Sharing the best of Florida hiking
What have been your favorite Trailwalker Hikes?
This group is fairly new but we do have some people with quite a few hikes under thier belt. Brickman made an interesting comment that some of the hikes have been neglected and some have been the best places he as seen in the state. I would have to agree! If it weren't for the Trailwalker Program I probably would have never traveled to some of these incredible places. Tells us your best three favorite hikes and why. Then list your worst two and why. I think everyone sharing their experiences will help us plan are outings better.
I have hiked 21 trails and my favorite three have to be:
1. Seminole State Forest - Lower Wekiva Loop (10 miles)
I hiked it in early October and the forest was exploding with wildflowers (deer tongue,
paintbrush, and liatrus) ! Not to mention the diversity of habitats that the trail takes you
through: Pine Scrub in a virtual sea of saw palmetto, Oak Hammock, Oak Scrub,
and exotic River Floodplain. These habitats allowed for an incredible diversity of plantlife on a
10 mile loop. Although the trail was very overgrown in several spots it was a fantistic hike!
2. Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest - Twin Mills Trail (2.8 miles)
I hiked this trail in late January this past year and it felt like we were in a jungle. It has a great
population of epiphytes (air plants) but you don't have to hike through swamp to see them. The
are sitting in armsreach all along the trail. Truely magical!
There is also a logging history that goes along with the hiking trail. There are several large saw
dust mounds that were remnants of the portable twin saw mills. We only found one with a
rusted bearing bracket nearby on the ground...but I would have loved to spend more time there
exploring off the trail with a GPS. Not only was the plant life and history intriguing, there was
and abundance of wildlife. Several flocks of wading birds (Woodstork, little blue Herons, Tri-
colored Herons, ibis, all types of egrets) hung out near the Slough along with several gators.
This trail is well marked but was also severly overgrown. A hiking stick is a must.
3. Etoniah State Forest - Longleaf Pine Trail - (4.5 miles)
This is another trail that I hiked last fall at the beginning of the wildflower season. Golden Rod
filled the open sandhills as the trail led you in and out of the forest. The trail is also part of the
National Scenic Florida trail and is very well maintained. The highlight is walking the loop at the
end of the trail that hosts the endangered Etoniah Rosemary bush. I was fortunate to catch this
beauty in full bloom! (blooms June to September).
My only had one trail that I found disappointing and that was the Goethe State Forest - Black Prong Trail. It is a multiuse trial (i.e. shared by horses) and was 3 miles in soft sand amongst invasive oaks. But it was a refreshing walk in the woods at best.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Bricky Way on -
My favorite was Anderson Springs for numerous reasons. Excellent status goes also to Holly Hammock, Carl Duval Moore, Goethe Buck Island, and of course the Ellaville tract. The worst was Oxbow, overgrown and very full of trash.
We are probably going to agree to disagree on this, but Etoniah is about on the bottom of my list, the only impressive part to me was the coolness of seeing an endangered species in flower.
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Permalink Reply by Janie Hamilton on -
I think my favorite so far was Anderson Springs but Ellaville is a very close second. The worst was Jennings Forest as it was almost completely freshly plowed forest road out in the open and shared by horses.
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Permalink Reply by Barbara Bowen on -
Anderson and Ellaville were both very pretty. But I can only imagine how pretty they will be in May when the trees have leaves on them I am holding out for a revisit on both of those.=)
Janie Hamilton said:I think my favorite so far was Anderson Springs but Ellaville is a very close second. The worst was Jennings Forest as it was almost completely freshly plowed forest road out in the open and shared by horses.
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Permalink Reply by Barbara Bowen on
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It is odd how we view Etoniah differently and we only walked them a day apart. =)
BTW I took Laura by Oxbow today and they have cleaned it up and marked it better. They must have took our comments seriously. Not my favorite...but definitely much better than it was.
Bricky Way said:My favorite was Anderson Springs for numerous reasons. Excellent status goes also to Holly Hammock, Carl Duval Moore, Goethe Buck Island, and of course the Ellaville tract. The worst was Oxbow, overgrown and very full of trash.
We are probably going to agree to disagree on this, but Etoniah is about on the bottom of my list, the only impressive part to me was the coolness of seeing an endangered species in flower.
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Permalink Reply by Bricky Way on
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Yep, vive la difference and all :) Great that Oxbow is cleaned up, in a real way we are the eyes and ears of the program now.
Barbara Bowen said:It is odd how we view Etoniah differently and we only walked them a day apart. =)
BTW I took Laura by Oxbow today and they have cleaned it up and marked it better. They must have took our comments seriously. Not my favorite...but definitely much better than it was.
Bricky Way said:My favorite was Anderson Springs for numerous reasons. Excellent status goes also to Holly Hammock, Carl Duval Moore, Goethe Buck Island, and of course the Ellaville tract. The worst was Oxbow, overgrown and very full of trash.
We are probably going to agree to disagree on this, but Etoniah is about on the bottom of my list, the only impressive part to me was the coolness of seeing an endangered species in flower.
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Permalink Reply by Bricky Way on
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That's good to know about Jennings, although I will probably still go there soon, the three trails clustered makes it an attractive target. Its a little depressing how far I have to drive now for a new trail.
Janie Hamilton said:I think my favorite so far was Anderson Springs but Ellaville is a very close second. The worst was Jennings Forest as it was almost completely freshly plowed forest road out in the open and shared by horses.
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Permalink Reply by Janie Hamilton on
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Bricky, Jennings forest is probably a little better now after a few rains. It had just been plowed when I was there. The North Fork Black Creek trail was such a strenuous hike that we didn't do the others after. I will say that the campsite at Black Creek looked like a great place to paddle in and camp at which I plan on doing one day, so when you see the sign for campsite check it out. I still need to go back and do the other two trails. Let me know when you go and I will try to join you.
Bricky Way said:That's good to know about Jennings, although I will probably still go there soon, the three trails clustered makes it an attractive target. Its a little depressing how far I have to drive now for a new trail.
Janie Hamilton said:I think my favorite so far was Anderson Springs but Ellaville is a very close second. The worst was Jennings Forest as it was almost completely freshly plowed forest road out in the open and shared by horses.
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Permalink Reply by Laura Kocuba on -
Hands down my favorites were the Okaloacoochee Slough, Little Big Econ and Ellaville. Please don't ask me rank them, they were all awesome in very different ways. What a beautiful State you people are privileged to live in!!! :)
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Permalink Reply by Janie Hamilton on
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Well now I have to make a change to my favorite trailwalker hikes. Lake Talquin now tops my list and not just one but both Fort Braden and the Ravine trails were spectacular. A place you could spend all day and even camp over night. A must see!
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Permalink Reply by Barbara Bowen on
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Yes Lake Talquin was a nice one. Especially with the rhododendren and mountain laurel blooming. =)
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