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Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides

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Boggy Head Creek

Florida Trail, Forgotten Creek

9.7 miles. Contrasting steephead ravines and sluggish creeks in gum swamps with restoration areas on former sod farms and pine plantations, the Forgotten Creek portion of the Florida Trail in Nokuse surprises with its challenges.

Florida Trail, Central Panhandle  |  Florida Trail, Nokuse
( 30.539318,-85.920380 )      9.7 miles

9.7 miles. Contrasting steephead ravines and sluggish creeks surrounded by titi and gum swamp with stretches of sod farm and pine plantation undergoing restoration to longleaf pine habitat, this section of the Florida Trail offers some unexpected challenges.


Resources

Florida Trail Hikes book cover The Florida Trail Guide book cover North Florida Panhandle Explorers Guide book cover Florida Trail history book
Full details on this hike, including a trail map, are in our full-color guidebook Florida Trail Hikes.

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

 
Guthook GuidesGuthook 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

Hiking the Florida Trail through the central part of the Nokuse section means traversing a mix of steephead ravines, pine plantations being restored to longleaf habitat, and titi-gum swamps surrounding tannic waterways.

Although not as consistently beautiful overall as the adjoining sections of Nokuse, the Forgotten Creek section offers up some unexpected immersions into tricky tangles of floodplain swamps, as well as some unforgettable beauty spots in steephead ravines and along perched boggy slopes where pitcher plants thrive.

For those seeking a short day hike with a great deal of beauty, a walk in from Seven Runs trailhead to the steephead along Boggy Head Creek, a round-trip of 3 miles, is very worthwhile.

Especially in springtime when the mountain laurel and Florida anise are in bloom. This is one of the easiest-to-reach botanical hot spots along the Florida Trail.


Trip Planning

Ongoing restoration of pine plantations back to native longleaf pine habitat is the goal of Nokuse Plantation, a private conservancy created by local entrepreneur M.C. Davis.

While this process is going on, you will encounter both recent clearcuts and new young forests, particularly through this section of the Florida Trail in Nokuse. Keep alert for flagging and blaze posts in these areas to follow the footpath.

Portions of this trail, including the Red Deer campsite, are on lands managed by Northwest Florida Water Management District, which permits limited seasonal hunting in Lafayette Creek WMA.

For a day hike between trailheads, your total mileage will be 10.1 miles.


Directions

 
From SR 20 in Bruce, follow SR 81 north for 5.8 miles to the Seven Runs trailhead on the west side of the highway, just north of the bridge. This is your starting point.
 
The ending point is the Lafayette Creek trailhead. From the same major road junction in Bruce, continue west towards Freeport. Turn right on J.W. Hollingsworth Rd and follow it for 4.2 miles. It’s a narrow rural road that makes several 90-degree turns and crosses a one-lane bridge before ending at the Lafayette Creek trailhead.

Hike

From the Seven Runs trailhead, it’s necessary to walk a quarter mile south along SR 81 to reach the trail crossing. The reason is Seven Runs Creek and its extensive floodplain.

Where the trail enters the woods, you’ll follow the edge of this floodplain for the next mile, sometimes adjoining it, sometimes on bluffs above it. Mountain laurel thrives on the bluffs.

Boggy Head Creek
Boggy Head Creek in Nokuse Plantation

After crossing Boggy Head Creek, the trail continues up the steephead ravine from which it flows, eventually climbing up and out onto the rolling hills of Nokuse.

It’s here that active restoration is going on, cutting down stands of planted pine and replacing them with longleaf. The restoration area extends over the next four miles.

Florida Trail Nokuse Black Creek
Bridge across Black Creek

When you reach the Black Creek basin, it’s almost a surprise how the trail heads downhill to meet the creek. Look for pitcher plants on the slopes. Expect to hop through roots and puddles down in this floodplain.

It’s the first of five floodplains central to the Forgotten Creek section. Segments of pine plantation and restoration areas are between each of the floodplains.

After you cross Lafayette Creek, here far closer to its source than along the Lafayette Creek section to the north, the Forgotten Creek campsite is 7.4 miles into this hike.

It’s perched on the hill above its namesake creek, which is also surrounded by a large gum swamp.

Florida Trail Nokuse Forgotten Creek campsite
Campsite at Forgotten Creek

Once you cross Red Doe Creek, a pretty sand-bottomed waterway at the bottom of a steephead ravine, you’re done with the creek crossings.

Climbing up out of that steephead, you reach level ground and an area that was clearcut and replanted with longleaf pines. Look for blaze posts to guide you over the next several miles.

At the end of this section, a sign points out the side trail leading over to the Lafayette Creek trailhead.

NORTHBOUND: Florida Trail, Lafayette Creek
SOUTHBOUND: Florida Trail, Choctawhatchee River

Category: Backpacking, Day Hikes, Florida Trail, Hikes, Land Trusts, Northwest Florida, Trails, Water Management AreasTag: Bonifay, Botanical, Dog-friendly, Ebro, Florida Trail, Freeport, FT Central Panhandle, FT Nokuse, Hilly, Ponce De Leon, Primitive Camping

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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.

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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

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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

Florida Trail, Big Cypress

Florida Trail, Big Cypress

Florida Trail, Blackwater

Florida Trail, Blackwater
Florida Trail Nokuse

Florida Trail, Central Panhandle

Florida Trail, Central Panhandle
Eglin Weaver Creek

Florida Trail, Eglin

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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