Highlights
The Apalachicola National Forest is one of the longest wilderness sections on the Florida Trail. Although the forest is laced with dirt roads, there are no towns and no access to services for 77 miles. The thirty-two mile eastern section of the Forest starts with rolling sandhills topped with longleaf pine and wiregrass, providing a gateway to the Sopchoppy River--a blackwater stream lined with cypress--where the trail follows the high bluffs of the western shore in and out of ravines with numerous bridges, leading you through patches of native Florida azalea, fragrant in spring. In the Bradwell Bay Wilderness, the forest changes as you walk from wet flatwoods dotted with titi trees into a swamp forest of sweet-gum, maple, and cypress, where stands of virgin loblolly pines survived due to their inaccessibility to loggers. Passing the historic Langston Homestead, the Florida Trail continues through private property (FTA membership required) with steephead ravines along the Ochlocknee River, before the ending of this section at Porter Lake on the Ochlocknee’s western bank.
Mileage Points, east-to-west:
0.0 Medart [Carraway Cutoff] trailhead. Follow trail west, across road.
0.2 Cross US 319 (1.1 mi. west of Medart, 5.3 mi. east of Sopchoppy). Then cross/follow forest roads for 8.5 mi.
8.7 Cross Sopchoppy R. on FR 343 (Oak Park) bridge. Trail passes through Oak Park trailhead, W. of bridge.
11.0 Monkey Creek Bridge.
13.2 Jct. with FR 329. Jog west, then north. Sopchoppy trailhead to north. East border of Bradwell Bay Wilderness.
(There is a second, larger, trailhead to the east at this junction--near the east end of the bridge.)
18.7 Blue-blazed 0.7-mile trail leads south to Monkey Creek trailhead on FR329.
20.4 Monkey Creek. If westbound, this is the start (and deepest part) of the Bradwell Bay Swamp Stomp.
21.1 Blue-blazed 0.1-mile trail leads south to Bradwell Bay South trailhead on FR 329.
22.5 Bradwell Island 100 ft. NW of trail. Dry area in middle of swamp.
24.1 Jct. with old tramway. If eastbound, this is the start of the Bradwell Bay Swamp Stomp.
25.6 Jct. with FR 314. Bradwell Bay West trailhead. West border of Bradwell Bay Wilderness. Jog north, then west.
29.6 Jct. with CR 375. Langston House trailhead on west side of highway. Trail continues N. along CR 375. (Blue-blaze trail from trailhead leads west, then south, 0.2 miles to historic Langston Homestead.)
30.2 Jct with CR 375 and trail to west, entering private property.
[FTA MEMBERS ONLY. Non-members follow CR 375 north to FH 13, then FH 13 west to Porter Lake. ]
31.8 Jct with FH 13. Leave private property. Turn left on FH 13 and cross Ocklocknee River on road bridges.
32.4 Porter Lake trailhead & campground on left [no sign at road]. Water, parking, restroom, one picnic table.
Trailhead directions:
Directions to all trailheads (Medart [Carraway Cutoff], Oak Park Bridge, Sopchoppy River, Monkey Creek, Bradwell Bay South, Bradwell Bay West, Langston House and Porter Lake) can be found on our Apalachee Chapter website at
http://apalachee.floridatrail.org/big-bend-area-trails/apalachicola-national-forest-east/. Click on “Click here for trail-heads map and directions” at the bottom of the page. Park at your own risk.
Conveniences:
Supplies: Crawfordville, Sopchoppy, Panacea.
Lodging: The Inn at Wildwood Resort, US 98, east of Medart (850-926-4455).
Public Campgrounds: Porter Lake, Whitehead Lake and Wood Lake --all in the National Forest;
Ochlockonee River State Park (850-962-2771); Myron B. Hodge City Park (Sopchoppy, 850-962-4611).
Emergency Numbers
(USFS) Wakulla Ranger District (Crawfordville) ... 850-926-3561
(USFS) National Forest Dispatch ... 850-523-8800
Wakulla County Sheriff ... 850-745-7171
Florida Highway Patrol ... 850-245-7700