Florida Trail

The Big Oak Trail is one of the most scenic hikes in North Florida and is part of the statewide Florida Trail. Much of the hiking parallels the Suwannee and Withlacoochee Rivers, which meet here at a confluence where the Withlacoochee (not to be confused with the one in Central Florida) flows south from Georgia [...]

Four days, 43 miles: that’s just part of the challenge of the Citrus Hiking Trail, the second-longest backpacking loop on a single piece of land in the state of Florida. Add aggressively rolling sandhills, steep descents into sinkholes, and rock-strewn footpaths, and you’ve got yourself one of Florida’s most rugged hikes. Traversing extreme contrasts in [...]

Get acquainted with Big Scrub on this 8.4-mile stretch of the Florida Trail in the Ocala National Forest as it rises through longleaf pine forests to meet the world’s largest sand pine scrub, punctuated by a variety of ponds and prairies. Connecting a first-magnitude spring with one of the more beautiful lakes in the Ocala [...]

With Florida’s only Class III whitewater and the beauty of a Florida waterfall along a stretch of trail that is rugged but extremely scenic, this new section of the Florida Trail is a real winner. Although the full segment is still “thru hiker only” from its eastern access point along the back roads near Deep [...]

Part of the new corridor that the Florida Trail follows in its arc around the east side of the Orlando metro area. Bronson State Forest – a new addition to the Division of Forestry – now includes a segment of the Florida Trail that replaces the old roadwalk down Fort Christmas Road. Spanning from Orlando [...]

Chandler Slough is a significant natural feature in the middle of the Okeechobee prairies. It’s especially noticeable as you’re hiking the Florida Trail, since from a distance it looks like a mountain ridge. In fact, it’s just the opposite—it’s a low gash in the landscape where water pools and flows towards the Kissimmee River. But [...]

The oldest section of the Florida Trail is one of the prettiest, as well. First blazed in the Ocala National Forest in 1966 by a hardy crew of trail maintainers led by Jim Kern, the Florida Trail between Clearwater Lake Recreation Area and Alexander Springs Recreation Area traverses beautiful, moderately hilly stretches of longleaf pine [...]

Following the course of Econfina Creek, this protected segment of the Florida Trail provides a gorgeous weekend backpacking experience, particularly in springtime when the mountain laurel and azalea are in full fragrant bloom. The upper portion of the creek flows swiftly through steep-sided clay banks, with ravines and vegetation reminiscent of the Appalachian Mountains. As [...]

Bordered by the tangled floodplain forests of the Yellow River to the north, this 12-mile segment of the Florida Trail traverses high, dry sandhills topped with longleaf pine forest and planted pine, dropping in elevation as the trail descends towards the East Bay River. For most of its length, it’s never far from SR 87, [...]

At the westernmost point of Santa Rosa Island, along the shimmering sands of the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Trail comes to an end at one of the most important historic sites in Florida’s Panhandle—Fort Pickens. Construction of Fort Pickens began in 1829 under supervision of the Army Corps of Engineers. President Abraham Lincoln considered [...]

Arcing northward along the shoreline of Lake Okeechobee, this paved segment of the Florida Trail – known locally as the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail – offers spectacular sweeping views of the open water of one of America’s biggest lakes. It’s here you encounter an interesting array of bird life, from sandhill cranes to colonies of [...]

Long referred to as the “jewel of the Florida Trail,” Juniper Prairie Wilderness in the Ocala National Forest is a complex mosaic of ancient scrub forests, pine islands, and broad, open prairies where wildlife thrives. The heart of the world’s largest sand pine scrub is also one of the state’s most flammable habitats, and, unfortunately, [...]

The Florida Trail along Juniper Creek (also known as the Juniper Creek Trail, Blackwater River State Forest) is a gorgeous place to explore in springtime, when mountain laurel blooms in both pink and white and the dogwoods put on a show. There are seepage slope bogs where pitcher plants look pretty as well. This is [...]

An immersion in both sandhills and scrub awaits on a walk along the Florida Trail between Lake Delancy and Lake Kerr. Amid the tall longleaf pines of Riverside Island and the diminutive oaks of the Big Scrub you’ll find a parade of wildlife. Florida black bear sightings are most common along this segment, and plenty [...]

Surrounded by the sprawl of new homes now crowding Oviedo and Chuluota, a sprawl swallowing pastures and orange groves, a ribbon of wilderness remains. It is the Little-Big Econ State Forest, more than 5,000 acres of uplands and cypress swamps flanking the Econlockhatchee River, a true Central Florida treasure. Along its 1,400-mile route across the [...]

