This week was the perfect timing for doing the “Big O”^*, the cycling circumnavigation of Lake Okeechobee. I had planned on doing it last year just before the Rasco/Midwinters week, but ended up getting COVID so had to bail and recuperate. So this was the year.

The basic route is a trail along the Herbert Hoover Dike that surrounds Lake Okeechobee. Like most regional trails, it has several other names, the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail (LOST) and the Florida Trail (it’s a part of that longer trail from Pensacola to Miami). It’s about 120 miles and as of today – despite what the Army Corps of Engineering’s website says – is 100% open, except for a locked gate that you can easily get around to get back on the trail after crossing a canal. The trail surface is roughly 60% paved and 40% gravel (more or less crushed limestone, with a few chunky bits) and you could easily do it on a road bike with virtually any tires, after all we used to do much gnarlier stuff in Loudoun County on road bikes in the ABRT “old days”. It’s pancake flat, except for two high level bridges over major canals and on/off ramps around minor canals. So you gotta pedal the whole time.

The route is not unlike a Florida version of the Gap/C&O: long and the appearance of being very straight, even though there are significant gentle curves, and while there are only subtle changes in scenery that some might find monotonous, there’s a lot to see if you look closely. The trail is basically an access road for the Army Corp of Engineers for maintenance of the dike and water management infrastructure and as such there are no facilities, bathrooms or water of any kind other than the lake. It’s very remote and even the surrounding towns are very rural in nature. It’s basically farmland with a few RV parks and rural houses on canals. Additionally, since it is up on a flood prevention dike, there is zero shade (there are a few covered benches depending on where you are).

There are two other issues that make riding this potentially unpleasant. It can be very windy since it is completely exposed with nothing to attenuate the breeze for hundreds of miles and there are often sugar cane burns in the surrounding fields which can have heavy particulate content and make it hard to breathe. Fortunately, none of these potential negatives affected this trip.

You could do it in one day during daylight hours (my moving time was under 10 hours) if you travel light and can carry 3-4 water bottles since resupply is not particularly easy. I decided to break it up into roughly two equal chunks of 60 miles and “wild camp” in the middle. As with past bikepacking trips, I’m always trying to do something new to broaden my experience base and figured I’d take advantage of the lack of services to practice some wild camping – just stop and pitch your tent at a suitable spot – carrying everything you need and dealing with no amenities like a shower or toilet. Nonetheless, it was hard to resist obsessively researching the area. The first thing was to find a place to park. There’s a little campground on the southwest side called Uncle Joes Motel & Campground (an “Old Florida” kinda place) and they have tent/van sites for $20/night. There’s a mix of long term residents, RVers and some transients, but it’s the perfect low cost, chill place. No reservations needed, just show up and pay. There’s a basic bathroom/shower and a little bar to get a beer. For my overnight, the Corps of Engineers has 13 “primitive” campsites that have a picnic table covered with a sheet metal roof and a fire pit so I marked them on my map and was prepared to stop at any one of them depending on how things went. I did stop at the one approximately half way around from where I started. This is decidedly different from what I have done in the past by staying at established campgrounds/RV parks. But that was the whole point.

The day I got here, the breeze was howling from the southwest with an approaching cold front. The forecast for the next two days was perfect with the breeze shifting to W at the start of the ride, then gradually moving NW, N, NE over the next two days. I left Uncle Joes around 8:30a and planned on riding clockwise so this would be a crosswind for the first third of the day, shifting aft as I rounded the top of the lake. I stopped the Ridge Market near the connection to the Kissimmee River near the north end of the Lake. If you are ever in the area, they have an awesome Cubano sandwich!

After lunch I did stop and take in a few sights since I didn’t want to get to camp too early.

A strong northerly held the second part of the first day and the first part of the second day, so I rocketed down the eastern side of the lake. At the stop point, I considered continuing on with the wind, but was getting tired, so stopped at about 60 miles and set up camp about 4pm. I chilled for an hour or two reading and made some Ramen noodles. I knew from the night before at Uncle Joes that right at sunset the mosquitos come out all at once in force so I was ready. Right on cue they came and I dove into my tent. Under the fly against the tent mesh was covered in hungry mosquitos. I was really worried what was going to happen when I inevitably had to get out of the tent in the middle of the night, cuz you know us old guys, but they had dissipated considerably by 1am. Other than being a long stint in the tent, basically 6pm to 7am when the sun came up, it was an uneventful night. I had really hoped to keep the fly off to be able to gaze at the stars, but it was quite cold at 50 degrees with some dew which I knew would come with the cold, so put it on when I set the tent up. It was also quite windy so needed it to attenuate the wind for warmth. I think I need to get a sleeping bag that has a lower minimum temp because at 50 degrees with long pants, a cycling jacket, and a nanopuff, I was just on the verge of being cold. But once the sun poked over the dike, it warmed up quickly and the bugs were not bad in the morning.

I made my usual coffee and oatmeal with bran buds, cleaned up, changed into kit (recycled from the day before as I’m practicing that too), packed up and was rolling again at 8:30a with the strong northerly at my back. I ticked off 20 miles before I knew it, then another 20 miles; with the tail wind it only took about 3 hours averaging close to 20mph without working very hard. With the last 20 miles to go, I was smelling the barn so decided to not stop for lunch and eat when I got back at about 1:30pm. Only the last 15 miles had a cross/head wind and it was the dying northerly, so not as strong. I did see a number of sugar burns around the lake both days, but fortunately, they were to the side of me or downwind of me so I was never really affected by them. Even so, it smelled vaguely like over caramelized sugar when you screw up cooking. The whole burning of cane tops before harvesting is a long standing, but very controversial practice. It’s evidently the most financially efficient way to harvest the cane and of course we have to keep it cheap to facilitate American’s addiction to sugar. I heard a piece on the West Palm NPR station last year while I was recovering from COVID last year on the practice and its negative heath effects on poor rural populations. Turns out they don’t burn when it can be blown to West Palm… Shocker.

Overall, it was a fun trip. Unseasonably cool (but nice) weather. Lots of wildlife to see: birds, otters, alligators, plus a great sunset and sunrise and of course I always take random architecture and infrastructure pictures as well as research the local area in this case the details of Lake Okeechobee. The whole lock/water management thing is really interesting. I was surprised that I only saw a few other day riders on the trail and frankly not many people anywhere; perhaps it was a little too cold for native Floridians to be out and about? Definitely glad I was able to do it.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10761973348/

Full Picture Album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/PkhP1JbbDNnYrZi69

Thanks to the bikepacker Follow Thomas on YouTube for the term “The Big O”