Was going through the map yesterday but didnt realize until today. What is Piggies and Cocoa Grave? Who were they? I tried to Google it but I couldn’t find anything about them.

Just did Florida Scenic yesterday, (Big Cypress North) super fun trail. Don’t recommend doing it when you’re sick because it kicked my butt.

Was going through the map yesterday but didnt realize until today. What is Piggies and Cocoa Grave? Who were they? I tried to Google it but I couldn’t find anything about them.

Just did Florida Scenic yesterday, (Big Cypress North) super fun trail. Don’t recommend doing it when you’re sick because it kicked my butt.

Background:

As the title says I'm looking to hike a part of the trail this year either in June or July. I know this isn't the optimal time to but I don't have the time to during the rest of the year and only plan on hiking the 39/40 and 41/42 sections. (For background I'm a multi-generational and lifelong Floridian so I'm well aware of the weather concerns).

Question(s): I can't seem to find all the info I need on the website so I'm hoping yall can help.

What permits/forms do I need for these sections?

Besides normal camping and hiking gear, what would yall recommend I take?

The website mentions occasional closures during hunting season. Is there anywhere I can check this/ dates I should schedule to avoid certain places?

Nephews are coming for a visit in 6 weeks and figure I would try and get them hooked on some hiking. 11 & 13, I am not hopeful but figured I would give it a shot. I'm in St Lucie county.

Normally I hit up trails like Dupuis and Kissimmee Preserve when hiking alone because I like not seeing other humans and I find the scrub scenic even if most others do not. June in Dupuis is also usually when the trails start going to shit, fun for me but probably not for them.

Originally I was thinking maybe St Sebastian River so we could see the manatees but then remembered when I was there a month ago that viewing deck is closed for construction. The springs* parks are great for outdoors in general but that would be a crazy early start to get in during school break and they have pretty crappy trails. Johnathan Dickinson is an option doing Kitching Creek but I don't imagine they will find it very interesting to look at.

Any suggestions?

Hey friends!

My friends and I are looking forward to our first Florida Trail multi-day backpacking on the Suwanee River section in a few weeks, and the campground that I wanted to stay at is full for night we were planning to arrive late and camp and then start hiking in the morning.

Do any of ya'll know any good campsites in White Springs that we can drive up to, camp overnight, and then leave the car for a few days? Stephen Foster looks ideal but they don't have any sites available for the date we need.

So, if I start @ the northern terminus how many miles can I reasonably expect to cover over Florida terrain? I'm trying to to shelter to shelter hikes but it's looking like well over 20 mines from northern terminus to the first shelter. So clearly I'm not doing over 20 miles. In your experience with that section what can I expect to accomplish on the first day and proceeding days?

Planing a 3-4 day section hike of the FT around mid march and I average about 10-15miles per day. What is your favorite 40-45 mile section? I'm considering just starting in big Cypress and heading nobo.

Hey yall, I'm visiting Orlando for a wedding around March and I was hoping to get some hikes in. Since this might be a very different environment than I'm used to, I wanted to ask if there's anything I should keep an eye out for or carry with me. Wildlife encounters (alligators? Wild hogs? Venomous snakes?), what's a good or bad place to swim, any good trails in the Orlando area?

I've hiked a decent amount in Canada, where I often carry bear spray. Is protection against wildlife necessary?

I'm starting the PCT this year on April 6th and wanted to get out and get some miles in. I'm currently with my girlfriends family in Valrico, and seems the best and easiest option for me to get big miles in and reduce their travel time to and from trail would be to do one big loop around Orlando and get picked up were I start (where it crosses I-4 SW of Orlando).

Has anyone done this? About how many miles will be road walk? Anything in particular I should know. I've got some decent hiking experience. 600 Miles on the AT in 2021 and thru hiked the CO Trail that same year.

Thanks!

Hey everyone!

This December, I was planning to attempt a Florida Trail thru-hike. I saw there is a west and east route that can be taken around Lake Okeechobee and in central Florida. Given that I only have around 45-50 days to complete it, what's the shortest route for thru-hiking the Florida Trail (NOBO)?

Thank you!

Hi, i'll start the AT this spring. The more research i did, the more i am intrigued by the International-Version, or the idea to complete the trails on the entire east-coast of the US. Im not from the US and in only learned about the FT/Pinhoti/Benton Mc Kaye and Alabama Roadwalk while researching the AT.

