Is the southern terminus closed on the FT?

[pafarmboy]

I've been following some journals on trailjournals.com and they talk about hiking from Oasis south to the terminus. Is starting at the terminus not doable at this time?

[WingedMonkey]

http://www.nps.gov/bicy/planyourvisit/closures.htmClosures:
Loop Road south of the Gator Hook Strand site and west of the Loop Road Education Center is closed to all but local vehicle traffic.

[pafarmboy]

http://www.nps.gov/bicy/parknews/upl...%20Closure.pdf

So why not just road walk from either side of the closure? Can't be more than 7-8 miles.

[Pedaling Fool]

http://www.nps.gov/bicy/planyourvisit/closures.htmClosures:
Loop Road south of the Gator Hook Strand site and west of the Loop Road Education Center is closed to all but local vehicle traffic.

I followed the link to a map http://www.nps.gov/bicy/parknews/upl...%20closure.pdf

And not sure how the FT corresponds to the closed trail. Does anyone have a better map? It looks like from the map that the closed trails are dead-end trails, but could be a screwed up map.

http://www.nps.gov/bicy/parknews/upl...%20Closure.pdf

So why not just road walk from either side of the closure? Can't be more than 7-8 miles.

Completely different map

[Pedaling Fool]

Never mind, I understand now. http://www.floridatrail.org/options/Trail-Condition/

As usual, I questioned before I read a little...when will I ever learn

[WingedMonkey]

A better map of the closed area is here :http://www.nps.gov/bicy/parknews/por...d-closed-2.htm
You could walk in from the end of pavement at the Nature Center but...Feds get weird about the meaning of "closed". Local land owners can still get in if they have trucks that will make it, but they may consider a hiker trespassing.
The park service had to do an environmental assessment study, (100 pages) and work with the land owners and the Miccosukee Tribe (the east end of loop road is Reservation land). This was not finished until September 2010.
They should be starting work now. The plan calls for repaving the road from east entrance to Nature Center, and rebuilding gravel road from there to west entrance.

[mistiaggie]

The road may say closed, but we drove down it to start on Loop Road this year. The road is in TERRIBLE condition, so be warned. But, drive down it anyway....they are going to take forever to fix it anyway.