This segment of the Florida Trail in Ridge Manor traces the outline of a series of cypress-lined lakes that survived the ages along the Withlacoochee River floodplain.
Established in 1998 under the Hernando County Environmentally Sensitive Lands Program, Cypress Lakes Preserve is home to uncommon wildflowers.
It also has a large number of enormous cypress trees, including one of the largest by volume that we’ve ever seen.
Our Florida Trail Books & Guides
Disclosure: As authors and affiliates, we receive earnings when you buy through our links. This helps us provide public information on this website.
Overview
Location: Ridge Manor
Length: 1.7 miles linear
Trailhead: 28.514315, -82.195150
Fees: Free
Restroom: None
Land manager: Hernando County
Phone: 352-754-4031
Open sunrise to sunset. Leashed dogs permitted.
Directions
28.5187,-82.2069
28.5143,-82.1952
From Interstate 75 exit 301, Brooksville, drive east along SR 50 for 2.8 miles, passing under the long bridge that carries the Withlacoochee State Trail across all four lanes. Turn left at the second turnout after the bridge over the Withlacoochee River onto Ridge Manor Rd. The main entrance and pulloff for the preserve is on the left where Olancha Rd comes in from the right. The other entrance to the preserve is off a chunk of old SR 50 at the first left-hand turnout after the bridge, just past the fire station.
Hike
Starting your hike from the gate along Ridge Manor Rd, follow the orange blazes down a grassy forest road. Right off the bat, the forest doesn’t look very impressive.
It’s an oak hammock that’s been burned and otherwise distressed, with a lot of deadfall. But don’t let that dissuade you; this is a very interesting hike.
Passing a grassy forest road to the right, you come up to two trail junctions in quick succession with other tracks.
There is a chunk of chert emerging from the ground at the second one. Stay with the orange blazes.
Once the landscape loses a little elevation on the way to the lakes, the forest becomes more beautiful. The trail slips past an ancient oak furry with resurrection fern.
Reaching the cypress-lined rim of the first lake after 0.3 miles, the trail turns to stay above the edge of the floodplain, treating you to views of the large cypresses.
By a half mile, turn away from the cypresses briefly to head uphill into a sandhill area.
A large patch of sand squares crowds both sides of the footpath. These unusual wildflowers with square sets of blooms are joined by foxglove and roseling in the summer months.
Making a sharp left at a forest road, the trail continues into the shade of large live oaks dense with resurrection fern.
Draw close to the cypresses again, with more large trees catching your attention. One has a double trunk. Another has knees that stand nearly five feet tall.
While it’s tempting to leave the cover of the oaks to wander out among them, watch your step for both mudholes and hidden water moccasins.
Walking along the saw-palmetto lined pathway, keep looking into the swamp. As the trail draws close to the cypresses again, one immense cypress comes into view.
This is the Keyhole Cypress. Join us in a double-take realizing just how big that cypress is. It’s deeper in the swamp than the others, but stands out due to its keyholes.
It is double-trunked, and the trunk keeps meeting and separating, leaving large gaps. The base of the cypress spreads out like an oversized hoop skirt. And it is huge.
Leaving this section of the swamp, the trail scoots uphill briefly, passing a perimeter fence before it drops into the next stretch of cypress.
Here, you can see a break through the trees indicating open water beyond them. The ground is firmer underfoot.
The cypresses here are still large and many have double trunks, including one with a bizarre stub of a cypress knee that’s almost like a third trunk that never reached for the sky.
Draw closer to the water’s edge along the footpath, providing some nice views.
After a mile, the trail turns to the right and goes uphill into the oaks, reaching a bench just before a sturdy wooden bridge.
The bridge, which can be slippery when wet, traverses a drainage area where the cypress swamp drains into a large sinkhole to the right.
Leaving the bridge, the trail goes through two quick junctions with incoming unmarked trails. Stay to the right at each junction, following the orange blazes.
Continuing downhill into an open area edged by large oaks, the trail swings through a sharp left and heads uphill.
It tunnels through an understory of young oaks beneath the older trees.
By 1.3 miles, the trail descends to the edge of the next cypress swamp, where there is an open flat area facing the swamp.
Leaving the cypresses, the trail makes its way steadily uphill through the oak forest. It emerges within sight of a ribbon of cypress trees with many knees below them.
Pass another ancient oak before the final uphill climb to the stile and gate marking the edge of the preserve at 1.6 miles.
This is your turn-around point for an out-and-back hike, a total of 3.2 miles.
Walking between two cars – or working on a section hike of the Florida Trail and continuing north – exit through the stile and walk up the sand road past a firefighter’s residence.
Emerge on the pavement of old SR 50, with the fire station within view to your left, completing a 1.7 mile walk.
Northbound
Florida Trail, Croom River Trail A pleasant ramble on bluffs above the Withlacoochee River, the Croom River Trail segment of the Florida Trail tunnels through oak hammocks and slips around cypress swamps along its 6.3-mile journey.Trail Map
Explore More!
Learn more about the Western Corridor section of the Florida Trail
Florida Trail, Western Corridor Linking Withlacoochee State Forest and the Cross Florida Greenway, the 241 mile Western Corridor of the Florida Trail accesses wild spaces between Tampa and Ocala. Slideshow
See our photos from Cypress Lakes Preserve
Nearby Adventures
More worth exploring nearby
Croom River Trail Loop Using the Florida Trail and the Blue Loop Trail, hikers can explore a picturesque corner of Withlacoochee State Forest in Ridge Manor along a 3.9-mile loop. 
Chinsegut Big Pine Tract The Big Pine Tract of Chinsegut WEA protects the southernmost old-growth longleaf pine forest in America, the second largest such tract in Florida.
Chinsegut Conservation Center Tract Discover the beauty of May's Prairie at the heart of the Chinsegut WEA Conservation Center Tract, a vast wetland where sandhill cranes gather.
Perry Oldenburg WEA With a surprising diversity of oak species for Central Florida, Perry Oldenburg WEA protects a prime piece of sandhill habitat where gopher tortoises thrive.
- Hal Scott Yellow Trail - November 3, 2026
- Hal Scott Preserve - October 28, 2026
- Tradewinds Park - October 27, 2026