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Take a walk in the woods! With trailheads along and near major highways throughout Florida, the Florida Trail is within an hour's drive of most Florida residents and major tourist destinations.
The Trail
In the early 1960s, Jim Kern, a Miami resident, visited the Appalachian Trail for a backpacking trip and came back to Florida with a burning desire to create a long-distance hiking trail in his own backyard. Founding the Florida Trail Association to pursue that goal, Kern rounded up like-minded Floridians and set to work. The Florida Trail’s first blaze was painted in the Ocala National Forest near Clearwater Lake in October 1966.
Today, Kern’s original dream of a 500-mile long distance hiking trail has grown to a federally designated National Scenic Trail more than 1,500 miles across the state of Florida, with volunteers from all over Florida seeing to its maintenance, expansion, protection, and promotion. Our goal is to establish a continuous wilderness corridor in which our footpath enables hikers to enjoy Florida’s natural habitats. After 40 years, more than 1,000 miles of “Florida’s Footpath Forever” lies within a protected corridor, connected by orange blazes along back roads where we have not yet been able to protect the corridor.
If you love Florida’s outdoors as we do, please join us in making this goal a reality! Become a volunteer , and join us in our effort to complete this important public resource.
Fast FactsFLORIDA TRAIL ASSOCIATION Founded: 1966 Number of members: 5,100 Membership dues: Start at $30 [Become a Member!]  Membership Brochure FLORIDA TRAIL
First blaze painted: October 29, 1966 at Clearwater Lake, Ocala National Forest National Scenic Trail designation: 1983 NST oversight: USDA Forest Service, National Forests in Florida Thru Trail length: 1,562 miles Trail System length: 1,800 miles Thru hike length: 1,100 miles Protected miles: 1,042 Roadwalk miles: 360 Average time to thru-hike: 8 to 12 weeks Midpoint: Camp Crystal Lake, Keystone Heights (Clay County) Most popular region: Ocala Number of land management partners: 24 Florida Trail Map Brochure Map Disclaimer: While FTA strives to maintain accurate information and is constantly updating its geodatabase, the trail and development along the trail corridor is constantly changing. The data has been collected from a variety of sources and accuracy varies. FTA provides this data for recreational purposes only and does not intend the data as a survey. Centerline data Florida Trail System (c) 2007 Florida Trail Association, Inc.
VideoTake a virtual hike down the 1,560 miles of the Florida Trail, from Big Cypress National Preserve to Pensacola Beach.
National Trails System The Florida Trail is a proud partner in the National Trails System, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2008. The U.S. Congress included the Florida Trail in a feasibility study for inclusion in the National Trails System, and in 1983, accorded the Florida Trail this special designation as one of only eleven National Scenic Trails in the United States:
Appalachian Trail
Continental Divide Trail
Florida Trail
Ice Age Trail
Natchez Trace
North Country Trail
Pacific Crest Trail
Potomac Heritage Trail
Arizona Trail
Pacific Northwest Trail
New England Trail
The National Trails System includes National Scenic Trails, National Historic Trails, and National Recreation Trails, providing a broad mix of hiking trails, multi-use trails, and driving tours that interpret the cultural and natural history of the United States. For more information, visit the Partnership for the National Trails System
Download a full scale map of the National Trails System from the National Park Service |