Big Cypress South Loop – Florida Hikes

Deep inside the nice expanses of the Massive Cypress Swamp, the Florida Path begins its northbound monitor.

It presents the potential of a months-long journey for thru-hikers, ending at Fort Pickens in Pensacola or the Alabama border.

Edging a cypress savanna

Oasis Customer Middle is way faraway from civilization, a preferred vacation spot alongside the Tamiami Path.

Sightseers frequent a boardwalk above an alligator-filled canal close to its entrance.

Probably the most troublesome hikes in Florida begins just some steps away. This hike permits you to pattern one small however strenuous piece of its southernmost challenges.

Boardwalk and the start of the Florida Path

Assets

Overview

Location: OchopeeLength: 16.2 milesTrailhead: 25.857194, -81.033806Address: 52105 Tamiami Trl E, OchopeeFees: FreeRestrooms: Close to the trailheadLand supervisor: Nationwide Park ServicePhone: 239-695-2000

Trails open 24 hours a day. Customer heart open 9 AM – 4:30 PM. Safety from solar and bugs is extremely really useful. No canine allowed.

A lot of the path is underwater for a lot of the yr, with the driest situations between the months of December and March.

Instructions

Hike

Starting on the parking space, head down the customer heart sidewalk and onto a crushed shell pathway.

Cross a particular limestone monument marking the Southern Terminus of the Florida Path.

Observe the trail for a tenth of a mile earlier than taking a pointy flip, the place a grassy causeway leads north alongside a sequence hyperlink fence on the fringe of an airstrip.

Southern Terminus

Orange blazes mark the route because it leads down an elevated berm for a half mile to a gap in vegetation that presents incredible views of cypress prairies to the east.

Northward, the path cuts throughout slim, grass-flanked corridors. Uncovered rocks with answer holes function stepping stones to keep away from the deep mud in between them.

Uncovered limestone

Cabbage palms, pines, and palmettos thrive on upland islands with barely greater elevation.

Tropical hammocks persist in uncommon spots the place the bottom stays dry for a lot of the yr, presenting junglelike patches of combined hardwoods, ferns, and wild espresso.

Close to the three-mile mark, flip left at an intersection with the south finish of the loop path, following blue blazes westward.

Tropical hammock

Pines give technique to a scattering of cypress. Drop into an expansive sawgrass-covered marl prairie.

The path skirts an fringe of the this grassland, passing a deep dome earlier than coming into a densely forested cypress strand.

Sawgrass prairie

The following part of path is very placing, winding by the often-inundated strand of dwarf cypress and their assortment of numerous epiphytes.

The timber are host to myriad bromeliads, which take their buy on tough bark and flourish in environments with excessive humidity.

Strand swamp

Emerge from the alternative facet of the swamp. Sporadic slash pines dot the panorama, bearing scorch marks and standing tall above a grassy forest flooring that naturally burns each few years.

The blazes will be tough to observe in these savannas, particularly if volunteers haven’t but had the chance to return to repaint them after a fireplace.

Pine savanna

The panorama alternates between open pinelands and cypress domes because the path continues northward and finally curves east.

Traverse a shrubby flatwoods habitat earlier than reaching the Florida Path on the north finish of this loop.

Flip proper at this junction to observe its orange blazes again to the Southern Terminus.

Open flatwoods

In 1 / 4 mile, go Woodpecker Camp, a longtime campsite with a picnic bench and fireplace ring.

Previously referred to as 7 Mile Camp, it is a great spot to interrupt this hike right into a two-day backpacking journey, 9.4 miles into the loop.

Woodpecker Camp

Observe the Florida Path south, noting how far more outlined the footpath is in comparison with the facet loop because of heavier foot visitors. The path is muddier as properly, when water ranges are low.

At 12.3 miles, the path traces a large path by a gorgeous cypress dome that holds water for a lot of the yr. Attain the south junction of the loop nearly a mile later.

Proceed previous it by staying on the orange blazes, retracing your earlier footsteps for one more three miles again to the trailhead.

Cypress dome

Path Map

Discover Extra!

Be taught extra about Massive Cypress Nationwide Protect

Massive Cypress Nationwide Protect Defending almost three quarters of the million-acre Massive Cypress Swamp, Massive Cypress Nationwide Protect is Florida’s second largest and most distant wilderness.

Florida Path, Massive Cypress A wild, watery wilderness for Florida backpackers, the 42.2-mile Florida Path in Massive Cypress Nationwide Protect is each lovely and terribly difficult.

Video

Mountaineering the South Loop at Massive Cypress Nationwide Protect

Slideshow

See our photographs from this hike

Close by Adventures

Official NPS Map Interactive AppHunt Dates Official Web site

Alongside along with his spouse Chelsey, Chris Stevens shares out of doors adventures on Instagram and Fb as @sunshinestateseekers and is a co-host of a podcast about Florida’s outdoor, The Florida Madcaps. An avid hiker and camper, Chris serves as a Trailmaster and a board member for the Florida Path Affiliation.

Newest posts by Chris Stevens (see all)