Barr Street to Lockwood

To get to the Florida Trail from the Barr Street trailhead, follow the white blazes as they wind through the forest down to a bridge along a creek draining into the river. To hike northbound, turn right. The trail utilizes segments of an old road, but mainly stays in the lush floodplain forest and the bluffs above the river and its tributaries, winding along fairly rugged terrain for Central Florida. You reach the Penny Troll bridge (the first F-Troop project back in 2004, and I helped) within the first mile; it crosses a narrow but deep tributary that roars with water after a rain. Notice the bromeliads in the trees—it’s always humid here. When the trail reaches an open view of the river, a place you can sit on a tree and dangle your feet, it then leaves the river bluffs and heads into a hydric hammock, where the footpath may be squishy. Ferns dominate the understory and grow out of the trees as well.

Passing a designated campsite at the 2.4 mile mark, the trail rises into a stretch of wet pine flatwoods, making a sharp right at a property boundary and soon crossing a very long, narrow bridge over a seasonal bog. Once you leave the bridge, the footpath may still be wet along the edge of the bog, where a small clump of pitcher plants grows off to the right. You pass a very old wooden kiosk and emerge onto the berm along the edge of Lockwood Road. From here the Florida Trail continues into the town of Oviedo on a zig-zagging course towards downtown. Unless you have a car at this trail crossing, turn around and retrace your walk back to Barr Street.