Troop 281 hikes 20 miles down A1A in Flagler County to prepare for Barefoot Mailman Hike

The Boys Scouts started at sunrise in Marineland and finished at Highbridge Road in Volusia County.

By Observer Staff
| 12:50 p.m. January 9, 2023

Boy Scout Troop 281 began at sunrise on Jan. 7 and hiked 20 miles from Marineland to Highbridge Road in Volusia County. Courtesy photo

Andrew Wheeler takes a break in Beverly Beach. Courtesy photo

Boy Scout Troop 27 hiked 20 miles down A1A on Jan. 7 to prepare for next month's 34-mile, two-day Barefoot Mailman Hike in South Florida. Courtesy photo

Boy Scout Troop 27 hiked 20 miles down A1A on Jan. 7 to prepare for next month's Barefoot Mailman Hike in South Florida. Courtesy photo

Boy Scouts hike through The Hammock on Jan. 7. Courtesy photo

The Scouts take a break in Beverly Beach. Courtesy photo

Palm Coast Observer
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If you drove down A1A at some point during the day on Saturday, Jan. 7, you might have spotted a group of Boy Scouts hiking down the historic roadway.

Seventeen Scouts and adult leaders from Palm Coast’s Troop 281, which is based at Trinity Presbyterian Church, were preparing for the upcoming 34-mile, two-day Barefoot Mailman Hike in South Florida. The Jan. 7 hike was a 20-miler. The Scouts started at sunrise from Marineland and finished at Highbridge Road in Volusia County.

“This group had been preparing for three months,” Troop 281 Scoutmaster Jason Wheeler said. “It’s a grueling event, hiking these distances with a full pack and in full uniform. These kids have done these shakedown hikes with very little complaining and with a ton of Scout spirit. I could not be prouder of them.”

The Barefoot Mailman Hike has been held in Broward and Dade counties for 58 years. Scout units from across the state gather on the first Saturday of February to begin the first leg. It starts in Pompano Beach and ends on South Beach in Miami the next day. It commemorates carriers on the first U.S. mail route (1885-1892) between Palm Beach and Miami, years before roads connected the cities. The mailmen typically walked barefoot along the coastal sand.

“During our four hikes, many of us took our shoes and boots off during the last mile,” Wheeler said. “While none of us will walk the entire hike barefoot, we plan on taking our shoes off when we walk the sands of South Beach.”