Hidden in the depths of a floodplain forest in the heart of Goethe State Forest, the Big Cypress Trail is a short hike that leads to one of Florida’s most amazing botanical wonders. At the end of this ramble past large and larger trees, you follow a boardwalk to the base of a towering cypress tree more than 900 years old, with others of similar stature nearby.
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Overview
Location: south of Bronson
Length: 0.5 mile
Lat-Long: 29.232458, -82.622197 (approx)
Type: round-trip
Fees / Permits: none
Difficulty: easy
Bug factor: moderate
Restroom: No
Directions
This little gem is well-hidden within the massive Goethe State Forest in southern Levy County. To find the trail, follow SR 121 east from US 19 or west from CR 336 and look for Cow Creek Road, a dirt road leading north from the pavement at the forest’s western edge. It’s in great shape for passenger vehicles. At the first fork, stay right. Drive 3.2 miles north on the dirt road to the parking area on the left. Cow Creek Road connects with CR 326 if you continue another 3 miles north.
Hike Details
Clearly marked as the “Big Cypress Trail,” the narrow footpath leads down an ecotone along the floodplain forest. Here, all of the trees grow large – from water oaks to magnolias towering more than 40′ high to saw palmetto lifting its trunks well over your head. Loblolly pines show incredible girth.
After about a 10 minute stroll, you reach the boardwalk out into the swamp. En route, interpretive markers explain some of the trees, the habitat, and the importance of fire.
At the end of the boardwalk is the Big Cypress, and it’s certainly impressive: by its consistent girth as it rise above you, you can assume its crown was topped off in a hurricane decades or centuries ago, as most of our state’s ancient cypresses have been. Like those, this one was lucky.
Back in the days when Cummer & Sons cleared the cypress forests from Gulf Hammock (just west of here) north up the Suwannee River, cypresses like this only survived the cut if they had a flaw. You can see several flaws that made it not “sawmill worthy,” including some odd protrusions and a deep hole in the trunk where bees buzz some 50 feet overhead. Look to the left for another cypress of similar age and girth, much farther off the boardwalk.
Mileage
0.0 Big Cypress Trail trailhead
0.2 The Big Cypress
0.5 return to trailhead
