This is a writeup of my experience backpacking 30 miles in Big Cypress on the Florida Trail in January 2023.
An upland pine section of the hike. Be thankful for the dry ground.
This section is between the southern point at Oasis Visitor Center off the Tamiami trail and the northern point at mm 63 truck stop on 75/Alligator Alley. We traveled South to North.
There’s a nice writeup about the hike here on the Florida Hikes blog. I was searching for more info about the hike before I did it, so hopefully this will help future backpackers.
This trail is tough! It’s slogging through the muck, the guck, the sludge for days. Hiking poles are essential. You will fall. There’s a four hour stretch where you have no choice but to pick up your feet and tredge on, with no dry land as far as the eye can see. The mud will form a plaster-like cast around your toes. Pulling your feet out of the mud is as hard on the calves as hiking any peak.
It’s beautiful. Epiphytic plants cling on to the cypress trunks, creating hanging gardens. You’ll see butterfly orchids and wood storks and many many animal tracks.
Hiking through the cypress dome surrounded by bromeliads
A large bromeliad clinging to an oak tree
The trail map app put out by the Florida Trail Association was essential! It’s on the FarOut app, and you can download sections or the entire Florida Trail. It’s absolutely worth a download for a couple bucks, it will save so much stress in figuring out campsites/dry land/water sources/ things to look out for. We ended up staying in a pine savannah pinned as a “random camp” as well as 13 mile camp and Ivy camp. The generic maps posted at the visitor center really don’t have enough detail to be useful for the trail.
Our camp at a pine savannah our first night on the trail
My backpacking group consisted of myself and two friends with varying levels of backpacking experience. I’m very experienced in South Florida’s ecosystems, but I wouldn’t want to do this trail alone. We did run into a hiker doing the trek semi-solo — with a tiny chihuahua strapped like a baby to his chest. Can’t recommend doing that.
We got out to a late start on Day 1, starting at 2:30 with the goal of walking as far as possible by the 5:30 sunset. We made it 5.7 miles and called it for the night when we hit a pine island dry enough with plenty of room to set up tents. The ground was a bit spongy, but it we slept dry on top of our sleeping pads. After cooking a pasta dinner, we realized all our food wouldn’t squeeze into the bear canister. We auctioned off dried fruit and oat bars and eventually squeezed it all in. I would recommend having a bear canister, since there are definitely bears on the trail and the trees are too straight/branchless for a bear hang.
A bear paw print. We saw the bear running away!
Day 2 started off slow and after enjoying an oatmeal breakfast we hit the road around 10:30. This day was our first experience drinking swamp water with our water filters. I brought a Lifestraw Go and my companions had the Sawyer Squeeze; either would be fine. The sawyer is definitely more useful for filtering large amounts for cooking, since you can only use the straw to suck water out on the Lifestraw. We quickly spiced our water with Gatorade/electrolyte packets after discovering that swamp water wasn’t the best tasting water. While walking on the upland area near 7 mile camp, we saw a black bear! We shouted at it and it quickly ran north down the trail, leaving a large footprint. Secure your food well if you stay at 7 mile camp. Day 2 ended at 13 mile camp, which is an upland hammock area that feels incredibly tropical. Watch out for the poison ivy along the edges of the sites. There’s a fire pit and a bench here (thank you!!!)
The sign at 13 mile camp. It’s a nice and dry hammock (an upland area with sabal palm and oaks)
Day 3 was by far the hardest trek. Once you hit the cypress domes, you’re stuck plodding on for hours and hours at the slowest pace. The deepest part of the swamp is here, deemed the “black lagoon”. It was only slightly above knee level when we crossed. It’s beautiful here We were hoping to finish the hike this day, but due to our late start on day 1 we were behind expectations and ended up deciding to camp out at Ivy Camp, where we ran into other hikers for the first time.
Oak Hill Camp, where we stopped for lunch. It’s dry but buggy.
Day 4 took us the 4 miles from Ivy to Alligator Alley. We rushed out in the AM since thunderstorms were predicted around noon and we did not want to be caught in the water, surrounded by trees in a storm. Popping out the gate and ending up by the highway is a little surreal. We were happy to see our car still safe.
I’ve never been this sore from a hike! It’s truly a full body experience. I went way too hard on the hiking poles at times and my shoulders had tendonitis for a week after. Bring enough ibuprophen! Overall it’s an incredible, unique experience. Florida has a reputation for its crazy wildlife (and people), but we didn’t see any snakes or alligators or really much other than crows on the trail. The only gators we saw were living in the ditches at the visitor center. Pack as light as possible, do some hiking prep, and you’ll crush this hike.
Things to account for:
You need hiking poles! You will be falling plenty in the muck, and need them to pull yourself out.
Hammock camping might be a nice method if it’s warm enough. There are plenty of pine/oaks at the camp sites.
A wide brim hat is strongly recommended.
Check for hunting season and carry a reflective item with you.
I’d recommend keeping your group small/bunking together. It would be difficult to find room for more than 3 tents at most campsites.
The orange blazes are easy to follow, there were only a couple times where the trail crossed a ORV path that we needed to look up to find the correct path.
Check out the FarOut app/the Florida Trail Facebook group for comments, it might help for determining current water levels. You can also look at the water guage levels and compare to historical data here:
TAMIAMI CANAL OUTLETS, MONROE TO CARNESTOWN, FLA (West of Trail)
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/02288800/#parameterCode=00065&period=P7D
TAMIAMI CANAL OUTLETS, 40-MILE BEND TO MONROE, FL (East of Trail)
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/02288900/#parameterCode=00065&period=P7D
EDEN 6 IN BIG CYPRESS NATIONAL PRESERVE (North, wettest portion)
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/260355080541401/#parameterCode=00065&period=P7D