Hiking in Florida: Ocala National Forest and the Florida Trail

Just an hour or so north or Orlando, the Florida Ocala National Forest begins. The Ocala National Forest spans over 600 square miles in central Florida. Opportunities to go hiking in Florida abound here.

One of the trails through the Ocala National Forest is the Florida Trail, which runs 1300 miles through Florida and is designated as a National Scenic Trail in the USA. You can do segments of the trail for day hikes, or do multi-day hikes on the walking-only paths.

As part of our road trip around Florida, we went from the north end of the Ocala National Forest through to the southern end looking for some nature, a place to picnic and a nice hike.

Being from Canada where the parks are publicly protected and funded and well used, the Ocala National Forest was not what I was expecting. The park seemed underfunded and there were few public recreational areas. It was challenging to find a place to have our picnic, as there were few recreational areas along the road or directions. I found it even hard to find information and navigate the webpages to find the best stuff to do, which made enjoying the park hard. With some public investment into this park, I can’t imagine how this huge park wouldn’t be a focal point for visitors and eco-tourism and hiking.

Without a doubt this park is filled with a whole lot of glorious, including hiking, lakes, springs, manatee habitats.

The Florida Hikes website is another great resource for info for hiking and camping in Ocala National Forest, including the parts of the Florida Trail in the forest. It also includes directions to the various hiking locations.

Silver Glen Springs

We stopped at Silver Glen Springs Recreation Area (pictured above) off road 19 for a picnic, which turned out to be a stunning little spot, with an aquamarine little lake, that apparently is Manatee habitat. We didn’t see any Manatees, but the vultures came out in full force—they are intense! There is a little walking hike around the lake of about 2 miles, that I wish we had have taken, as I suspect it would have been pretty.

You can also rent canoes here, which would be pretty awesome. There are also camping areas.

For information on Silver Glen Springs, including fees, rental costs and directions, see the Forest Services page for Silver Glen Springs.

Florida Trail Clearwater to Alexander Springs segment: Hiking in Florida

I researched for hours trying to find us an awesome hike to do for the afternoon, and based on the internet advice, decided we would do part of the Florida Trail from Clearwater Lake toward Alexander Springs. We wouldn’t have time to do the whole hike but we would walk for an hour or two on the scenic trail and turn around. The Clearwater section is touted as one of the most scenic parts of the Florida Trail and is the original start of the trail.

I expected to walk through the rather prehistoric-like humungous trees dripping in moss that we had seen all over Florida and I was excited about this hiking adventure, on Florida’s famous trail. I had also read that there was a swamp area not far in with boardwalks and the scenery changed dramatically- maybe we would see alligators!

But no. We started at the Clearwater Lake trail head in the south end of Ocala National Forest. And then we walked on the dullest most boring hike ever. Surely this cannot be classified as part of the most scenic part of the Florida Trail??? The landscape was a monotonous pine forest of stick-like straight trees that seemed to go one forever. After hiking almost an hour they still looked endless and we turned around as it was getting on and no swamp was in sight. I know I am spoiled living in Canada, particularly on the west coast of British Columbia, where the hiking is extraordinary, but I was disappointed. Even Paul and Marilyn, who live in the flat prairies of Canada, found the hike a “nice but boring walk”.

This part of the trail had great reviews from hikers, so I think we just got it wrong. We should have perhaps started at the Alexander Springs area, which is supposed to be a gorgeous area with springs to swim in. There is a park fee to visit Alexander Springs.

Or we needed to be more patient and have allowed more time so we could have done the entire 17 km segment, and perhaps had the car meet us at the other end, as it seemed we missed the good stuff and saw only the boring part.

The other option you can do here is a biking trail, which is a different path than the Florida Trail, which is walking only. Here is a map of the trails for the Clearwater to Alexander Spring section of the Florida Trail.

Click here for more information, including directions, on the Clearwater to Alexander Springs segment of the Florida Trail.

St. Francis Trail: Hiking in Florida

If I could do this hiking day over again, I would instead take the St. Francis Trail, also located in the south end of Ocala National Forest. There is a loop that is 12.6km that features a river. This hike received rave reviews but we weren’t sure whether we would be able to make it around the whole loop before dark on the day we went. Moral of the story– leave lots of time.

Click here for more information, including directions, on the St. Francis Trail.

All in all, I wish we had have had left more time to check out the Ocala National Forest more. There are camping, swimming and hiking opportunities throughout over a huge span of land. Worth a peruse, or even a few days of adventuring.

This post is part of Beyond the Gaybourhood’s FLORIDA SERIES. For more information on Florida, including information on what to do in Orlando, theme parks, a road trip up the Coastal A1A, St. Augustine, and hiking the Florida Trail in the Ocala National Forest, read my blog post “Orlando and Beyond: Florida Road Trip”.

Orlando and Beyond: Florida Road Trip