Florida Trail, Seminole State Forest

With nearly 28,000 acres along the Wekiva River basin, Seminole State Forest is an integral part of a wildlife corridor stretching from the edge of Orlando to the Ocala National Forest.

Wildlife is always present here. It’s one of the more likely places near Orlando for you to see a bear. Florida scrub-jays thrive in an extensive scrub habitat that the south end of this hike traverses.

Sandhill cranes and flocks of turkeys gather in the open prairies near Boggy Creek Lake. You can surprise a deer almost anywhere, from the deeply shaded floodplains to the open pine flatwoods.

Diverse and fascinating, the Florida Trail through this section provides an easy escape from the Orlando metro into a richly textured landscape with multiple campsites for backpackers.

Resources

Orlando & Central Florida: An Explorer's Guide

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Overview

Location: Cassia
Length: 7.5 miles
Trailhead: 28.819203, -81.428048
Fees: $2 per person entrance fee
Restroom: Vault toilets at trailheads
Land Manager: Florida Forest Service
Phone: 352-360-6675

Open 24 hours. Leashed pets welcome. Bicycles and horses are not permitted on the Florida Trail through this section.

A network of graded forest roads provides access to the interior of the forest, but may have puddles or soft sand in spots. See the forest map to determine where you can drive.

Seasonal hunting occurs in Seminole State Forest, so check on hunting dates in advance. Wear bright orange if you choose to hike during hunts.

Since hunting dates here are limited, hunters prefer that you stay out of the woods during those dates.

Backpackers must pay a an additional nightly fee for use of the four campsites along the Florida Trail and the Lower Wekiva Loop.

Bears are frequently seen in this area. We strongly urge you to bear bag or use a bear canister.

Directions

Bear Pond trailhead: From Interstate 4 exit 101C at Sanford, take SR 46 west for 5.2 miles. After you cross the Wekiva River, look for the entrance to Seminole State Forest on the right. Continue 0.3 mile along the forest road – stopping at the self-service kiosk to pay the $2 day use fee – to park on the left.

Cassia trailhead: For the northern trailhead for this section, continue west on SR 46 from Bear Pond for 2.2 miles to the traffic light with SR 46A. Drive north 5.6 miles to the traffic light with SR 44. Turn right and go 5.1 miles east on SR 44 to Brantley Branch Road on the right. Turn right. The Cassia trailhead is on the right.

Hike

Starting out from the Bear Pond trailhead, walk through the gap in the fence past the kiosk where you can reserve a campsite (and pay a fee for it).

Beyond a short stretch of pine flatwoods, oaks lean over the footpath, offering shade.

After 0.5 mile you cross a bridge over a creek. This is a water source for Shelter Camp, another quarter mile ahead.

One of the few shelters on the Florida Trail, it has a large sleeping area and a nice clearing for tent camping.

Just beyond Shelter Camp is a trail register in a mailbox at the junction with the Lower Wekiva Loop, an alternate route closer to the Wekiva River floodplain. Sign in and continue along the orange blazes.

This stretch of scrub forest that the trail winds through is the most likely place for you to spot Florida scrub-jays. Look for bear tracks, too, in the sand.

Crossing a graded forest road, East Spur Road, at 2.2 miles, the trail reaches a vast prairie ecosystem. The landscape rolls on to the distant horizon as the trail curves northwest.

Open prairie at the heart of Seminole State Forest

Past Main Grade Road, the major north-south vehicle access through the forest, the trail parallels it, crossing a small bridge over an ephemeral wetland in the scrubby flatwoods.

Joining Main Grade to continue north through the floodplain of Black Water Creek, you pass the incoming blazes of the Lower Wekiva Loop on the right.

They are followed by blue blazes leading down to Blackwater Creek Camp, which sits on a bluff above the creek.

At 3.9 miles, cross Black Water Creek on the broad vehicular bridge. This creek is one of the biggest waterways feeding the Wekiva River.

The trail follows Sand Road on the other side, sweeping past a picnic bench with a nice view of the creek.

Lunch at Blackwater Creek — A crowd of day hikers enjoying lunch at Black Water Creek

At an intersection of roads, there is a kiosk and a horse trough. Keep right and follow the orange blazes into the woods. The trail follows an old railroad tramway for a stretch.

Passing a dry prairie pond, the trail parallels a forest road. Walking through a tight tunnel of saw palmetto, you emerge onto another old tramway, used for logging the ancient trees from this forest more than a century ago.

Keep alert for blazing through the next stretch as you cross a forest road and enter another stretch of sand pine scrub. The trail returns to the road, meeting the blue-blazed junction with the Sulphur Island Loop, a Trailwalker Trail.

Crossing the road, you enter Sulphur Camp at 5.2 miles. Easily reached by visitors in vehicles, it’s a clearing with picnic benches. Walk through it and look for the blue-blaze on the right. It’s worth taking a side trip down it.

The blue blaze leads downhill, narrowing and narrowing until it meets a crystalline waterway created by Shark Tooth Spring.

While you won’t run into them along the major trails, Seminole State Forest is home to many springs.

Continue up the path to where it ends at the base of the spring, which like nearby Rock Springs, flows right out of rocks at the base of a bluff.

Shark Tooth Spring near Sulphur Camp. It was discovered and named by Wiley Dykes Sr. while he was building the trail in the early 90s

Back on the orange blazes, continue north as the trail loops over the headland above the spring basin. It is deep in pine duff as it climbs, reaching Pine Road at the crest.

You see the blue blazes of the Sulphur Island Loop again. Turn right, then right again to head downhill, following the orange blazes along Palatka Road as it curves through a showy floodplain.

Rising out of the floodplain forest on the other side, you meet a road junction at a kiosk.

In Fall 2019, the Florida Trail was relocated at this point to head northeast towards SR 44 to eliminate the roadwalk from the Cassia trailhead.

For purposes of a day hike to the Cassia trailhead – since there is no trailhead where the orange blazes now cross the highway – turn left and follow the white blazes.

Keep alert for where the the blazes leave the road on the right, as the trail becomes a footpath again.

Climb through a long corridor of saw palmetto to an open area, former pastureland near Boggy Creek Lake. A bench overlooks the lake at 6.5 miles.

Chucks Bench — Break time at Chuck’s bench overlooking lake. On the other side is Camp Boggy Creek, founded by Paul Newman and General Norman Schwarzkopf for seriously-ill children.

After winding through a sand pine scrub, the trail follows the rim of a large prairie north of the lake. It’s here that you we’ve seen sandhill cranes on every visit.

Up along another corridor of saw palmetto, the trail curves around a large, well-established sinkhole and a big blueberry patch where we saw a mama and baby bear on one of our hikes.