The Florida Trail is a congressionally designated National Scenic Trail that spans 1,300 miles through the State of Florida.
59.6 miles of the hiking trail are in the Eglin Air Force Base Reservation, winding through oak hammocks, sandhills filled with long leaf pine trees, and boggy wetlands. The trail shows an incredibly diverse section of the Reservation. To my delight many geocaches are hidden along the way.
The trail begins at the edge of the Everglades at Big Cypress National Preserve and makes its way up through Florida. Along the Panhandle and ending at Fort Pickens on Pensacola Beach.
Yesterday my dad and a caching friend of ours decided to explore part of the trail. We began at Hwy 285 in Mossy Head and worked our way about 3 or 4 miles along the trail.
A local group of geocachers hid a bunch of really cool geocaches along the trail so we got to enjoy the trail as well as find some great caches.
This part of the trail runs across Gum Creek, a crystal clear stream and offered us a great look at the wetlands around the stream.
The Florida Trail Organization has built primitive wooden walkways through the wetland areas as well as small bridges across the creeks.
We met a group of volunteers that were out scrubbing the slime off the walkways through the Gum Creek area. Very nice people and it is extremely nice that they do this.
These folks do an excellent job of maintaining the trails. Making it possible for the public to enjoy this incredible opportunity to see firsthand how beautiful the woods are here.
My Dad found his 1400th cache, which fittingly enough was a giant ammo can.
And we managed to grab twenty-seven caches while enjoying our time in the woods.
If you enjoy hiking and/or geocaching I highly recommend walking the Florida Trail between Hwy 285 and Hwy 85.
This part of the trail is a military installation so a recreational pass must be purchased from Jackson Guard before entering the Reservation. At each major road, there is a kiosk containing Trail Registration cards.
Come out and try it – you never know who you’ll run into along the trail.
