For the past 3 months, I’d been telling my friends and family that I’d be riding the legendary Baja Divide over the Christmas vacations.
Being a bit of a bikepacking novice for me, the Baja desert, its wildlife and the lack of
resources in case of breakage, made me doubt my ability to pull off such a feat. I
had seen an earlier facebook post by someone who had ridden the Huracan 300
and thought it was really cool! I then set my sights on Florida, but the Huracan 300
was only 600 km long, and not wanting in the least to shorten the distance l’d
originally set myself, Ihad to dig a little deeper to find a route that lived up to my
expectations. It was on bikepacking.com that I found the formidable Eastern Divide.
Section 8 started in Tallahassee, and the Ocala National Forest made it easy to transfer from section 8 to the Huracan 300

With the plan in place, the next day I bought my plane ticket from Montreal to Tallahassee.
As with everyone else’s first thought, I had assumed that the Sunshine States had a
very warm, even tropical, climate. Alas! When I got there, I was faced with a cold snap that was close to minus 7 degrees overnight. It was 2 degrees Celsius warmer than in Quebec. I had to leave the itinerary several times to find lodging, as I wasn’t equipped to camp outside at such
temperatures. To give you an idea, the orange plants were completely frozen.

Fortunately, a few days later, milder temperatures returned.
As I set out on the trail, I learned that Florida’s vacation season is open season
for deer hunting. I was therefore expecting to come across hunters with a surly attitude, fearing that I would scare the game away as I passed. In the end, it was just the opposite! I had nothing but pleasant encounters, and I must say I was blown away by the type of hunting. The
forest is so dense and tightly packed that it’s almost impossible to get around on
foot, so the hunters use GPS-collared dogs to bring the animals back into their sights.
Heading further south, I was surprised to come across other hunters on electric
bikes. The game, educated to the noise of 4×4 engines, were all the less frightened,
which benefited our bloodhounds. I was also advised to be more conspicuous
when using forest roads, and while driving along the side of the road I found a flag with reflective strips that you attach to objects attached to transport trucks that exceed the permitted length, so I used it to attach to my backpack to be more conspicuous to hunters.

From Tahallassee to Ocala Forest, I rode through immense cypress forests, grassy dikes and the fun singletrack of Aucilla Sink.

One of the highlights of my trip was the discovery of White Springs. With its huge bathhouse built over a sulfur spring, the impressive carillon overlooking Stephen Foster’s historic park and its
historic buildings, it’s the most beautiful little town I’ve ever seen! The singletracks of the marshall swamp trail, live oak and holton creek were also very pleasant.
Arriving at the Ocala forest after passing several sandy roads, I made the switch from section 8 to km 501 of the Huracan 300, the counter-clockwise version.

The singletrack festival began right in the town of Ocala! One of the coolest sections (even
if they all are) was Withllacochee! Uphill and downhill on tight singletrack, and let’s
face it, at night with a headlamp, it’s a blast!
In Dunellon I met Tin Ojeda and his charming wife Lisa. It was on a small trail half-closed in by vegetation. In the distance, barely visible above a small hill, I spotted the famous tulip proudly displayed on Ron’s bike bags. My surprise was all the greater as both were riding splendid Crust mounts. Iwas stunned! It was the first time I’d met people with such elegant
bikes as the Römanceur and the Évasion, who shared my passion for bikepacking.
We became instant friends! Later, Tin offered to ride with me. I was delighted to
share the road, and the camaraderie didn’t hurt either, breaking up my solitary journey.

Tin being a photographer by trade took many excellent shots while riding, with the aim of spreading the word about the joys of traveling by bike in rural Florida. In
Wekiva, as we crossed a river with the bike on our shoulders, we met a couple who
were also riding the Huracan 300. Given the somewhat spooky wildlife we were
able to keep a watchful eye on each other as we crossed.

After Seminole Forest I continued north to finish my loop.
Tin joined m e a second time for a morning ride to Chuluota and through Charles
Bronson’s park! This park offered some amazing views! It must be Florida’s mecca for birdwatchers. It w a s really beautiful! Then the road went downhill very quickly with each pedal stroke until I got to 20 km before arriving in Kissimmee .
It was 20 km, 3⁄4 of which was a tractor track filled with mud, so the most passable solution was to ride directly in the field. For a cyclocross enthusiast, this must be heaven! It was stirring like hell! I was glad I’d fitted myself with a redshift suspension stem, and even then it was really rough! Further on, the field was flooded, so I had to ride a short distance with my bike on my shoulders. I can tell you that when I got out of the field in the evening, I couldn’t wait to go to sleep! My level of self-transcendence was at an all-time high!
In the evening, before I finished the Huracan, I stopped off at a store and while
chatting, the owner advised me not to go into the woods the next day, as it was the last day of deer hunting and people would be more on edge. I decided to let the 25
km go by and head back south on the Eastern divide for the remaining 1000 km. Apart from the dangers attributed to wildlife and cars, a trio of fairly stoner teenagers warned me about the risk of running into the Skunk Ape, which turns out to be Florida’s sasquatch ahahha!

The closer I got to Everglades Park, the more I realized that the Florida Panthers aren’t
just an NHL team, from the look of the big- cat posters! Being a bit nervous, I figured
the only way to ride safely was to make myself heard by the surrounding wildlife and its big cats. So I chose to drive through Everglades Park at dawn, listening to a compilation of 90s power-violence band Spazz on my phone’s speakerphone, and it certainly worked, saving me from a chance encounter with a wildcat.
The most demanding section besides Kissimmee, as mentioned above, was from Key Largo to Key West. I told myself it was going to be easy on the pavement all the way! I spent 2 days riding with a headwind and the sun beaming down, and by the time I got to Key West, I was feeling totally torched ahahah. I took comfort in a more than excellent slice of lime pie at a French
restaurant called Le Banana Café, after giving the famous concrete buoy, the
southernmost point of the continent, a good pat on the back.
To conclude, I was riding my crust escape and I have to recommend that a 12-speed
transmission and high-volume tires made my job a whole lot easier on the sandy or muddy roads. Places to camp were as plentiful and easy to find as places to resupply.

There are a lot of bears in Florida, so take a cane of bear repellent with you.
The bike shops Iwent to were all friendly and courteous (in truth, so were all the people I met in Florida). As a French- Canadian, I’m a long way from speaking English well, yet I’ve had no trouble understanding or being understood. The locals are all very hospitable and altruistic.

I congratulate and thank Karlos Bernart for the colossal task of making such
itineraries through the magnificent state of Florida!