Book Overview
And as more and more transplants move to Florida from
other states, they are bringing their passion for hiking with them.
Once here, they find surprisingly ample outlets for their feet and
pass on the word about just how good hiking in Florida can be. So
what makes hiking here so appealing?
A unique hiking environment -- most of Florida
stretches along a peninsula that juts southward into Atlantic Ocean
and Gulf of Mexico. This southward direction and being situated
between these bodies of water helps result in Florida having flora
unlike other hiking areas in the United States. Where else in U.S.
mainland can you walk beneath palms or tread through a tropical
hardwood hammock?
Florida has a long hiking season and is ideal for
walking during times when it can be unpleasant elsewhere. The lower
part of the peninsula, in such areas as Everglades National Park,
the drier, cooler weather, is during winter and early spring. In
central Florida, the hiking season extends from late fall through
early spring. Finally, moving north, hikers can comfortably enjoy
the trails from fall through spring.
Backpacker on Florida Trail in Osceola National Forest
Book Excerpt
Florida Trail, Olustee Battlefield to Turkey Run
Begin: Olustee
Battlefield
End: Turkey Run
Trailhead
Distance: 9.7
miles
Trail Difficulty:
Difficult when water is high
Highlights: Civil
War battle site, trail shelter
Hazards: Wet trail
Trail Connections:
Florida Trail, Turkey Run to Deep Creek, Ocean Pond Connector Trail
Season: Spring
through fall
Maps: Osceola
National Forest map
Trailhead: From
the Osceola Ranger Station, 12 miles east on Lake City on US 90,
keep east on US 90 for 3.2 miles past the ranger station to the
Olustee Battlefield. Turn left into the battlefield area and turn
left again into a parking area just past the railroad tracks on your
left.
This section
of the Florida Trail is well marked, groomed and maintained.
Formerly known as the Osceola Trail, it starts out at the site of
Florida’s largest Civil War battlefield and heads into attractive
pine flatwoods, passing occasional cypress depressions. It then
keeps north and west, eventually coming to a welcome trail shelter
on the banks of a waterway. This section of the Florida Trail ends
shortly after the shelter, at the Turkey Run trailhead.
Leave the
Olustee parking area and head north, crossing a boardwalk and
passing through the Olustee Battlefield site, a state park, on a
gravel road. In February, 1864, Union forces had taken Jacksonville
and headed west to cut off Confederacy bound food supplies from
central Florida. Southern forces picked Olustee as a good defensive
place, with Ocean Pond on one side and a deep swamp on the other.
The opposing armies battled beneath the towering pines until dark
and the
Union was forced to retreat easterly to Jacksonville. The state
park provides picnic tables and a water spigot
Today, the
Florida Trail winds beneath tall longleaf pines with a mown grassy
understory. This spot, first memorialized in 1913 by the Florida
legislature, is used for the battle reenactment held every
February. Beyond the battlefield site, palmetto grows under the
longleafs and the FT shares treadway with the Nice Wander Loop, a
nature trail. Pass through a clearing and a wet area overlain with
boardwalks then reach Forest Road 208 at 1.0 mile. Turn left on
Forest Road 208 and follow it for .4 mile -- the Florida Trail then
reenters the woods on road right. The forest here is young and
offers less shade.
Come to a long
boardwalk at mile 1.6 and reenter pine/palmetto flatwoods, swinging
around a cypress head on your left. Pass another cypress head at
mile 2.2. Keep through open flatwoods until a oak woods are reached
just before coming to Cobb Hunt Camp at mile 3.5. The FT meanders
through the camp to intersect a logging berm at mile 3.7. Turn
right. The berms of these logging tracks were raised so trains
could get through the often-soggy forests. Laurel oak, pine and bay
complement the cypress trees. A boardwalk traverses the wettest
section. Leave the berm at mile 4.3, making a sharp left and come
to Forest Road 207A. Cross the road and enter a timbered section of
forest, coming back to shady woods at mile 4.5. Swing around a
marsh and a dug pond, then come to County Road 250A at mile 5.1.
Take a few steps to the right along the road and step back into the
woods. The Florida Trail reaches a junction at 5.4 miles. A
blue-blazed path leads left one mile to Ocean Pond
Campground.(INSERT FIGURE #16 HERE)
Keep northwesterly
through pine, bay and palmetto woods, soon coming to Forest Road
268, which also leads to Ocean Pond Campground. Keep forward and
cross a long boardwalk over a cypress head. There are numerous bay
trees in this area. Emerge onto Forest Road 241 at mile 6.2. Turn
right along the forest road to County Road 250A. Turn left here and
walk over the paved road to cross I-10, where the cars below are
moving startlingly fast. Leave the high speed world behind at the
bottom of the bridge and dive left into the woods at mile 6.8. Soon
cross Forest Road 263B and begin a long stretch of open flatwoods.
Come to a pine plantation at mile 7.7, and wind among the dense rows
of shade bearing evergreens, emerging onto County Road 250A at mile
8.2. While crossing the road, you also bridge a creek below you.
Pass through an
ATV-proof gate and parallel the stream, soon turning away from the
water and resuming a westerly course through pine flatwoods. Watch
for a pond off to your left at mile 8.6. Keep northwest, coming to
a footbridge over a creek and turn sharply right. Dead ahead is a
trail shelter, at mile 9.3. This shelter has wood board floor, is
open on all sides, and is covered with a tin roof supported by beams
at the corners. A metal fire grate is nearby. Water can be
obtained from the creek below and a vault toilet lies a short
distance away.
To continue on the
Florida Trail, backtrack just a short distance, and continue
northwesterly. The trail bisects a timber cut then pine
plantations, crossing another stream. Emerge onto County Road 250
and the Turkey Run trailhead at 9.7 miles. It is 11.4 miles west on
the Florida Trail to Deep Creek trailhead and the end of the FT
through the Osceola National Forest.
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