A new subchapter of the Florida Trail Association has assembled in one of my favorite getaways, around Lake Okeechobee. Overseen by the Loxahatchee Chapter, this new subchapter is drawing folks from all around the big lake.
Here’s a report of their first get-together and meeting from Betty Loomis, a friend and long-time Florida Trail member from [...]

If you live near Lake Okeechobee or love it as much as I do, you’ll appreciate this great effort to pull together folks in South Central Florida into their own Florida Trail chapter. I found this on the VISIT GLADES Facebook page this morning:
Here’s your opportunity to explore beautiful landscapes of Florida with fellow nature [...]

Saturday marks the kickoff of the 18th Annual Big O Hike, a tradition of walking around Lake Okeechobee for 9 days during Thanksgiving Week to complete the full 109-mile circuit in a series of day hikes.  The group camps as a group and does cooperative shuttling to work their way around the lake.
This year’s hike [...]

Each Thanksgiving week since 2002, I’ve made time in my busy life to head to rural South Florida for the annual Big O Hike around Lake Okeechobee. In my eagerness to move Florida Hikes! to a new software format, I forgot a few things … including my article and personal journal of hiking the Big [...]