As the Florida Trail follows the curve of the basin in which Mills Creek drains from Lake Mills into a bowl of marshlands to the east of Chuluota, it leads you through a colorful array of habitats. There are oak hammocks where ancient oaks seem to bend under the weight of streamers of Spanish moss, [...]

Seen on your GPS or a satellite photo, Corbett WMA appears to be wetlands, wetlands, and more wetlands. But this popular wildlife management area west of West Palm Beach is a place of superlatives: vast prairies, enormous trees, and landscapes that seem to go on forever. Painted with colorful wildflowers in every season, it echoes [...]

Deep in the heart of the Ocean-to-Lake Greenway, this 9.7 mile segment of the Florida Trail bridging DuPuis Reserve and Corbett WMA is one of the most wild and scenic treks in southeastern Florida. It’s necessary to backpack in from one end or the other of the Ocean-to-Lake western segment in order to experience the [...]

One of five segments of the Florida Trail that are paved around Lake Okeechobee, the 13.7-mile walk between Port Mayaca and Henry Creek offers unparalleled vistas of both open water and the marshes of Chauncey Bay, teeming with bird life. This is definitely a section that city folks who exercise on pavement will excel at, [...]

One of the most awe-inspiring sections of the Florida Trail, the segment between the Rodman Dam (more properly known as the George Kirkpatrick Dam) and Lake Delancy immerses you into longleaf pine forests that seem to go on forever. Providing a fine balance between the Big Scrub habitats and the breathtaking old-growth longleaf pines, it’s [...]

Amid a patchwork of scrub ridges and longleaf pine islands, the Florida Trail makes its way northwest around the vastness of Lake Kerr on this 10.1 mile section. It’s accessible to day hikers via two connector trails – blazed in blue – that attach at Salt Springs and from behind The 88 Store, a popular [...]

At Seminole Ranch, the Florida Trail follows a string of hydric hammocks in the St. Johns River floodplain, spanning bridges over slow-moving tannic streams with steep sand bluffs. Ferns sprout from the tops and trunks of the cabbage palms. This is a lush, humid environment displaying the full spectrum of green across palm fronds and [...]

Dancing along the rim of the St. Johns River floodplain, the Florida Trail through Seminole Ranch and the southern section of Bronson State Forest provides an unexpected array of botanical delights. Ancient oaks knit their limbs together to form grandly shaded hammocks. Towering cabbage palms rise like columns as far as the eye can see. [...]

For backpackers headed to the urban southeastern part of the Florida, Jonathan Dickinson State Park provides more than 11,000 acres to roam on a series of three trails maintained by the Florida Trail Association. Although the East Loop took some severe battering during the hurricanes of 2005, losing the sand pine scrub canopy along the [...]

A lesser-known but beautiful loop trail within Seminole State Forest, the Lower Wekiva Loop provides a long day hike or overnight backpacking trip on its 8.8-mile route. Tracing the edge of both the Wekiva River and Blackwater Creek to where the waters merge, this loop never gets within sight of the waterways but lingers in [...]

In the 1780s, British loyalists Thomas Forbes and William Panton fled from the American Revolution in Georgia to Florida, then a British colony. Applying for a land grant, they received acreage west of modern-day Palatka. Using servants to ditch dikes and build drainage canals, they established fields of rice and indigo (a native plant from [...]

Starting at the Ross Prairie Trailhead, the 3.5-mile Ross Prairie Loop offers an overview of Ross Prairie, a sprawling complex of grasslands and ponds nearly three miles long. Edged by sand pine scrub, longleaf pine forests and oak hammocks lush with ferns and orchids, this unique ecosystem is a highlight of a visit to the [...]

By itself, the Trail of Lakes is a 3.9-mile blue blazed connector between two portions of the Florida Trail around Camel Lake, a soggy, boggy walk in the Apalachicola National Forest. To enjoy it as a day hike with no shuttling, you can use the Florida Trail to create a 9.5-mile loop (starting and ending [...]

Protecting more than 30,000 acres of wild space along the St. Johns River between Orlando and Titusville, Tosohatchee WMA is a grand expanse for hikers to play in. The Florida Trail runs through the preserve, as it has for many decades, beneath bowers of ancient live oaks, through mazes of cabbage palms, and among towering [...]

Walk the landscape and discover the history that inspired Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Yearling in 1938, on Pat’s Island in the Ocala National Forest. In the fall of 1876, Reuben and Sara Jane Long established a homestead on Pat’s Island, a high spot in the Big Scrub. Shaded by longleaf pine and [...]