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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. At the time, Florida had an extremely limited amount of hiking trails, mostly confined to nature trails in Everglades National Park and several Florida State Parks.
Kern founded the Florida Trail Association and recruited members after an inaugural hike along a planned route from Big Cypress National Preserve to Highlands Hammock State Park. In 1966, volunteers from the newly-founded Florida Trail Association painted the first blaze of the Florida Trail at Clearwater Lake in the Ocala National Forest. Known as the Ocala Trail, this 70-mile section became the first portion of the Florida Trail to be completed. Simultaneously, work went on with blazing and clearing trail along the Suwannee River and in several other locations around Florida.
Kern’s original dream of a 500 mile trail expanded over time. The U.S. Congress included the Florida Trail in a feasibility study for inclusion in the National Trail System, and in 1983, accorded the Florida Trail this special designation, putting the “in progress” effort on par nationally with the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, the Ice Age Trail, and others.
After nearly 40 years, the Florida Trail remains a work in progress. A primary concern is land acquisition for protection of the trail corridor in order to ensure a continous corridor connecting wilderness lands across the state. Long distance hikers can walk the Florida Trail by following the orange blazes from Loop Road in Big Cypress National Preserve to Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island, but those blazes follow paved roads in places where we have not yet been able to protect the corridor. Please join us in working to acquire and protect trail corridor so the completion of this public recreational asset can be achieved. For specific information on how you or your organization can assist with trail acquisition projects, please contact:
Deborah Stewart-Kent, Executive Director
Florida Trail Association
877-HIKE-FLA ext. 17
FLORIDA TRAIL ASSOCIATION (REGISTRATION# CH13754). A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE OF FLORIDA. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.
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