The reason the Ocala National Forest exists is the Big Scrub. This particular section of the Florida Trail does a great job of immersing you in the ebb and flow of this immense sand pine forest.
You’ll encounter sand pine stands of various ages, including one long segment with a dense understory of Florida rosemary.
Where elevation changes the surrounding habitats, there are prairies, ponds, and islands of longleaf pine within the scrub.
Connecting a first-magnitude spring with one of the more beautiful lakes in the Ocala National Forest, it’s a delightful day hike.
Resources
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Guthook Guides GPS-driven map-based guide to the Florida National Scenic Trail with thousands of waypoints from The Florida Trail Guide. Works offline. For iPhone and Android. Overview
Location: Altoona
Trailhead: 29.078871, -81.577816
Length: 8.6 miles linear
Fees: None to hike. $6 per person day use fee at Alexander Springs. $5 to park at Farles Lake
Restrooms: Vault toilet at Farles. Flush toilet at Alexander Spring
Land manager: Ocala National Forest, Seminole Ranger District
Phone: 352-669-3153
If you choose to park along CR 445 to access the trail, be cautious of soft sand on the shoulders. Parking at the SR 19 trailhead is free.
For safety reasons, do not leave cars overnight in either location. Overnight parking is no longer allowed at Farles Lake Recreation Area.
Random camping is permitted except during general gun (deer hunting) season. Wear bright orange if hiking during any hunting season. Check the link at the bottom of this page for hunt dates.
If camping, protecting your food from animals is necessary. Bears are frequently seen. The Ocala National Forest requires that you either bear bag or use a bear canister. Raccoons will also try to steal unprotected food and gear.
Directions
Alexander Springs: From the junction of SR 19 and SR 42 in Altoona, drive north along SR 19 to CR 445. Turn right. Follow this road through the forest up to the Alexander Springs Recreation Area on the left.
You can also approach this recreation area via SR 40, turning south on CR 445A in Astor and south again on CR 445. Follow the signs.
Farles Prairie Recreation Area: Continue north along SR 19 (or south from CR 445A / SR 40) to the sign for Farles Lake, which is 4.6 miles south of SR 40 along SR 19. Turn west. FR 535. The road jogs after a half mile and becomes FR 595C.
After another 0.9 mile, turn right on FR 595-2 and continue 0.9 mile. The road becomes FR 595. Drive another 1.2 miles – following signs all the while – to get to the parking area. Pay your day use fee at the iron ranger.
Hike
Start your hike by following the blue blazes from the campground at Alexander Springs Recreation Area. If you’re already on trail, subtract a half mile from the mileage.
You’ll cross CR 445 en route as you walk through sandhills habitat for a half mile to the trail junction with the Florida Trail. Turn right at the orange-blazed junction.
The trail crosses a dirt road and climbs up a hill. Longleaf pines tower overhead as you continue through the forest to cross CR 445 again at 1.4 miles.
The trail rises up into longleaf pine flatwoods and then into the open scrub, a desert-like place with diminutive trees. Listen for the swoosh of wings and a blur of blue as Florida scrub-jays settle into the branches.
The next paved road you encounter is SR 19, at 3.8 miles. Use particular caution crossing here, as traffic moves at high speed.
Just beyond is a short blue-blazed side trail leading to an official trailhead parking area along SR 19. This is an alternate starting point where there is no fee to park, shortening your hike to 4.8 miles.
Framed by rusty lyonia, myrtle oaks, and Chapman oaks, the trail settles into a tunnel of scrub, with some undulations that remind you these are ancient sand dunes.
You pass a sinkhole mostly hidden by the scrub before emerging into a clearing at an old Jeep track. Several Florida rosemary bushes, distinctly rounded, thrive in the open spots under the pines.
After emerging from the forest again to cross a Jeep track in soft sand under a powerline, the trail reaches FR 57 – an old railroad line and graded road – at 4.8 miles.
Tunneling back into the scrub, you’ll notice notable changes in elevation as the trail dips and curves through the scrub forest, slipping past prairie views en route to Dora Pond.