I really dont like Roadwalks, and prefer Bikepacking in this instance. Watching footage of the FT on Youtube i got to wonder if, outside of big cyprus, it wouldn't be possible to complete the FT and Alabama Roadwalk on a Gravel or Mountainbike. Being a foreigner i have no idea how infrastructure for cycling looks at all, let alone conditions on the trail. And wether it is allowed to use the trails on a bike.

Can anyone who knows the Trail and enjoys Bikepacking as much as Backpacking fill me in if thats a viable idea?

Hey all! I heard that parts of the trails in Suwannee River State Park are still closed from damage done durimg Idalia, does.anyone know if the Florida Trail segments are open? Thinking about a section hike in March or April...

I’ll be in Orlando for a conference and would love to add a scenic 10 mile day hike on the Florida trail into the itinerary. I have a car. Recommendations on a trailhead with lots of natural beauty?

Hey :) I'm a new Englander planning to travel down to hike the OTL trail but actually going from lake to ocean.

I'm trying to only pack as much food as I need and am not familiar with the area. Once I reach the end point, hobie sound beach is there a shop that sells camping fuel canisters and the just add water backpacking foods?

I purchased the digital map on the far out app and there seems to be alot of water along the trail, is this accurate? I'm worried about under packing water.

Where I typically backpack in between proper camping sites here and there you can find a nook off trail worn in from use, are there spots along otl like that too?

Any other info would be greatly appreciated. I'm expecting to hike 15mi/day.

I am planning on hiking the Ocean to Lake after new years and wanted to know how wet it is.

Snowbirding in Naples and willing to shuttles hikers to the southern terminus with a couple days notice. Can accommodate up to three hikers at a time. Holler at me here, happy trails.

Trip Report.

On Thanksgiving day I began the almost 30 mile trek from Big Cypress Visitor Center to Alligator Alley (I-75), November 23rd to the 26th.

I was warned at the Visitor Center water may be above my waist, but at no point was it higher than knee-thigh depth; I'm 5'7". We've had record breaking rain this year in South Florida, and so I'm assuming this is about as high water level has ever been. I could see dried algal mats where it might've been a few inches higher from the recent storm. There was a distinct border between cypress and pineland environments, and water seemed to be flooding into the pinelands often. None of the campsites were flooded.

Day 1: 6.6 miles to 7-Mile Camp

Day 2: 9.2 miles to 13-Mile Camp

Day 3: 8.9 miles to Ivy Camp

Day 4: 3.4 miles to I-75

*Miles according to the sign at trailhead.

https://preview.redd.it/22t0npbivz2c1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cdca245d1bf35c822a05731fbc42b9232403cdc2

Coordinates from my Garmin handheld GPS:

7-Mile Camp: N25°56'26.0" W081°00'27.4"

10-Mile Camp: N25°57'51.5" W080°59'10.1"

13-Mile Camp: N26°01'18.7" W081°02'10.3"

Oak Hill Camp: N26°05'04.6" W081°02'10.4"

Ivy Camp: N26°07'36.7" W081°03'32.2"

7-Mile Camp. Nice and dry, a soft grassy area for one tent, and stone fire circle. Other tents will fit, but would have to move picnic table around, or camp closer to trail. This first leg of the trail was mix of wet walking and dry, with one deeper section above the knees. Took me 4 hours.

This is 10-Mile Camp, behind me is plenty of room for multiple tents, dry, and a stone fire ring. I think this is the nicest camp. Up to this point, the trail was pretty well blazed, and maybe only one section of water walking that was approx. 1mi.

13-Mile Camp, should be called 16 mile camp, it took me 8 hours to get here on day 2. Not my favorite, a bit overgrown and dense vegetation, buggy. Somewhere around 14 miles, the trail starts to get pretty overgrown with lots of downed trees to move or walk around. The trail up to this point is mixed alternating wet/dry hike, with no wet walking lasting longer than 1-2 miles. I say this because I under-appreciated those opportunities to rest on dry ground, as the 3rd day was much more difficult.

I honestly didn't see much wildlife, probably because I'm making so much noise. I didn't take much time to stop and take it all in, as my pace was roughly 1mph.

Entrance to Oak Hill Camp

Oak Hill Camp was most buggy, dense hardwood hammock, damp with nowhere to sit. There's some cool tall Oak trees, but I didn't camp here, nor did I want to stay more than 5 minutes. It's unfortunate because this leg of the hike was exhausting, it's like 90% cypress swamp, knee deep water for 5 miles, and mud that consumes your shoes with every step, with many hidden stumps, roots, and rock pinnacles to trip and slip on. Also, for some reason the mile markers after 15 get all messed up.. for example mile marker 16 should have been 0.2mi past 13-Mile Camp, but I never saw it, and some time later I saw 26 or 27, 28, 29, 30 etc.. none of them made sense, and I'm not convinced they even matched with the correct mile location. At first I'd assumed 27 = 17, that would mean Oak Hill Camp would be at 31.1, but it was somewhere near 28 instead. This made it challenging to pace myself for the 3rd day, and so I was rushing for most of it because I knew I was moving slow in the deeper water.

