The permit that makes this state worth the drive
Big Cypress was set aside on October 11, 1974 as the first national preserve in the country, and the word preserve is doing real work. The Park Service says outright that it manages for a diversity of activities that national parks typically do not allow, and driving off the road is one of them. Its own framing is that off-road vehicle operation on designated trails gives access to hunting, fishing, frogging, camping, wildlife observation and transportation to private property, which is a list of traditional uses rather than a recreation menu.
The permit is bought on Recreation.gov or at the off-road vehicle office inside the Nathaniel P. Reed Visitor Center, or over the phone. It is $100, it runs to January 31 of the following year no matter when you buy it, and it is tied to one vehicle and one person: not transferable to another vehicle owned by the same family, and only the registered person may renew it. The sticker goes in a place the compendium names for each vehicle type, which for a street-legal 4x4 is the driver side of the windshield or the driver side front bumper.
Two other documents travel with it. Every operator must complete a vehicle operator course the Park Service offers and carry the evidence, and every operator must hold a state driver licence or learner permit that covers the type of machine being driven. Anyone who did not buy the permit on Recreation.gov but wants to drive must still watch the educational video, obtain an operator licence, fill in the form and keep a paper copy in hand. Inspection is by self-certification: buying the permit is your statement that the vehicle complies, and you consent to being checked by law enforcement at any time.
Drive only on open designated trails, enter and leave only at the named access points, close and lock the gates behind you, and stay off between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Unless a sign says otherwise the speed limit on an ORV trail is 15 mph, and 30 mph on the Zone 4 airboat trails. Racing, mudding, sport riding and motocross are specifically named as inconsistent with the preserve legislation and can cost you your access.
Source 6
Five vehicle types, and the numbers each one has to meet
The compendium defines an off-road vehicle in Big Cypress as an all-terrain vehicle, swamp buggy, airboat, street-legal 4x4 or utility task vehicle that meets a published specification, and the specifications are unusually exact. A street-legal vehicle is one currently registered, inspected and insured for public roads, and it must be four-wheel-drive capable to be permitted on a designated trail. An ATV is 55 inches or less in width, 1,500 pounds or less dry, with at least 7 inches of tread face on the front tyres and 9 on the rear, and it too must be 4x4 capable.
A utility task vehicle is 66 inches or less wide, 2,500 pounds or less dry, side by side with a steering wheel, 9 inches of tread face on all tyres and a rim diameter of 15 inches or less. A swamp buggy is the local machine: not registered and therefore not road legal, four or more tyres, no skid steering, four-wheel drive, no more than 8 feet wide including the tyres, under 6,000 pounds gross, and 9 inches of tread face all round. Tread face is defined and the measuring method is specified, down to using a flexible tape that follows the curve of the tyre.
Three prohibitions apply to everything. A working muffler is required. No tyre chain, bar grip or similar device may be fitted to a tyre in any way. Tracked vehicles are out, and so are campers and trailers on ORV trails unless a special use permit says otherwise. Between half an hour after sunset and half an hour before sunrise a wheeled ORV must show a white headlight forward and a red taillight behind, each visible at 500 feet.
Which units take which vehicle is the question a truck owner should ask first. Bear Island takes swamp buggies, ATVs, street-legal 4x4s and UTVs, entering at Peroocchi Grade or the Ridge Trail. Turner River and Corn Dance take swamp buggies, ATVs and UTVs. Stairsteps Zones 2 and 3 take the same three. Zone 4 is airboat only, on trails defined as 100 feet wide, 50 feet either side of the marked centre line. The Addition Lands and Stairsteps Zone 1 are closed to motor vehicles altogether.
Source 6
Who owns the rest of Florida
The Congressional Research Service puts federal ownership in Florida at 4,540,641 acres out of 34,721,280, which is 13.1 percent. The split is unusual for the southeast: the National Park Service is the largest federal landowner in the state at 2,491,692 acres, ahead of the Forest Service at 1,217,769, the Department of Defense at 521,943 and the Fish and Wildlife Service at 306,892. The BLM row reads 2,345 acres, and the national route layer this site uses for motorised mileage holds no Florida records at all, so no BLM figure appears anywhere on this page.
