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Aucilla Rapids

Florida Trail, Aucilla River

9 miles. Endearingly scenic, surprisingly rugged in places, and unlike any other piece of the Florida Trail statewide, this trek along the Aucilla River showcases some of Florida’s top natural features in one hike.

Florida Trail, Big Bend  |  Aucilla River WMA
( 30.255878,-83.863892 )      9 miles

9 miles. Endearingly scenic, surprisingly rugged in places, and unlike any other piece of the Florida Trail statewide, this trek along the Aucilla River showcases some of Florida’s top natural features in one hike.

This is a landscape featuring limestone boulders and rocky bluffs, ancient cypress trees, yawning sinkholes, rainbow swamps, a historic site, and spectacular rapids. Much of the hike is spent walking along river bluffs with sweeping views.


Resources

Resources for exploring the area

Florida Trail Hikes book cover The Florida Trail Guide book cover North Florida Panhandle Explorers Guide book cover Florida Trail small coffee table book

Disclosure: As authors and affiliates, we receive earnings when you buy these through our links. This helps us provide public information on this website.


Overview

Stretching between CR 14 south of Lamont and Goose Pasture Road, this segment of the Florida offers unparalleled scenic views as it hugs close to the Aucilla River for most of its length.

It’s rare you don’t see the river once you first reach it, and when you don’t it’s where the trail leads you past other interesting features like cypress swamps, sinkholes, and healthy forests where random camping is possible.

An immersion in natural habitats while following a pleasant footpath makes this one of the most enjoyable sections of the Florida Trail to hike, once you get past the first mile and a half down commercial forest roads.

Florida Trail Aucilla River
Trail following the river bluffs

This is one of the most scenic stretches of the Florida Trail and well worth a visit despite the lack of paved access at the south end.

Unpaved and sometimes rough to access, Goose Pasture Rd makes a good staging point for round-trip day hikes: out to a showy river bend (4 miles) or to historic Burnt Bridge (6.8 miles) or to the rapids and back (9.8 miles).

For backpackers, there are two designated primitive campsites as well as flat spots suitable for random camping for a tent or two, and numerous access points for filtering water.


Trip Planning

Hiking northbound from CR 14 to Goose Pasture Rd, the Aucilla River section runs compass south (trail north) with the river always to your west (trail east).

Parking is limited at both ends of this section of trail. Access to the trail at Goose Pasture Road may be difficult depending on recent rains: the dirt road features deep mud and puddles when wet.

Day hiking, however, should be done using the Goose Pasture trailhead, since the shoulder of CR 14 is not a good place to leave a car.

Seasonal hunting is permitted in Aucilla WMA and a hunting lease blankets the first mile and a half of the trail at the CR 14 end.

That’s the important reason for using Goose Pasture trailhead as your day hike parking area. Always wear bright orange when hiking through this section. Check hunt dates in advance.

This trail should not be hiked when the Aucilla River rises to flood stage, as the riverside ravines and the sinkholes overflow with water and blur the line between bluff and river.

Always check water levels on the Aucilla before a hike: call the Suwannee River Water Management District at 386-362-1001.

If you are hiking towards Goose Pasture and encounter water flowing over the trail, you need to retreat and follow the highway and forest roads to Powell Hammock Grade to bypass this section.


Directions

 
To reach the CR 14 access via paved roads, follow US 27 (from Perry or Tallahassee) to Lamont. Across from the gas station, take CR 257 south. Continue down CR 257 for 9.3 miles. Along the way, the name changes to CR 14 and you cross the Aucilla River on a highway bridge. Keep alert after you pass Rocky Ford Road, as the unnamed forest road that provides access is 0.7 mile south of Rocky Ford Road. Look for orange blazes and an FNST sign. Although there is room to park on the shoulder, long term parking is not recommended.
 
To get to Goose Pasture Road trailhead from Perry, follow US 98 west to Powell Hammock Grade. The southern portion of Powell Hammock Grade is part of the roadwalk between the Aucilla and St. Marks sections. After the pavement ends, keep heading north, passing the sign for Aucilla WMA on the left. Another 1.5 miles past that sign is Goose Pasture Road, a dirt road. Turn left. Avoid driving into puddles , as they may be deep. The trailhead is 1.1 miles west along this road on the right across from a large kiosk. There is only room for a few cars.

Hike

Starting off through a maze of forest roads through a barren landscape clearcut in early 2019, the trail makes its way to the bluff forests of Middle Aucilla Conservation Area.

You hear the river before you see it, and can first approach it at Upper Aucilla Camp at an old landing.

Between two swamps of towering cypresses, navigation is a little tricky, with scrambles up and down bluffs and hops over tributaries.

In winter, you may see the “rainbow swamp” effect play across the natural oils on the waters of these cypress swamps.

Florida Trail Aucilla River
The Aucilla Rapids

Almost 4 miles into the hike, the trail starts crossing unpaved river access roads used by visitors driving into Aucilla WMA via Powell Hammock Grade for fishing and hunting.

As the landscape opens up and provides more river views, the sound of the rapids starts to echo through the forest.

It’s worth scrambling down to the river’s edge to see the water churn and froth over limestone boulders.

Beyond the rapids, views are glimpses through windows in the dense vegetation.

Florida Trail Aucilla River
Burnt Bridge, a former railroad trestle crossing

A steep dropoff at Burnt Bridge marks where a railroad trestle once crossed the river but was burned during the Civil War. Sticking close to the bluffs, the trail scrambles through more deep dips.

