cross their land. They also have the most up to date maps of the complete  Florida Trail. I have also purchased annual passes for Florida Parks and National Parks. I have also subscribed to Florida Hikes not a requirement but @SandraFriend (follow her on Twitter) has been very helpful with questions I have had and her website is one of the most informative sources on Florida Hikes and Florida Trails all over the state of Florida with down-loadable .gpx and .kml files.

Florida Caverns State Park

I upgraded some of my gear with some very helpful advice from @KevinMims and @TravelCountry (follow them on Twitter) where I got my new @OspreyPacks backpack, my @Hardwear sleeping bag, my Kelty tent and a few other necessities for my Thru-Hike of The Florida Trail. The list of gear that could be obtained to make my pack lighter and make the journey more comfortable is unlimited, just like the amount of money that could be spent, unlike my bank account.

Raccoon at Fort De Soto

I have had mixed experiences with family and friends about this journey, most are very supportive, and some have some fears they project on me like what about the snakes and alligators and bears (oh my!) I should be so lucky to get a glimpse of some of these animals and a Photograph to share with everyone, i will be keeping my eyes open for Florida’s very rare and elusive super fauna the Florida Panther.

Be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed so you can follow along on my Thru-Hike of The Florida Trail!

Please leave a comment to share your thoughts, advise or tips, Thanks.

GhostOrchid - The rare and exquisite ghost orchid photographed just after dawn in the Fakahatchee Strand.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Rich Leighton – I’m a native Floridian from Bradenton Florida. I currently live in Tallahassee with my wife and two boys. I’ve always been and outdoors-man, and always had an interest in biology, even from a very young age.

Bonita Beach – An intensely dramatic sky over Barefoot Beach in Bonita Springs, Florida.

When did you first become interested in Photography?

Rich Leighton – My Father was a big Photography buff. He learned to shoot lots of different types of cameras in the military, and they were always a big part of our family life. I was given my first 35mm SLR when I was a teenager, and never really took it seriously until I was in my 30’s.

Sanibel Lighthouse – Dawn on Sanibel Island on Lighthouse Point.

How did you get started in the business of Florida Nature Photography?

Rich Leighton – I got my start in Florida Nature Photography in a very common way. I’ve been in the habit all my life of taking long and extended hikes into the Florida Wilderness. I usually brought a camera along with me. Soon general interest led to a website and then some sales. The rest is history. Not very exciting or glamorous, but these things seldom are.

WhiteEgret100 - A great egret in silhouette on a quiet evening in Homosassa Springs.

What kind of gear do you pack when you’re in the field?

Rich Leighton – I am a Nikon shooter. In the field, I always have my D2X and D50, a couple of different flashes (especially my ring flash) and a variety of lenses. Since I do not spend a lot of time Photographing birds, I don’t have to carry around a lot of heavy zoom lenses, so I am usually carrying a simple wide angle lens, my 50mm prime lens and a 55mm-200mm VR. I like and use a lot of filters, so I generally have about four or five different ones with me as well as my old trusty Bogen Tripod. Most of my subjects are stationary, so higher end and faster lenses are not taken with me unless I’m after something in particular. Also – I’m in wet and damp places very often – too risky for the expensive gear!

GreenLynxSpider105 – A green Lynx spider ambushes a honey bee in the Withlacoochee State Forest.

What are some of your favorite photography locations?

Rich Leighton – I absolutely love the Big Cypress National Preserve in Collier County. It’s so big and has such an extreme variety in landscape, terrain and wildlife that it never becomes tedious. And every season brings a whole new range of photography possibilities! Other places that I really enjoy would be the entire Apalachicola River area – from the bluffs and ravines to the north, all the way to the river mouth and the islands there, such as St. George Island. Beautiful and wild scenery!

ApalachicolaRavines - A nameless creek meandering through the Apalachicola National Forest.

Do you have a favorite photograph from your collection?

Rich Leighton – My favorite photo from my collection is constantly changing. It’s usually one of my most recent at the time. This is usually based on some technique or style I’m trying to accomplish and finally get right after a long period of frustration and many little tweaks and adjustments. An example would be a recent photo I took of a small creek in the Apalachicola National Forest. It was such an amazing scene, yet it never looked like I wanted to on camera until I used an exposure blend to pull all the extreme highlights and shadows together into a well-balanced image. That took almost a year to get right.

I’m also quite fond of several of my Florida native orchid photos – especially when it takes me years to find them for a photograph.

StGeorgeIslandSunset1 - A tangerine sunset over the salt marshes of St. George Island, near Apalachicola, Florida.

Who has inspired you the most when it comes to your Photography?

Rich Leighton – I would have to say Rick Sammon. I love his approach photography as something fun and totally unrestrained. He calls himself “not a specialist in anything” but tries a little bit of everything. Here is how it applies to me. I could be deep in the Everglades in the water with no boat – miles from my car photographing a beautiful wild and rare orchid, and the light hits the petals in such a way, that I try a new technique I’ve never tried before, and make it up on the spot. I may try this same technique or setting a week later when shooting an outdoor wedding and the same technique might work perfectly on catching the sunlight in the bride’s hair. In essence, I don’t think of myself as a specialist either. Maybe more like a constant experimenter. It’s all in the tiny details – of which I am most interested.

StormyLotus1 – An American lotus with approaching storm Lake Jackson in Tallahassee.

What are the most important qualities that a Nature Photographer needs to succeed?

