When hikers follow the Florida Trail around Lake Okeechobee, they walk right into historic Moore Haven to cross the broad Caloosahatchee River. Founded in 1915, Moore Haven was a major commercial center during the dredging of wetlands around the lake and the Caloosahatchee River. It’s now the launch point for outdoor adventures along the vast western marshes of Lake Okeechobee and for sailing down the Caloosahatchee to Fort Myers.
Moore Haven is a Florida Trail Gateway Community.
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 [...]