Park Service ground dominates because of scale: Everglades National Park alone is 1,509,000 acres across Miami-Dade, Monroe and Collier counties, and Big Cypress adds 729,000. Neither is ordinary driving country. Everglades has three entrances that do not interconnect and are each at least an hour apart. Biscayne, the third park in the corner, is 95 percent water. What a vehicle actually gets in south Florida is a handful of long, specific roads and the Big Cypress trail system.
The state is the other landlord that matters. The Florida Forest Service manages 38 state forests and one ranch totalling over 1,236,322 acres, more state forest acreage than federal forest acreage. Tate’s Hell holds 212,645 acres, Blackwater River 219,077 and Withlacoochee 164,073. The five water management districts hold a great deal more, and the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission runs the wildlife management areas that overlay much of the federal and state ground, including the one inside Big Cypress.
Source 1
Three national forests, and the word mixed use
The National Forests in Florida run the Apalachicola, the Osceola and the Ocala, and the office speaks for all three from Tallahassee. Combined they span almost 1.2 million acres, about 500,000 of it wetland, with more than 85,000 acres of designated federal wilderness, 1,400 miles of trail and 118 developed recreation sites. The Apalachicola is the largest at 567,742 acres and the youngest, established in 1932. The Osceola covers 229,185 acres of wetland and pine flatwoods. The Ocala, signed into existence in 1908, protects the world’s largest contiguous sand pine scrub.
The forests describe nearly 300 miles of OHV trail and invite motorcycles, ATVs, UTVs and full-size vehicles, but the invitation is sorted by trail. On the Ocala North system, 125 miles of trail break down as a 14-mile motorcycle-only trail, 35 miles for machines under 50 inches wide, and 76 miles classified as mixed use, which the forest defines as OHVs sharing the trail with licensed vehicles. The named pieces are Delancy Loops at 16 miles, Hog Valley at 13, Longleaf at 25, the Motorcycle Loop at 14, Pipeline at 19, Tobacco Patch at 18 and another 20 miles besides. The separate Ocala Centennial Trail is a 47-mile loop system, open to unlicensed vehicles under 65 inches, with a 20 mph limit.
On the Apalachicola the sorting is done by post colour and county, and the forest publishes the key. Numbered roads are open to licensed vehicles only, with no OHVs except on mixed-use roads. Unnumbered roads are not open to motor vehicle use at all, licensed or not. In Liberty County a brown fibreglass post carrying a three-digit number and a Jeep symbol marks an unmaintained system road for 4x4 and ATV use during hunting season, and no permit is required for those. In Leon County the mixed-use roads carry yellow or white posts, a three-digit number and a Jeep symbol, and a 30 mph limit; the OHV trails themselves are Leon County only, 55 miles of yellow trail for ATVs, ROVs and motorcycles and 56 miles of white trail for motorcycles alone.
Passes are per person, not per machine: $10 for three days, $25 for seven and $75 for a year on the Apalachicola and Ocala. Roads open to OHVs on the Osceola need no permit and cost nothing. Forest Service approved spark arresters are required, riders must carry a Florida OHV registration or, from out of state, proof of ownership, and the forests ask that tread depth be kept to a maximum of one inch.
Source 24
Wet season, dry season, and what water does to a road
Florida runs on two seasons and the agencies both name them. Big Cypress calls May through October the rainy season, with daily afternoon thunderstorms, humidity and temperatures in the mid to high 90s, and November through April the dry season, when falling water concentrates wildlife and the crowds arrive. Everglades describes the same months as hot and humid with average highs near 90, humidity over 90 percent and a heat index over 100. The National Weather Service office at Tampa Bay puts dates on it: the rainy season runs May 15 to October 15 for southwest Florida and May 25 to October 10 for the rest of west central Florida.
The dry season is not dry in the way a westerner would mean it. Big Cypress states plainly that dry season means little to no rain rather than no water, that the swamp takes months to draw down, and that a visitor in November through March should still expect to walk through water. That is the condition that governs a road here. Ground water comes up through the limestone instead of running off it, so a track can be firm in March and under a foot of water in August without a cloud in sight.
