Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest in Hendry County, Florida

Photograph: Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest.jpg by Richard apple · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Restored from the credited Wikimedia Commons file, normalized to the consistent attraction-card frame and converted to WebP by 1stFlorida.com. Portrait originals retain their complete composition over a softly blurred extension of the same photograph.

Hendry County attraction

Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest

Hendry County · South Florida & the Keys

Thirty-two thousand acres between LaBelle and Immokalee, and one of the last strongholds of the Florida panther.

ABOUT THIS PLACE

Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest covers 32,370 acres between LaBelle and Immokalee, off State Road 29 east of Fort Myers, with headquarters at 6265 Keri Road in Felda. Local people call it OK Slough. The slough is the northernmost rainfall draining into the Big Cypress Swamp, and the forest exists to protect those headwaters south of the Caloosahatchee. This is one of the last strongholds of the Florida panther, an animal that needs about fifty square miles of range to itself, which is why a piece of ground this large matters more than its visitor numbers suggest. Wet and dry seasons here are sharply different and roads close when the water is up in summer. Walking runs from a 0.4-mile boardwalk nature trail out to the 5.6-mile Tram Loop, with the Twin Mills Trail at 2.5 miles and Rooney Island at nearly two. There are over eight miles of horse trail and mountain biking is allowed. Panther Pond primitive campground has 16 sites, one taking a camper and the rest tents only, with vault toilets and picnic tables, plus a remote group camp for up to ten. It opens sunrise to sunset, charges per person, and leashed dogs are welcome. Hunting runs in season

GETTING THERE

Get Directions ↗Official place website ↗

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