​

Finding Ivy Camp became a bit of nightmare fuel, as I knew I was moving slow, the mile markers were no help, and the cypress swamp felt like it lasted forever. The trail seemed to intentionally circumvent every opportunity to cross higher ground for the entire second half. Pretty sure the trail from 13-Mile Camp to I-75 is at least 12 miles of continuous cypress swamp. I kept passing tree islands hoping it would be Ivy Camp, but I still hadn't reached it yet by 5:30pm - I hiked 9 hours this day. About 1/2 mile South of Ivy Camp is this unmarked island with an entrance and clearing. At first I thought the sign must've fallen in the water, but my unofficial internet coordinates for Ivy Camp showed it was up ahead so I kept looking.

Still not reaching Ivy Camp, and only 15 minutes left of twilight, I had to make the decision to turn back and camp at this \"False\" Ivy Camp. It was overgrown somewhat with ferns, but spacious. This photo shows approx. 1/3 of the cleared space, and it was pretty nice. If I had continued forward 10 minutes more, I would have found Ivy Camp, but it was really close to dark and I was getting nervous.

Literally nowhere to rest the entire 3rd day.

Ivy Camp Entrance. All of the signs could use tightening, locking washers and nuts. Currently they are only finger tight and loose.

Ivy Camp facing NW. The bugs weren't too bad, as the vegetation is not very dense around the island, there's a breeze, and open canopy looking up to the sky. I really liked this camp, as the water was easily accessible from all sides and it felt like a peaceful place. If it were closer to I-75 I'd definitely come back here often.

Things for next time - definitely experiment with other shoes. My old running sneakers were constantly filling with sediment, which collected under my toes and in arch of my foot, making the entire hike very painful. I'd seen some covers that might keep debris out, but not sure anything would work in this environment. Also, very grateful I brought electrical tape for blisters. This would have been much worse if I had to deal with worsening open wounds on my heels. Open to suggestions, thanks.

All in all, very cool experience. Hope to do more in this area.

Some pictures from along the hike: https://imgur.com/a/U9TREBo

I recently completed the Ocean to Lake Hiking Trail - a section of the Florida trail that runs from Canal Point on Lake Okeechobee to Hobe Sound Beach (approximately 61.4 miles) on the Atlantic coast. I figured I would provide a quick write-up for anyone who is curious about the experience.

I started a little after 7:00am on Monday, November 20, from Canal Point. There is a small parking lot at the trailhead with a little bit of trail information and trail log book. Only two people had signed the book in the few days before I started (one the day before).

The trail starts off through the woods - but quickly changes to road walking for about the first 3 miles or so. From this point, the trail was very well maintained (fresh blazes and mowed). There was periodic wild hog damage, however. Throughout Dupuis, the trial was fairly dry.

About half-way through my first day, the trail got pretty wet. I should have made better notes about where that transition occurred (but it was before midday). Most of the rest of day 1 was more or less wet - usually ankle-deep, but sometimes approaching thigh-deep. Of course, the trail dried out here and there - but never enough to completely dry out. I had planned to came at Little Gopher campsite. However, I arrived and still had plenty of daylight left (I think it was about 3:00pm), so I kept hiking. I was hoping to make it to Bowman Island - but I only made it about 22 miles that day before it started raining and getting dark. I probably should have stayed at Little Gopher, because I got caught in rain and simply had to camp on a very small patch of damp ground in the middle of the slough. I got my tent set up just in time for it to start pouring rain and it rained for several hours.

On Tuesday (Day 2), I broke camp and started out again about 7:00am. My gear was soaked. Most of Day 2 was underwater again - sometimes up to waist-deep through some of the marsh areas - but mostly ankle- to shin-deep water (For reference, I am 6'1" or so) . At Everglades Youth Camp, I used their split rain fence to hang my tent and wet gear for a quick dry in the wind. After passing Everglades Youth Camp, there's a little bit of road walking and then and then walking through an area that looks like it was intended for development - cleared "roadways" with names on the map and such - but it was quite wet. There's then a little walking on the Beeline highway and the Loxahatchee Slough. At first, this area was quite well maintained and dry - but then it became very wet (again, mostly ankle- to shin-deep water on me). I intended to camp at Soggysocks - but it was really torn up by wild hogs (though it did have a non-potable water pump which was quite nice). Thus, I hiked further till Lucky Hammock campsite at mile 42.