The surfaces themselves are sand and limerock rather than rock and gravel, and they behave differently. Big Cypress says its staff work hard to keep the 24-mile Loop Road in shape but that conditions change almost daily with rain and wind, that the road is rarely underwater and often full of potholes, and that parts should be taken slowly to protect the vehicle. The Ocala runs on deep sand over scrub. The Apalachicola marks its rough county roads for hunting season use precisely because they are not maintained the rest of the year.
The other weather item is fire, which here is a management tool rather than an emergency. Big Cypress runs one of the largest fire programmes in the National Park System and burns roughly 60,000 acres a year. The Ocala and its neighbours post fire restrictions as forest supervisor orders under their alerts page, so check that page for the forest you are entering rather than assuming a statewide stage.
Source 53
Where a vehicle may legally go on state and district land
Each landholder publishes its own sentence and they do not say the same thing. On a state forest, Chapter 5I-4 of the Florida Administrative Code applies: drive on designated roads only, 30 mph on all state forest roads unless posted otherwise, and do not obstruct roads, gates or fire lines. Day use runs sunrise to sunset. A day pass is $2 and an annual pass is $45 for up to six people, and both are bought online rather than at the forest office.
Off-highway machines are prohibited on state forests except in the designated riding areas at Tate’s Hell, Withlacoochee and Blackwater River. Tate’s Hell offers more than 150 miles of designated trail on existing forest roads to off-highway motorcycles, ATVs and recreational off-highway vehicles, and it was the first system built under the T. Mark Schmidt Act of 2002. Croom Motorcycle Area in the Withlacoochee sets aside over 2,600 acres for OHVs. Clear Creek does the same job in the Blackwater. Each charges $15 a day or roughly $80 a year on top of the ordinary forest pass.
Wildlife management areas are stricter. Under Chapter 68A-15 no motor vehicle may be operated on any part of a WMA that area regulations close to vehicular traffic or that is temporarily closed for weather, road conditions, management work or wildlife surveys, and two-wheeled motor-powered vehicles and ATVs are barred from any road or trail not open to other vehicles unless a specific area rule says otherwise. Area rule after area rule then repeats the same three requirements: vehicles on named or numbered roads only, parking within 25 feet of one, and no tracked vehicles, airboats, ATVs or unregistered motorcycles.
Water management district land is stricter again. The South Florida district prohibits the operation of licensed and unlicensed vehicles, swamp buggies, tracked vehicles, off-road all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles and golf carts on district lands except that licensed vehicles may use designated roads open to the public, or where the district has affirmatively opened a road or parking area, or under a special use licence. Where no speed limit is posted it is 20 mph. The St. Johns River district describes access to most of its conservation areas as non-motorised, with limited vehicular access at a named handful of properties, and lists off-road vehicles among what is not allowed.
Source 36
Beach driving belongs to the county
No state agency licenses driving on a Florida beach. Where it happens it is a local government that runs it, and Volusia County is the one that publishes the fullest rulebook. Driving and parking on the beach are permitted in designated areas, the speed limit is 10 mph and strictly enforced with fines from $116, headlights must be on and at least one front window fully open, and texting while driving is prohibited on the sand as on the road.
The conservation zone is the line that matters. Driving or parking inside it is prohibited, vehicles must park on the seaward side of it, and the markers are the boundary you are being asked to read. Three beachfront parks carry parking restrictions of their own, at Daytona Beach, Daytona Beach Shores and New Smyrna Beach.
Access is sold by the year or the day. The county council waived beach driving fees for residents, who register once for a free combination pass. A visitor pays $150 for an annual beach driving pass or $30 for the day, with off-beach parking priced separately at $100 a year or $20 a day.
Elsewhere on the coast the answer is usually no. Canaveral National Seashore and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge offer driving on roads rather than sand: the refuge’s Black Point Wildlife Drive is a 7-mile auto tour and Bio Lab Road is a dike road, and both sit behind a refuge pass. Refuge roads are open sunrise to sunset, and NASA may close them during launch operations at the Kennedy Space Center.
