Florida National Trail is Great for Hiking

Travel writer Bill Bryson sold more than one million copies of his humorous book, "A Walk in the Woods." The book tells the story of the nation's most notable cross-country hike, a grueling trek through the Appalachian mountain chain from Georgia to Maine. To be sure, the Appalachian Trail is not a trek for the newcomer. In fact, it takes most folks six months to thru-hike the trail and even longer if they knock off a section at a time over long weekends.

Well, Florida doesn't have any high peaks. Nor does it have the notoriety among campers that the Appalachian Trail garners. What it does have, though, is the Florida National Trail, a 1,400-mile-long trail that starts in the Florida Panhandle at Pensacola and wanders down the center of the state, passing through the Ocala National Forest and ending just north of the Florida Everglades in Big Cypress National Reserve.

The trail, which received National Scenic Trail status from the United States Congress in 1983, has full blazes from one end to the other, according to the Florida Trail Association. FTA says in its official brochure on the Florida National Trail, that it was first envisioned by wildlife photographer James Kern while he was hiking that better-known national trail, the Appalachian Trail, in the early 1960s. Kern started FTA, and the organization quickly grew. Members began their quest by working on the 50-plus miles of trail through the heart of the Ocala National Forest, which was the country's first declared national forest when Teddy Roosevelt so named it during the last days of his presidency.

According to the sate of Florida's Office of Greenways and Trails, FTA, which has more than 5,000 members, manages and maintains the trail. Some sections of the trail are on private land and are only open to FTA members. Otherwise, hikers are required to leave those sections of the trail and rejoin it upon reaching the next public land section. FTA continues to work toward acquiring more of the private land.

Florida hiking, to be sure, is much different than what most folks envision when they think of a difficult trek. But don't let the flat terrain fool you. Hiking the Florida National Trail is as gruesome as any trip one might make. Feet slip in the sandy loam, making progress difficult. Gators and bears, panthers and snakes provide plenty of reason to be aware of surroundings. Then there's the Florida heat. Pack plenty of water and know where the watering holes are, because it's no fun to be in the middle of nowhere without a drop to drink.

The Florida National Trail's top area is certainly the Ocala National Forest, where hikers can become so engulfed in their surroundings that they easily forget there's an outside world. The trail passes by the land where author Marjorie Kinna Rawlings lived for a number of years. She wrote the popular novel-turned-movie The Yearling based upon her conversations with a family that lived in the forest. The forest is also home to hundreds of Florida black bears, who tend to shy from campers but can be a nuisance to those who fail to heed warnings and take necessary precautions to secure food and trash.

Ocala National Forest, which is abundant with longleaf pine and native Florida scrub also is home to the Juniper Wildness area, a vast land where motorized vehicles are prohibited, and the nearby Juniper Springs recreation area, which provides a campground for RV and tent campers. Hikers, though, are allowed to camp free of charge in the forest.

The Florida National Trail also skirts prairie lands and various wetlands, including Lake Okeechobee, where the trail connects with the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail on the vast lake's eastern shore. The trail passes through Pahokee and other cities close by the swamplands of South Florida. After leaving the lake area, the trail traces its way into Big Cypress National Reserve, which features more than 720,000 acres of swampland filled with such wildlife treasures as the Florida panther and the Florida alligator, the latter of which is prominent along many stretches of the trail.

The best source of detailed information on the Florida National Trail is probably

The Florida Trail: The Offical Hiking Guide. The book, written by longtime Florida hiker and conservationist Sandra Friend, breaks the trail into 42 segments and provides in-depth information for hiking each section of the trail.
Additional information on the trail can be obtained by visiting www.floridatrail.org or calling (877) HIKE-FLA. The organization produces a hiking guide and map that is extremely helpful for anyone attempting to hike on the trail.