OTLHT Fundraising Hike

The Florida Trail Association builds, maintains, protects, and promotes the Florida National Scenic Trail (Florida Trail), and a network of hiking trails throughout the state of Florida. Our chapter maintains and promotes a trail winding its way from the Atlantic Ocean at Hobe Sound beach all the way to Lake Okeechobee just south of Canal Point. This trail is known as the Ocean to Lake Hiking Trail (OTLHT).

Over the years our trail has evolved from a loose collection of footpaths and paint marks on trees to a national (and internationally) known destination hike for those who want to experience much of what wild Florida has to offer. As the trail as grown and the number of hikers who visit our trail has increased, the need for better trail conditions, more accessible trailheads and backpacker friendly campsites has as also grown.

So to meet those needs, in addition to cutting and clearing the entire trail, we have constructed multiple boardwalks over routinely flooded areas, improved water crossing areas, and added multiple campsites with fire rings and picnic tables. Planned improvements include additional pitcher pumps for safer water collection and animal resistant food storage solutions.

As you can probably imagine, it takes a lot of material (such as wood for every boardwalk and paint for every blaze) and hardy tools (heavy duty mowers) to maintain a safe and enjoyable trail for the hiking community to utilize. All of these supplies are paid for through member donations or fundraisers. Not surprisingly these resources are not cheap and require their own routine maintenance so they can be ready to use on the trail.

All donations to the OTLHT Hike or to the FTA Loxahatchee Chapter in general go directly to our maintenance fund.

So whether you can come out and join us for a hike or just want to donate what you can towards our efforts to keep these special places accessible to the community, any help is appreciated!