Source 50
Passes and routes
-
Bear Island Unit ORV trails, Big Cypress
21 miles of primary travel routes
Access points at Peroocchi Grade and the Ridge Trail, north of I-75 off SR 29
The one place in Florida where a registered, insured, road-legal four-wheel drive may leave the road with a federal agency’s permission. The unit sits in the northwest corner of the preserve between the Hendry county line and I-75. Permitted vehicles must enter and depart at the two designated access points, and the trail map counts 21 miles of primary travel routes. Every secondary trail in the preserve remains closed pending environmental review under a settlement agreement. 10
- Vehicle
- Swamp buggy, ATV, UTV or street-legal 4x4, all of them four-wheel-drive capable. $100 annual permit, operator course and driver licence
- Season
- Open 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Seasonal, hydrologic, species and safety closures are announced by superintendent order
-
Turner River Unit ORV trails, Big Cypress
126 miles of primary trails
Seven access points including Turner River North, Burns Lake, Skillet Strand North and Oasis
The largest published trail network in the preserve and the reason swamp buggies exist. The unit runs from I-75 south to the Tamiami Trail between Turner River Road and the Florida Trail. The map is dated August 2014 and states that following a 60-day recreational ORV closure only the designated primary trails in the backcountry are open, with all secondary trails closed on an interim basis. 11
- Vehicle
- Swamp buggy, ATV or UTV only. No street-legal 4x4 in this unit
- Season
- Open 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., subject to superintendent closures
-
Corn Dance Unit ORV trails, Big Cypress
65 miles of primary trails
Access at Oasis and at the Jetport
East of Turner River, bounded by the Broward and Miami-Dade county lines, the Tamiami Trail and the Florida Trail. The unit is reached from the Oasis Visitor Center or from the old jetport site, and like the rest of the preserve its secondary trail intersections are marked on the map but closed. A sliver of the unit lies in Miami-Dade County. 12
- Vehicle
- Swamp buggy, ATV or UTV only
- Season
- Open 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., subject to superintendent closures
-
Loop Road, County Road 94
24 miles
Monroe Station on US 41 to the Tamiami Trail around mile marker 40
The classic Big Cypress drive and the one that needs no permit. The first 16 miles are gravel and the road stays mostly unpaved for its length, crossing Collier, Monroe and Miami-Dade counties through cypress swamp that floods in the wet season and mostly dries in winter. The Park Service warns of potholes and washboard and asks drivers to check current conditions. The speed limit is 25 mph on the unpaved sections, 30 on the paved and 15 in the curves. The preserve’s conditions page calls the same road 23 miles. 15
- Vehicle
- Passable by nearly all street-legal vehicles. Larger vehicles may have difficulty
- Season
- Year-round. Conditions change almost daily with rain and wind
-
Turner River, Upper Wagonwheel and Birdon Roads Loop
17 miles
A loop north from the Tamiami Trail east of Ochopee
Built in the 1950s by borrowing material from beside the roadbed, which is why a canal mirrors the road the whole way. The loop crosses open wet prairie and wading bird feeding grounds, and in the drier months the canals hold the wildlife that the prairie loses. The preserve calls it the alternative for drivers who do not want to commit a vehicle to the Loop Road. 14
- Vehicle
- Passable for all vehicle types
- Season
- Year-round. Almost always in good condition
-
Main Park Road, Everglades National ParkPaved
38 miles from the Homestead entrance to Flamingo
SR 9336 at Homestead to the Flamingo Visitor Center on Florida Bay
The one long drive inside the largest national park east of the Mississippi, through 1,509,000 acres of wetland, forest and marine habitat. The Park Service warns that shoulders are narrow, that parking is in individual areas at the trails and waysides, and that the maximum speed is 45 to 55 mph in most places. Flamingo Campground at the end has 234 drive-up sites, 41 of them with electric hookups, and Long Pine Key near the entrance has 108. Nine Mile Pond on this road is the dividing line between fresh and salt water for fishing licences. 17
- Vehicle
- Any car. Park entrance fee applies
- Season