This is a pretty place to camp and a reliable water source at 5.6 miles. Just beyond it is the first junction with a blue-blazed side trail, the Buck Lake Loop.
The loop circles a major lake with a recreation area and group campground on the far side. The recreation area has a pitcher pump and vault toilets at the picnic area.
Passing the second junction for the Buck Lake Loop at 6.7 miles, the trail is flanked by Florida rosemary and short oaks in a dense understory beneath tall sand pines that clatter together when the wind blows.
This is where you immerse deeply in the sand pine scrub for most of the next two miles.
You glimpse a grassy prairie off to the left before the trail comes around to its edge. It usually has a small pond in it.
A few minutes later, the trail emerges onto the road that passes through Farles Prairie Recreation Area, reaching the trailhead with its sweeping view of Farles Lake. This completes the 8.6-mile hike.
NORTHBOUND: Florida Trail, Farles Prairie to Juniper Springs
SOUTHBOUND: Florida Trail, Clearwater Lake to Alexander Springs
Explore More
Slideshow
Our slides from hiking this segment of the Florida Trail
Nearby Adventures
More worth exploring while you’re in this area.
Alexander Springs
Surrounding one of Florida’s most picturesque first magnitude springs, Alexander Springs is a prime destination for a summer swim or snorkel
Timucuan Trail
While less than a mile long, the Timucuan Trail at Alexander Springs Recreation Area is the best place to sample the Big Scrub habitats of the Ocala National Forest.
Hi!
I’m planning a 2-3 day backpacking trip this weekend in Ocala. I’ve read through the pages on the site about Ocala it’s a great resource. Do you have a suggestion for which section to take?
Out-and-back is totally fine
“Basecamp” for a night is also OK
Solitude would be a huge plus
Don’t need access to water as I can carry enough
Hopefully there’s a decent parking area or campground to parkin given the mention of vandalism/theft at several public trailheads
I really hoped to take the Juniper to Hopkins prarie section but that seems closed for the time being and though it says the area should reopen this week, i know the forest service isn’t the best about updates.
Somewhere I read you suggest asking questions on facebook but I don’t have any social media accounts hence why i’m asking here.
Thank you 🙂
Juniper to Hopkins will reopen before the weekend but you can’t camp in that section.
We’re big fans of the northerly portion of the forest, which is very hilly but also dramatically beautiful through the longleaf pine forests. Leave your car at Rodman Campground (there’s a small fee) and hike south as far as you like. Random camp where you like. Take plenty of water, as supplies are limited in that part of the forest – only Grassy Pond and Penner Ponds are reliable. Turn around and come back. Be sure to bear bag or carry a bear canister. Bears are plentiful and that’s the USFS rule for your safety and theirs. Enjoy.
Hi,
My husband and I would like to hike the FT from Alexander Springs to Silver Springs for Thanksgiving. We will be backpacking starting Early Thursday morning and plan on picking up car at silver Springs on Saturday. Planing on hiking 10-12 miles a day. Can you suggest places on the FT to primitive
camp? Thursday and Friday nights.
The Florida Trail does not connect Alexander Springs with Silver Springs, other than in a somewhat oblique manner: Alexander north to the 88 Store, south on the Western Connector towards the Cross Florida Greenway to the campsite in Silver Springs State Park, for which the nearest trailhead is Marshall Swamp off Sharpes Ferry Rd. Did you mean Juniper Springs or Salt Springs?
This is not the best time of year to hike in the Ocala National Forest as general gun season (deer hunting) is underway and there are a lot of hunters out there. You will need to wear orange shirts / pack covers and camp only at designated campsites, which are the paid campgrounds at the recreation areas (Alexander, Juniper, Hopkins Prairie, Salt Springs) plus Hidden Pond. Bears are an issue at Hidden Pond, a bear canister is recommended and bear bagging required throughout the Ocala National Forest.
You may want to consider the Florida Trail on the Cross Florida Greenway as an alternative.
I’m planning a through hike from Rodman Dam to Clearwater. I’m having my wife drop me at Rodman and I was going to trek through to Clearwater where I’m planning to leave a car. The forest website is a bit confusing. Can I park at Clearwater, or will I need to use the trailhead off of 19. I’m planning on doing the trail in 5 days is that too aggressive a route. I did the trail 8 years ago and it took me 6 days, but I was taking much more gear. Any advise would be appreciated. Planning on heading out Saturday.
