13.1 percent of Florida. The Park Service holds the largest share at 2,491,692 acres, the Forest Service 1,217,769, Defense 521,943, Fish and Wildlife 306,892 and the BLM 2,345
Established October 11, 1974 as the first national preserve in the country. It burns roughly 60,000 acres a year under its own fire programme
A year for a Big Cypress off-road vehicle permit 7
$100
Valid through January 31 of the following year whatever month you buy it. One permit covers one vehicle, and the five classifications are UTV, ATV, swamp buggy, street legal and airboat
Walton County. Our own 3DEP query at the USGS point reads 339 feet. The low point is sea level on the Atlantic
Skills this state tests
Water crossings where you cannot see the bottom, sand driving at low pressure, and reversing a loaded vehicle down a narrow limerock road with a canal on one side. Add winching with no good anchor, because cypress and sand pine are not the trees a recovery textbook assumes.
Some of the curriculum is set by law. Anyone under 16 riding an off-highway vehicle on Florida public land must carry proof of an approved safety course and be supervised, and must wear a DOT helmet, eye protection and over-the-ankle boots. Big Cypress requires every ORV operator to complete its own course and carry the evidence while driving.
Training is the cheapest upgrade there is. It costs less than a bumper, weighs nothing, and works on every vehicle you will ever own.
Common courses
01Driving: line choice, throttle and brake control, airing down, spotting
02Recovery: safe rigging, winching and kinetic recovery
03Field repair: tires, fluids, electrical faults and improvised fixes
04Navigation and communication
05Wilderness first aid
How to choose a course
Small classes and real terrain.
01Ask about class size and how much time you spend driving rather than watching.
02Ask whether you train in your own vehicle. You should.
03Ask about the instructors' certification and how long they have been teaching.
04Ask what terrain the course uses, and what to bring.
Why it is worth it
A trained driver breaks less, gets stuck less and recovers more safely. Most vehicle damage on the trail comes from speed and poor line choice, and most recovery injuries come from rigging that someone guessed at.
Questions people ask
I have driven dirt roads for years. Is a course worth it?
Most experienced drivers say the recovery day alone was worth it. Rigging a winch pull safely is not something to work out for the first time when you are stuck.
Do I need a built vehicle to attend?
No. Most introductory courses are designed for stock four-wheel-drive vehicles, and learning what a stock vehicle can do is the point.
How high is Florida?
From Everglades City at 1 feet to Britton Hill at 345.
Altitude decides what your engine, your brakes and your lungs have to work with, and how late in the year the passes open.
0
Feet above sea level
Towns
BrooksvilleWithlacoochee State Forest headquarters and the Croom Motorcycle Area, the central Florida state forest riding ground. At 207 feet, high by peninsular standards.207 ft
Lake CityWhere I-10 meets I-75 beside the Osceola National Forest, the one Florida forest whose roads open to OHVs carry no permit and no fee.196 ft
BristolApalachicola Ranger District office on SR 20 in Liberty County, where unmaintained system roads marked with a Jeep symbol are open to 4x4 use during hunting season.167 ft
UmatillaSouth gateway to the Ocala National Forest on SR 19 and the address of the Seminole Ranger District office. The highest of the peninsular towns in this guide at 97 feet.97 ft
OcalaWest end of the Florida Black Bear Scenic Byway on SR 40 and the way in to the Ocala National Forest from I-75. The Lake George Ranger District office sits east of town at Silver Springs.70 ft
Salt SpringsOn SR 19 inside the Ocala National Forest. The Salt Springs OHV Connector Trail runs in from the southeast corner of the Longleaf Trail.34 ft
ImmokaleeThe nearest town of any size to the Bear Island Unit, which is the one part of Big Cypress a street-legal 4x4 may drive. North on SR 29 from the Tamiami Trail.34 ft
CrawfordvilleWakulla Ranger District office for the Apalachicola National Forest. The Leon County OHV trails and the Silver Lake trailhead are the reason to be here.29 ft
CarrabelleTate’s Hell State Forest headquarters, at the coastal end of the Big Bend Scenic Byway. Over 150 miles of OHV trail start from the forest roads north of town.23 ft
PalatkaNorth of the Ocala National Forest near the Rodman Reservoir, where the Rodman trailhead gives northern access to the Ocala North OHV system.20 ft
Daytona BeachVolusia County beach driving, at 10 mph and by pass, and the east end of the Florida Black Bear Scenic Byway corridor at Ormond Beach.14 ft
HomesteadMain entrance to Everglades National Park on SR 9336, with Flamingo 38 miles further south, and the mainland address for Biscayne National Park.8 ft
AstorOn the St. Johns River where SR 40 leaves the Ocala National Forest. A river crossing rather than a services town, at 4 feet above sea level.4 ft
NaplesLast city services on the west side before US 41 crosses the swamp. Tyres, fuel and a dealer network within reach of the preserve.4 ft
OchopeeOn the Tamiami Trail at the heart of Big Cypress. The preserve’s headquarters address, and the Loop Road and the Turner River loop both leave the highway within a few miles.4 ft
Everglades CityThe Gulf Coast entrance to Everglades National Park, on the water at the end of SR 29. The lowest town in this guide by the USGS measurement.1 ft
Passes, high roads and summits
Britton HillThe highest point in Florida, in Walton County in the western panhandle. Our own 3DEP query at the USGS point reads 339 feet345 ft
Sugarloaf MountainLake County, on the Lake Wales Ridge north of Clermont. Measured for this chart from the 3DEP surface; no agency publishes a figure for it309 ft
Pass, road and summit elevations are the figures published by the agency that manages them. Town elevations are the town’s or county’s own
figure where it publishes an exact one; the rest are from the U.S. Geological Survey (3D Elevation Program at the place’s official coordinates),
retrieved September 18, 2026. Every source is listed at the foot of the page.