- Year-round. Busiest on winter weekends
-
Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge
7 miles
Off SR 406 north of Titusville, inside the refuge overlay on the Kennedy Space Center
A 7-mile auto tour through managed impoundments on a 140,000-acre refuge established in 1963 for migratory birds. It is the refuge’s most popular wildlife viewing area, and the dike roads around it, including Bio Lab Road, carry the same kind of driving. The refuge covers coastal dune, saltwater marsh, scrub, pine flatwoods and hardwood hammock and holds more than 1,500 species of plants and animals. 21
- Vehicle
- Any car. A refuge pass is required, with fee envelopes at the entrance when the visitor centre is shut
- Season
- Open sunrise to sunset year-round. NASA may restrict access during launch operations
-
Ocala North OHV Trail System
125 miles, of which 76 are mixed use
Trailheads at Delancy Loops and Pipeline on SR 19 and SR 316, Delancy West and the Motorcycle Loop on FR 66, Rodman past the Kirkpatrick Dam, and the OHV Center on FR 11
The largest motorised network in the Florida forests and the only substantial mileage in the state where a licensed vehicle and an OHV legally share a trail. The forest breaks the 125 miles into a 14-mile motorcycle-only trail, 35 miles for machines under 50 inches, and 76 miles of mixed use. Named pieces are Delancy Loops at 16 miles, Hog Valley at 13, Longleaf at 25, the Motorcycle Loop at 14, Pipeline at 19, Tobacco Patch at 18, and 20 miles of other trail. OHV camping is permitted at the Delancy West trailhead. 29
- Vehicle
- Mixed-use miles are shared with licensed vehicles. The rest is 50 inches or less. Pass required: $10 for three days, $25 for seven, $75 a year
- Season
- Open year-round; individual trails close temporarily
-
Ocala Centennial OHV Trail
47 miles
Centennial Trailhead for northern access, with parking corrals at Blue Sink and Big Scrub Campground
Dedicated in 2008 for the Forest Service centennial, a loop system through the Big Scrub in the heart of what the agency calls the Ancient Island Scrub, the largest contiguous sand pine scrub in the world. The 47 miles are reached from Big Scrub Campground, a 47-site campground popular with riders, and from the Centennial Trailhead. ATVs are required to stay on their own trails, and the trailhead kiosks carry the instructions. 30
- Vehicle
- Unlicensed vehicles less than 65 inches wide. 20 mph speed limit, enforced
- Season
- Open year-round. Expect full recreation sites at weekends
-
Apalachicola OHV trails and Jeep roads
55 miles of yellow trail and 56 miles of white trail, both in Leon County
Silver Lake OHV Trailhead inside the Silver Lake Recreation Area, west of Tallahassee
The Apalachicola sorts its ground by post colour, and the system is worth learning before you arrive. Numbered roads are open to licensed vehicles only, unnumbered roads are open to no motor vehicle, and mixed-use roads take both. In Liberty County a brown fibreglass post with a three-digit number and a Jeep symbol marks an unmaintained system road for 4x4 and ATV use during hunting season, with no permit required. In Leon County the mixed-use roads carry yellow or white posts, a three-digit number and the same Jeep symbol, at 30 mph, and mixed use is allowed only between sections of OHV trail rather than for the full length of a road. 31
- Vehicle
- Yellow trails take ATVs, ROVs and motorcycles; white trails take motorcycles only. Pass required. Liberty County Jeep roads need no permit
- Season
- Operational hours 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in summer and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in winter
-
Florida Black Bear Scenic BywayPaved
More than 60 miles
Silver Springs in Marion County east on SR 40 to I-95 at Ormond Beach, with SR 19 north and south
A National Scenic Byway and one of 27 designated Florida Scenic Highways, running SR 40 through the middle of the Ocala National Forest and taking in the Juniper Springs wilderness, Silver Springs State Park, the Cross Florida Greenway, the Florida National Scenic Trail and Tiger Bay State Forest. It crosses the St. Johns, an American Heritage River, and the Ocklawaha. The designation dates from February 20, 2008 and includes SR 19 from Putnam County south into Lake County, plus CR 445 to Altoona and Alexander Springs. 32
- Vehicle
- Any car
- Season
- Open year-round
-
Apalachee Savannahs Scenic BywayPaved
32 miles