On Wednesday (Day 3), I stated about 7:00am and only had a little bit of a wet hike before I had bit of canal walking and then entered the Loxahatchee Battlefield Park (I believe that is its name). The trail was nicely maintained (wide, gravel) and this is the only part of the trail where I saw several folks (not hikers, mostly just runners). To exit the park, one crosses under a highway and there's a gas station (7-11, I believe) if one wanted to get something hot to eat or resupply (I did not stop, but it's only a few minutes off the trail). The next couple of miles were mostly dry - usually only getting wet and muddy to cross creeks. After crossing I-95 and the turnpike, the trail turns quite sunny and sandy for the rest of the way (pine/palmetto). Toward the end of the trail, there is quite a hilly area of sand dunes (JD State Park). Then, the last little bit of trail to the beach is on roads (only a couple of miles). I finished a little before 3:00pm on Wednesday: 61.4 miles in three days.

Overall, the trail was very wet. I was not expecting to be in water for the better part of two days. South Florida had been quite dry for over a month, but we received torrential rain the week before my hike and the first night of my hike. I suspect the experience would have been vastly different if I had hiked a week or two prior. Being so wet, making the hike in three days was quite tough. 20+ miles each day wading through water is no joke. Plus, those sand dunes in JD State Park had me thinking I might just rather lay down and die...

All in all, I am glad I did it. This was my first experience on the Florida Trail and plan to do more sections in the future. I think I might hike the Kissimmee section next.

One more thing. I only saw one hiker (a day hiker in JD State Park). Besides a couple hunters, I didn't see a soul between Canal Point and Everglades Youth camp. I occasionally saw runners or dog walkers throughout the rest of the hike - but not many at all.

Hoping someone can point me toward a good starter experience. I would like to do an overnight (or two) hike with my 10 year old. We live in Palm Beach county, so hopefully looking for something not too far from there so the spouse can drop and pickup.

Any suggestions? Looking for something that will help entice my Roblox loving kid to want to spend a bit more time outdoors. I used to section hike the AT in my youth, but it’s been literal decades.

Thanks!

Does anyone know the current condition (water levels, etc.) of the Ocean to Lake Trail (Lake Okeechobee to Hobe Sound). I've been planning to hike it over Thanksgiving and, until this week, it's been quite dry in SE FL. However, we've had quite a lot of rain the past couple days.

Is December an alright time in your opinion to start a thruhike? I'm really interesting in the FLT but my only real issue is that I'll be coming in from Buffalo, NY using Amtrak and I dont think there's any stops at either the sobo or nobo trailheads

I'm planning a 3-4 day trip from Big Cypress visitor center to Alligator Alley (I-75). It's the southernmost portion of the Florida Trail, approx 30 miles.

I'd like to do this trip during Thanksgiving, so would need a ride back to the visitor center on Sunday the 26th.

I'd be happy to return the favor any time. 34 y/o male, South Florida based.

Is it hunting season in the Ocala National Forest in mid November? If so, how safe is it to backpack then?

Seems like the recommendation is to hike Nobo starting January 1st so that you're in the warmest part of the state during the coldest months and then the northern part warms up a little while you're hiking.

Is there any reason Sobo in November isn't mentioned anywhere? Seems to me it would still be a little warm up north because it's only Fall, and I'll be heading south to warmer climates as winter progresses.

Would I be dealing with bugs that haven't quite died off yet, or reptiles that aren't hibernating as much as I might like them to be?

Real bored and hoping for something fun to do.

How do you prep the water you find along trail in Florida? With so many flat areas making stagnant water do you still just go with a Sawyer or Platypus type filter or do you use anything extra?

I'm in Tallahassee and would like to hike/camp for a couple nights on the Florida trail. St.Marks seems like an option but I'm not sure about the permit. Any suggestions?

Hi I was thinking about getting a Suunto GPS watch. Is there a way to get the florida trail map on the Suunto app without manually entering all the turns?

FTA Big Cypress is doing an evening hike tonight. Open to members and non members. 5 miles easy pace in ENP, meet at Ernest Coe Visitor Center at 7:00 PM May 6th. Open to members & non-members. Bug Spray/Net; closed toe walking shoe, 2L water, red headlights required!