[missdpuck]

Those pictures were taken about 2 miles from the main road. Practically speaking there is no cell service.

The guy who leads our big hikes has some kind of GPS thing. There are rangers out there, but they don’t know you’re out there, they’d only see your car on the road. I think hunters sign in but otherwise you’re flying blind.

We don’t have bears in southeast Florida. There are some on the western side of Lake Okeechobee and Southwest Florida. There are some beautiful areas (swampy and not) near Orlando that have quite a few bears. Some residential areas have issues.

I often go to the Ocala National Forest on my own. I saw a mom and 2 cubs an hour in during my very first hike there. I had my 150-500mm lens and was all set for such an opportunity. All I could do was stand there and freeze. I heard what sounded like 3 grown men crashing through the palmettos and there they were. Yikes.

Our Florida black bears are smaller and supposedly more docile than other bears.

Many of the hiking trails there have a sign in sheet at the entrance. If you don’t sign back out past a certain time and a ranger or volunteer comes by they do look for you.

The chances of seeing a panther are practically zero. They’re are t many left. But that’s what I really don’t want to encounter. They’re huge and too tricky. At least a black bear kinda lets you know what’s going on.