The Florida Trail Guide

Did you know that you can walk from one end of Florida to the other? Thanks to our statewide National Scenic Trail, the Florida Trail, and this comprehensive guidebook, you can. It begins in the swampy heart of the Western Everglades, the Big Cypress Swamp, and continues north around Lake Okeechobee and Central Florida before turning west to connect the wild places of Florida’s Panhandle on its way to Fort Pickens at Gulf Islands National Seashore in Pensacola. It’s a journey of 1,104 miles, with more than a hundred trailheads within an hour of most Floridians.

Our step by step guide to the Florida Trail provides data charts and maps to help you plan a day hike, a backpacking trip, or several months following the trail. Detailed descriptions for waypoints along the journey let you know where you can find camping, food, gear, and transportation options. Maps for 63 towns along the route show the location of services, an important consideration when you’re on foot.

Thousands of trail services – from motels and campgrounds to restaurants, convenience stores, parks, and churches – are included throughout the book, making this a travel guide for exploring portions of the Florida Trail as well, no matter whether you’re staying in hotels for day hikes or looking for campgrounds to park your RV for a while near the trail.

This fourth edition, built on a strong foundation of the award-winning prior editions, has been both expanded in scope and streamlined in usability thanks to reader feedback. Mileage charts are clustered at the beginning of each section of the guide and many new waypoints have been added, especially in Florida’s Panhandle.

The Florida Trail Guide is the most comprehensive and complete source of information you’ll find to guide you along the Florida National Scenic Trail and several major trails that connect to it, including the Ocean-to-Lake Hiking Trail, the Blackwater section of the Florida Trail, and the Eastern Continental Trail connector to Key West.

Paperback, 356 pages. 106 maps.

The Florida Trail Guide is also available as a gps-based app from FarOut Guides. While the app is the better choice for navigating the trail, because of its map-based nature it contains less descriptive content than the book. Instead, it includes color photos for each waypoint along the trail. Versions are available for iOS, Android, and browser-based for any desktop or tablet.

CONTENTS

About the Book
About the Maps
About the Trail
About the Hike
Permits
Southern Terminus
Big Cypress
Seminole
Okeechobee West
Okeechobee East
Kissimmee
Orlando
Ocala
Western Corridor
Northeast Florida
Suwannee
Big Bend
Apalachicola
Central Panhandle
Eglin
Seashore
Northern Terminus
Side Trails
Blackwater
Ocean-to-Lake
Eastern Continental Trail
Appendices
Maildrops
Outfitters
Fuel
Glossary
About the Authors