You can park at Clearwater Lake but there is a fee for leaving your car behind the gates of the recreation area. Well worth it since there has been vandalism at the actual trailhead along the entrance road to Clearwater Lake over the decades. The camp hosts are nice folks. As for number of days, all depends on your stamina! That’s about 14 miles a day. The mileage is roughly the same as it was eight years ago. Some portions have been burned this season so it may be trickier to find the blazes, but the path is well worn.
I think there should be a note that overnight parking is not allowed at Farles Prarie Recreation area. Had to reroute our hike, I thought we were allowed to overnight park here.
Thanks for the update: overnight parking was indeed permitted in the past.
Hello – Is it reasonable to hike Alexander Springs to Juniper Rec area in a day? (16miles) Would this be very challenging or fairly normal? 16 miles would be a long day by my North East standards but maybe in FL this is flat and easy? Is there a preferred direction to hike (N to S or S to N?)
If you’re used to doing 10-12 miles a day in mountainous terrain you should have no problem with that. There are gentle rolling hills, not so much that you’d notice. The footpath is the oldest part of the Florida Trail in the state so it’s well-worn. Having hiked it both directions, I prefer going north. Enjoy!
Sandra you seem intensely devoted to helping people enjoy central Florida so I think I am going to send you a direct email on your site about how best to play a 3/4 night solo camping loop starting at Alexander Springs. The ranger I spoke to at Pittman Visitor Center on the phone, bless his heart, super nice guy, but described himself as “not a backpacker” and the conversation kind of meandered from there. I can be more specific in an email. Hope you hear back from you, I’ve been checking out your books at my local library and seeing your photos everywhere!
The trick is the “loop” part! The Florida Trail is linear, so the only loop I can suggest – and I’ve hiked all of this at one point or another – is to go north from Alexander Springs through Juniper Springs and Hopkins Prairie up to the 88 Store at Salt Springs. Just north of it is the junction for the Western Corridor of the Florida Trail. Head south on the Western Corridor – but important note, there are no designated campsites along it, so don’t try it during deer hunting season. Once you get to Sharpes Ferry Rd, you would have to walk along roads to get back to Alexander Springs: SE 1st Rd to SE 24th St Rd to SE 137th Ave Rd gets you to CR 314A at Moss Bluff. Follow SE 95th Ave Rd east to SE 182nd Ave Rd south. Hop into Sunnyhill Restoration Area at the first trailhead you encounter and stay with whatever trail is closest to the eastern property line until you get to the pass-thru across from the Ocala National Forest at the road to Big Scrub and Doe Lake (I think it’s FR 14, but marked 127th St on Google Maps). Walk along that road. You can random camp anywhere along it, and it’s quite hilly. Finally, use Railroad Street just west of SR 19 to go north to meet the Florida Trail just a little west of the SR 19 trailhead, and head south to Alexander Springs on the main trail again. I did this as a series of day hikes, and the roadwalk isn’t bad except on that little stretch of paved roads through Moss Bluff. FR 14 is surprisingly open and hilly!
I phoned the Ocala National Forest Ranger Station today (1/4/17) to get details on the Farles Lake Campground (we hiked from there to Alexander Springs in May 2016 as a day hike) and they told me that it is day use only with no camping allowed. That was a shock, as I plan to be there with a group in two weeks. Did the Ranger misunderstand me? Buck Lake is already booked. Is there a suitable campsite nearby? (We plan to start from Hwy 19 and hike to Farles Lake Day 1, and then on to Juniper Springs Day 2, BTW.)
Sadly, this is true. The only people allowed to camp there are hunters during deer hunting season. Supposedly it was closed to camping because of bear activity but we truly wonder why since it’s still open to hunters to camp. This was a designated campsite for the Florida Trail and it’s a real shame it is no longer accessible to hikers. The only other nearby camp is indeed Buck Lake. We’d asked a year ago about reopening it to hikers, but that hasn’t happened.