This is a bit of a late report from a hike I did the first week of April. A friend and I planned to hike forty miles over three days(Friday to Sunday) on the Florida Trail within Ocala. My pack was about 35 pounds. We planned to hike 10 miles on Friday, and 15 each on Saturday and Sunday. Of course as we got closer to the weekend, the forecast kept getting hotter and hotter, so by Friday the high was to be 90. The Hike on Friday, was 90% in the sun. We had one stop at hidden pond, to resupply for water and rest. We stopped at a sink hole that evening near Hopkins Prairie. We were pretty much on fumes by that point. I about jumped into the sink hole. We made camp and had a pretty good night. We both bought hammocks to sleep in to help keep the weight of our packs down.
We woke Saturday and got on the trail by 9. The sun was up and it was another hot day. Now, the fun started. Not only was it hot, but many of the water holes we passed on the way along Hopkins Prairie were dry. We were planning to stop at the last listed water hole, rest, drink as much water as possible and then fill up our water bottles to make it through a nine mile stretch that had no water. We made it to what appeared to be the last "water" hole, which really was not much more than a mud hole. At that point, we decided to tap out. We had hiked 7 miles that day, and did not want to start that 9 mile stretch without having enough water. The Saturday trail was also mostly in the sun, and it was just as hot Saturday as it was Friday.
I believe had the weather not been so hot, and we had more water sources along the way, we might have been able to complete the hike.
But it was good a practice for a possible evacuation in the summer
The weekend before, the same friend and I hiked 7 miles in the Little Manatee River hiking trail, and while we did not have as large of a pack on, we still felt pretty good completing that hike.