Rich Leighton – I would have to say the first rule of thumb when it comes to being a nature photographer is to KNOW YOUR SUBJECT! You will never be able to really appreciate what you are photographing unless you know why it is so special, and why it deserves to be photographed in the first place. Pretty, interesting, or unusual is never enough.

Tenacity is also very important. If you don’t do the hard work of getting into the world of your subject, you are missing the point. The “uniqueness” of the famous ghost orchid, for example, is where it grows deep in the watery darkness of the deep swamps. Finding and getting to
the location are all part of being a nature photographer. It took me three and a half years to find my first ghost in flower.

WoodStork - An endangered wood stork catches a crab in a Sanibel Island estuary.

What advice would you give to aspiring Photographers?

Rich Leighton – I love this question, and it is the most often ignored. Here is my answer. Do not listen to other nature photographers. The world is full of nature photographers with brand new expensive cameras who know every technical detail their cameras can do. This doesn’t mean they can take or make a good photograph. The good nature photographers are out in the field working and experimenting, not comparing equipment or megapixels. Develop your own unique style, cultivate it, let it mature, and then every outing a mental workout. Try out new ideas, push yourself and push hard, and most of all – respect your art. Soon those little lights will come on with the accompanying “a-ha!” – the little things that make the art of nature photography so wonderfully fulfilling on a personal level.

MashesSands1a-2 – An incoming storm in the early evening at Mashes Sands on the Florida Panhandle.

GreenAnole100 - Intensely colorful green anole showing off his red delwap on Key Largo.

Gator1 - Cheerful alligator near the St. Marks River in North Florida.

He’s known from Seminole Point to Bathtub Reef simply as “the guy with two rods,” so dubbed for the spare rig he routinely totes in a make-shift waist harness along the beach.  His real name is O. J. “Bud” Pettingill and over the past 25 years, he’s caught and released more North Palm Beach County snook on artificial lures than anyone.

With snook season in full swing, I caught-up with Pettingill recently in the surf along Jupiter Island, and sought his opinion on the most productive artificial snook lures for visitors and locals alike:

O. J. Bud Pettingill The Man With Two Rods

#5: Johnny Rattler by Luhr-Jensen – Over the years, I’ve caught more snook and jumped more tarpon on the silver/black (0940) and silver/blue (0949) “Mr. Johnny” than any single lure.  As all topwater enthusiasts know, these baits are effective only in extremely low light.  A snook’s eyes are acutely sensitive to sunlight.  Once the sun is high in the sky, a snook rarely will cast his gaze toward the surface again until dusk.  Still, for pre-dawn, overcast, and late evening topwater action, nothing I’ve found can match the action and excitement of Luhr-Jensen’s magic Johnny Rattler.

#4: Yozuri’s Crystal Minnow Floating 5 ¼” Twitch Bait – Since its introduction, the Crystal Minnow has become a classic bait for surf snooking in SoFla.  Here’s a little tip to make this and similar twitch baits by Rapala, XCalibur, and others more effective, and save a bunch of money over a long snooking career: sand down the lip! A belt sander works best, but even a common file will do.  Simply reduce the size of the lip by about a third, maintaining the shape and angle as you go.  This modified lip produces a dive of about 4”- 6” on a jerk, and holds the bait at 10”– 12” below the surface on a fast retrieve, keeping it from snagging on the rocks.  At 7-10 bucks a crack, what snook angler hasn’t experienced that bit of morning misery?

#3: MirrOdines by MirrOlure – Nothing I’ve used mimics a “greenie” more realistically than this new line of MirrOlures.  The bait features a luminescent inset, fish calling rattles, and natural 3-D eyes to enhance its realism.  Best of all, the MirrOdine is designed to suspend in 12” – 14” of water, making it the practically perfect artificial for hovering just above the myriad rock formations that line our beaches from Stuart to Juno where snook love to hide and ambush passing prey.  My personal favorite is the Silver Luminescence XL-27, but all will call and catch snook, even at high sun.

#2: Strike King’s new Redfish Magic Glass Minnow – Developed exclusively for Strike King by Cpts. Ray Van Horn and C.A. Richardson of Flats Class TV, this soft plastic bait originally was designed to mimic the forage of trout and redfish in the Louisiana Delta.  In fact, it is the closest bait ever made, and the first soft plastic I’ve seen, that perfectly mimics the shoals of glass minnows on which snook gorge in July and August prior to the mullet run. The new composite material is vastly more durable than the average soft plastic bait, and is nicely priced at $3.79 for a 5-pack at Bass Pro Shops.  Fished best Texas rigged with a lead head (1/16^th to ¼ oz depending on wind and waves) in the following colors: blue glimmer (27), glo chartreuse (70), and pearl (84).

#1: The trusty Spoon – From old stand-by classics like the Johnson Sprite and Krocodile spoons to the latest line of “wobblers” by companies like Badger Tackle, the spoon has long been the go-to bait of choice for seasoned snook anglers.  A neat trick is to swap-out the treble hook for a #3 or #4 Nautilus circle hook in blood red by Gamakatsu.  The circle hook allows anglers to bounce the spoon off the rocks with little or no fear of getting snagged.  The only 30+ lb. snook I personally have witnessed hauled from the beach both were caught by the same guy -– the legendary Ken Stone – both at Blowing Rocks Preserve, both on gold Johnson spoons, a year apart in the late 90s.

And, finally, with these and all artificials I strongly recommend one of the new 15 lb. test braids like Power Pro for maximum casting, and 20 lb. fluorocarbon leader like YoZuri’s Invisible Pink affixed by an Albright knot.