After 7 miles, you reach a showy river bend that serves locals as a swimming hole, complete with a rope swing.

Florida Trail Aucilla River
A showy bend in the Aucilla River

The trail stays along the bluffs up to South Aucilla River Camp and enters a forest of ancient trees surrounding the Vortex, where the Aucilla River is sucked into a riversink to continue its journey underground.

For the next quarter mile, the trail weaves between showy, rocky water-filled sinkholes that are windows into the river’s flow beneath the earth, reaching Goose Pasture Rd after 9 miles.

Florida Trail Aucilla River
One of the most fascinating rocky sinks past the Vortex

FLORIDA TRAIL NORTHBOUND: Aucilla Sinks
FLORIDA TRAIL SOUTHBOUND: Suwannee to Aucilla Roadwalk


Explore More!

Learn more about the Florida Trail, Big Bend

Florida Trail Big Bend view

Florida Trail, Big Bend

116.2 miles. After crossing rural farms and forests in the Big Bend, the Florida Trail reveals the secrets of the Aucilla River before tracing the Gulf coastline at St. Marks NWR

Slideshow

See our photos of the Florida Trail, Aucilla River


Nearby Adventures

More worth exploring while you’re in this area.

Aucilla Sinks

Florida Trail, Aucilla Sinks

4.4 miles. Winding through a geologically weird and archaeologically significant part of Florida, the most fascinating segment of the Florida Trail is the Aucilla Sinks

Pinhook River Bridge on the Florida Trail

Florida Trail, Apalachee Bay

14.3 miles. Hugging the Big Bend coastline, this hike through Aucilla WMA and St. Marks NWR offers some of the most breathtaking panoramas you’ll find along the Florida Trail, and a profusion of wildlife.

St Marks NWR

St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge

Stretching across 70,000 acres in Florida’s Big Bend, St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge protects one of Florida’s longest wild shorelines, more than 43 miles in three counties.

Wacissa Springs

Wacissa Springs

One of a vanishing breed of old-time swimming holes within an easy drive of Tallahassee, Wacissa Springs is the birthplace of the Wacissa River and home to more than a dozen springs.

Hunt Dates River Levels Camping Official Website

Category: Backpacking, Day Hikes, Florida Trail, Hikes, Northwest Florida, Trails, Water Management Areas, Wildlife Management AreasTag: Aucilla River, Big Bend, Big Trees, Dog-friendly, Florida Trail, FT Big Bend, Geology, Hilly, Monticello, Perry, Primitive Camping, Rapids, Scenic Hikes, Tallahassee

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Our Florida Trail Books

The Florida Trail Guide

The Florida Trail GuideThe comprehensive mile-by-mile guidebook to planning section and thru-hikes along the entire length of the Florida Trail. 356 pages, $19.95 + tax and shipping.

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Florida Trail Hikes

Florida Trail HikesFifty of the best day hikes, overnights, and weekend trips on the Florida Trail, plus nine of the best section hikes. Full hike descriptions and maps, full color. 376 pages. $24.95 + tax and shipping.

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Discovering the Florida Trail

Florida Trail mini coffee table book cover of trail into palm hammock
Our virtual walk along the length of the Florida Trail, covering more than 1,500 miles from the Everglades to Pensacola Beach. Hardcover, 196 pages. $24.95 + tax and shipping.

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The Florida Trail

Florida Trail large coffee table book cover of trail down swamp causeway under ancient pines

Our history of the first 50 years of the Florida Trail, from its founding in 1966 to becoming a National Scenic Trail to volunteer efforts today.

Learn More

The Florida Trail App

Comprehensive logistics and offline maps all in one: The Florida Trail Guide is now also an interactive map-based mile-by-mile app by Guthook Guides.

Get the App!

Florida Trail Updates


Get periodic recaps of changes to the Florida Trail, which we accumulate between editions of our guidebook. Find all official Trail Closures & Notices here.

Hiking the Florida Trail

  • Florida Trail Overview
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Florida Trail by Section

Porter Lake, Apalachicola National Forest

Florida Trail, Apalachicola

Florida Trail, Apalachicola
Florida Trail Big Bend view

Florida Trail, Big Bend

Florida Trail, Big Bend
Florida Trail Big Cypress

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Florida Trail, Big Cypress

Florida Trail, Blackwater

Florida Trail, Blackwater
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Florida Trail, Central Panhandle

Florida Trail, Central Panhandle
Eglin Weaver Creek

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Florida Trail, Eglin
Florida Trail Kissimmee

Florida Trail, Kissimmee

Florida Trail, Kissimmee
Florida Trail at Rice Creek

Florida Trail, Northeast Florida

Florida Trail, Northeast Florida
Juniper Prairie Wilderness

Florida Trail, Ocala

Florida Trail, Ocala
Ocean to Lake Hiking Trail

Ocean to Lake Hiking Trail

Ocean to Lake Hiking Trail
Florida Trail, Okeechobee

Florida Trail, Okeechobee

Florida Trail, Okeechobee
Florida Trail at Forever Florida

Florida Trail, Orlando

Florida Trail, Orlando
Florida Trail Seashore Dunes

Florida Trail, Seashore

Florida Trail, Seashore
Florida Trail along a canal south of Clewiston

Florida Trail, Seminole

Florida Trail, Seminole
No Name Creek

Florida Trail, Suwannee

Florida Trail, Suwannee
Cypress Lakes Preserve

Florida Trail, Western Corridor

Florida Trail, Western Corridor

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