As the second largest lake entirely within the United States, Lake Okeechobee is a very unique hiking destination. I’ve walked around it several times on the Florida Trail as part of the annual Big O Hike held every Thanksgiving week.
In addition to the nine segments of the Florida Trail – also known as the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail – circling the lake, there are quite a few other hiking trails nearby, which you’ll find near the communities of Okeechobee, Lakeport, Moore Haven, Clewiston, South Bay, and Pahokee.
Florida Trail, Chandler Slough West
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 [...]
Florida Trail, Henry Creek to Okeechobee
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 [...]
Florida Trail, Pahokee to Port Mayaca
*** Hiking south of Port Mayaca to Pahokee is currently prohibited due to reconstruction work on the dike. Thru-hikers should use the western route around Lake Okeechobee. *** The sweep of Lake Okeechobee curves away from your perch on the Herbert Hoover Dike as you walk this section of the Florida Trail along the eastern [...]
Florida Trail, Port Mayaca to Henry Creek
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, [...]
Fort Center
Explore a pre-Colombian village lost in Florida’s past – and uncovered again in modern times, thanks to the efforts of curious archaeologists – by following this trail in Fisheating Creek Wildlife Management Area. The Fort Center site is documented as possibly the first place in the eastern part of our continent where people crew corn. [...]
Harney Pond Canal Boardwalk
Where’s the best view of Lake Okeechobee? It’s hidden in plain sight in the town of Lakeport, in a park that’s alternately known as the Harney Pond Canal Recreation Area and Margaret Van De Velde Park. While this walk is short, it’s long on scenery. Scrambling up two spoil banks to a boardwalk that’s pointed [...]
Ortona Mounds
While less than a mile long, this walk in the woods in the ranchlands of Glades County takes you back to a time more than 3,000 years, well before the Calusa paddled the Caloosahatchee in their canoes and settled here too. The original complex is about the same age as the Miami Circle. The Calusa [...]
