PARKS & OUTDOORS
Osceola National Forest
Columbia County · North Florida & First Coast
Florida's smallest national forest, and the one that holds Ocean Pond, Big Gum Swamp and the Olustee battlefield.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
Osceola National Forest covers roughly 190,932 acres between Lake City and Jacksonville, reaching into Columbia, Baker, Bradford and Hamilton counties. President Herbert Hoover proclaimed it a national forest on July 10, 1931, and named it for the Seminole leader Osceola. It is the smallest of Florida's national forests and it is mostly pine flatwoods and cypress-hardwood swamp, with longleaf pine being brought back in places and carnivorous plants growing in the wet ground of Pinhook Swamp. Inside it sit the 13,660-acre Big Gum Swamp Wilderness and the Osceola Research Natural Area, named a National Natural Landmark in December 1974. Black bear, indigo snakes, gopher tortoises, fox squirrels and red-cockaded woodpeckers live here. The Florida National Scenic Trail crosses the forest; Wikipedia puts that section at 28 miles and Florida Hikes at 20, and it carries one of the few camping shelters on the whole trail. Ocean Pond is a 1,760-acre lake with a 67-site campground and a beach. Six primitive hunt camps take tents, and camping away from them is allowed outside deer season. Olustee Battlefield, the site of the largest Civil War battle fought in Florida, lies within the forest and is the oldest piece of public land in the state
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