Since 1983, veteran Florida Trail volunteers Lou and Rachael Augspurg have hosted an annual campout for New Year’s Eve in the Ocala National Forest. This year, this major outdoor event is at Camp Kiwanis off SR 40 at Mill Dam. There is no need for reservations - just show up if you feel like ringing [...]

In an effort to help hikers with planning their treks along the Florida Trail in the Ocala National Forest, I’m pulling together & transcribing information to create a full picture of the hike. I’ve added several segments this week to the overall journey, plus have updated the overview to allow easy access for annual subscribers [...]

For immersion into the world’s largest sand pine scrub forest, take a journey along the Florida Trail through the Juniper Prairie Wilderness. It’s perennially a getaway for backpackers thanks to Hidden Pond, a beauty spot of a campsite set between a spring and an open prairie. This segment of the Florida Trail went through some [...]

Now that it’s hiking season again, I’m getting a flurry of inquiries about logistics for backpacking the Ocala National Forest. It’s the top destination for backpackers in Florida due to 70 unbroken miles of the Florida Trail leading from Clearwater Lake to Buckman Lock, well-marked, well-maintained, and dating back to the late 1960s, so the [...]

A few years ago, I had the honor of walking a section of the Florida Trail at Clearwater Lake with the trail’s founder, Jim Kern, to celebrate the beginning of the Florida Trail at this spot in 1966. As we walked, Jim said “we blazed the trail on the other side of the lake.”
We had [...]