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wahoo
04-18-2008, 16:30
After hiking most of the loop trails in Central Florida I started looking at the map for new hikes in the area and it never occurred to me that the FT here is a big loop itself! Has anyone ever hiked the FT around this loop? I know the loop around Lake Okeechobee is referred to the “Big O Hike”, but didn’t know if there was an official name to the loop around Central Florida.

This loop offers a great opportunity for Central Florida hikers, anybody have any input on this?

Here’s my quick definition of this part of the trail:

Central Florida Loop – A combination of the eastern and western corridors of the linear Florida Trail with a distance of over 420 miles.

Again, any thoughts on this would be interesting.

-Wahoo

notorius tic
04-18-2008, 17:11
I did the Big O Trail last year it was nice had a buddy with a Lake house 400yrds from the trail.. Catch it at the wright season (Bitting bugs bad weather ect) Lost off wildlife Just out side off Monkey Island ( south end off the lake ) an Wild BOAR, so keep your dog leashed if you hike with 1... And enjoy Florida we have a lot too offer.. THIS MESSAGE WAS SENT BYE Jeb Bush...LOL

jnetx
04-20-2008, 12:37
After hiking most of the loop trails in Central Florida I started looking at the map for new hikes in the area and it never occurred to me that the FT here is a big loop itself! Has anyone ever hiked the FT around this loop? I know the loop around Lake Okeechobee is referred to the “Big O Hike”, but didn’t know if there was an official name to the loop around Central Florida.

This loop offers a great opportunity for Central Florida hikers, anybody have any input on this?

Here’s my quick definition of this part of the trail:

Central Florida Loop – A combination of the eastern and western corridors of the linear Florida Trail with a distance of over 420 miles.

Again, any thoughts on this would be interesting.

-Wahoo

I think ALDHA refers to it as the Florida 360.

floridahikes
04-21-2008, 09:43
I did it back in 2000-2001 as a series of day hikes, with Solar Bear. A couple years later, I wrote about it in "Along the Florida Trail." The mileage was lower than because the all-important western connector in the Ocala National Forest wasn't built yet. It was a heck of a lot of roadwalking. Took a month's worth of hiking. Luckily we got through it before Deseret closed so we were able to enjoy that experience.

There is a 70-mile roadwalk stretch from Three Lakes WMA south of St. Cloud through St. Cloud, Kissimmee, Loughman and Davenport out to the Green Swamp. There is now a 35-mile roadwalk stretch adjoining the old trail inside Deseret. Other roadwalk segments are minor by comparison, now that the trail has been built on the Cross Florida Greenway and in the Western Ocala. I've gone back and hiked both for the enjoyment of it.

If you check through the archives at backcountry.net for FT-L you'll find the ongoing trip reports we filed about the journey. I'll see if I can find 'em and put them on my floridahikes.com website.

Cheers, Navigator

wahoo
04-22-2008, 10:10
Thanks for the info! I've got that book (and several others of yours, of course!), I'll have to go back and read it over again.