Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail

 

Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail - also known as LOST - is part of The Florida Trail. Wayne has a goal to hike that entire 1,500 miles. Fortunately, the LOST part of the trail is only about 120 miles. That's do-able, but it will take some time. In order to circumnavigate the lake, the trail is divided into two sections, the east side and the west side. 

Several years ago, Wayne and Michelle hiked the east side, divided into four segments, over four days. We camped in Pahokee and I was the shuttle driver. However, a lot of the dike was under construction at that time, which necessitated road-walking and Wayne felt that was cheating so he determined to do it again. Because we no longer have a shuttle driver at home, we actually walked this part of the trail twice (mileages noted below are just the one-way distance - double them for our total), but we did complete the goal. And it only took eleven days!

map showing road access points around the lake

The original plan was to do this hike during the two weeks the temple was closed for cleaning - Monday through Saturday the first week and Monday through Friday the second week. The blisters we received made us alter our plans! We skipped hiking a couple of days to allow our feet to heal, but we still completed the entire hike in between our assigned temple shifts. Great memories!

Day One - 5.5 miles from John Stretch Park to South Bay Campground

Day Two - 6 miles from South Bay Campground to John Rardin Park

Day Three -6.5 miles from John Rardin Park to Pahokee Marina 

Day Four - 4 miles from Pahokee Marina to Canal Point

Day Five - 6.25 miles from Canal Point to the LOST/NENA Trailhead

Day Six - 4 miles from LOST/NENA Trailhead over Port Myakka Bridge to parking area on north side of St. Lucie Canal

Day Seven - 6 miles from the St. Lucie Canal north towards Chancy Bay

Day Eight - 6.25 miles from Chancey Bay divided between south to St. Lucie Canal and north towards Henry Creek

Day Nine - 6 miles from Henry Creek south towards Chauncey Bay then north all the way to Nubbin Slough

Day Ten - 2.5 miles from Nubbin Slough to Taylor Creek

Day Eleven - 6.5 miles from Okeechobee east to Taylor Creek access then west to the Kissimmee River

We met our goal! 120 miles of dike walk. Someday we'll do the west side, but it won't be anytime soon. Give us time to enjoy our deserved sense of accomplishment for at least a little while.