Florida Trail Connector: Blackwater

Official companion app to "The Florida Trail Guide" guidebook by Florida Hikes! A connector to the Florida National Scenic Trail, the Blackwater section takes a blue-blazed branch of the Florida Trail up to the Alabama State Line. It links up with the Alabama Hiking Trail - also part of the greater Eastern Continental Trail - which in turn leads to the Pinhoti Trail and the Appalachian Trail. Traversing Florida's largest state forest, 190,000 acres of pine flatwoods and clayhills along the scenic Blackwater River and its tributaries, this beautiful section of the trail walks you through Atlantic white cedar swamps and hills topped with longleaf pine forests, pitcher plant bogs, and along the scenic shorelines of the river and its tributaries.

Partly established along the route Andrew Jackson took when leading a military raid on Spanish-held Pensacola in 1818, the Florida Trail utilizes parts of three hiking trails to reach Alabama: the Juniper Creek Trail, the Jackson Red Ground Trail, and the Wiregrass Trail. Two trail shelters, a relative rarity along the Florida Trail, are among the many locations where backpackers can camp for the night.