SR 12 nine miles south of Bristol, onto SR 379 through Sumatra, then SR 65 to the southern tip of the forest
A drive through sub-tropical grassland scattered with longleaf pine, over flat to gently rolling ground, past cypress swamps, magnolia bays, creeks, sloughs and oak hammocks. The savannahs hold water for much of the year and carry pitcher plants, sundews and wild orchids, which the Forest Service calls some of the most botanically rich country in the United States. Prospect Bluff sits near the southern end. 34
- Vehicle
- Any car
- Season
- Open 24 hours. Free
-
Big Bend Scenic BywayPaved
Over 200 miles
A Forest Trail and a Coastal Trail, starting outside the Apalachicola National Forest at the Tallahassee airport
A National Scenic Byway in two halves. The Forest Trail runs through pine forest, hardwood hammock, savannah, streams and rivers; the Coastal Trail through salt marsh, bays, dunes and beaches. Between them they touch two national wildlife refuges, the state’s largest national forest, two state forests, a state wildlife and environmental area and six state parks, which makes it the simplest way to string together the panhandle public land on pavement. 33
- Vehicle
- Any car
- Season
- Open year-round
-
Tate’s Hell State Forest OHV Trail System
More than 150 miles
Forest roads across 212,645 acres in Franklin and Liberty counties, north of Carrabelle
Built in 2005 in cooperation with Franklin County, the first trail system developed under the T. Mark Schmidt Off-Highway Vehicle Safety and Recreation Act of 2002. The trails use existing forest roads through cypress and titi swamp, blackwater rivers and pine flatwoods, on ground whose hydrology was rebuilt for pine plantation in the 1960s and 1970s and is now being restored. The County Line OHV Campground off SR 67 is a primitive camping area with a vaulted restroom serving three large campsites. 39
- Vehicle
- Off-highway motorcycles, ATVs and recreational off-highway vehicles. $15 for three days or $80 a year, plus the $2 state forest day pass
- Season
- Day use sunrise to sunset
-
Croom Motorcycle Area, Withlacoochee State Forest
Over 2,600 acres set aside for OHVs
The Croom tract off US 41 north of Brooksville, about 50 miles north of Tampa
The central Florida riding ground, inside a 164,073-acre state forest spread across Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Pasco and Sumter counties. Unlike the trail systems elsewhere in the state this is an area rather than a line, on old phosphate mine ground at Buttgenbach Mine, with its own campground. The Florida Forest Service requires titled vehicles only and mufflers to the Florida Highway Patrol standard. 40
- Vehicle
- Titled machines only, with a permit displayed on the front. $15 a day or $80.01 a year, plus the state forest pass
- Season
- Day use sunrise to sunset
-
Volusia County beach driving
Designated areas of the Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach coast
Marked beach approaches between Ormond Beach and New Smyrna Beach
The best documented beach driving in the state and a county programme rather than a state or federal one. Driving and parking are permitted only in designated areas and only seaward of the conservation zone, whose markers may not be crossed. The 10 mph limit is strictly enforced with fines from $116, texting while driving is prohibited, and alcohol and glass are not allowed. Three beachfront parks carry their own parking restrictions. 50
- Vehicle
- 10 mph, headlights on, one front window fully open. $150 a year or $30 a day for a visitor; free to registered county residents
- Season
- Year-round in designated areas
Rules worth knowing
- The ORV trails are open between five in the morning and ten at night
- Big Cypress states that all off-road vehicle use requires a permit, that every vehicle must meet the inspection requirements in the superintendent’s compendium and that you are responsible for carrying out your own inspection, that you stay on designated trails, and that you enter them only by the designated gates. The trails are open between 05:00 and 22:00. Those hours are the detail most often missed: a permit is not a right of entry at dawn or after dark. 5
- Every secondary trail in the preserve is closed
- Under a settlement agreement with plaintiffs over the designation of secondary off-road vehicle trails, the Park Service will leave all secondary trails closed until further environmental review and analysis is complete. Maps and older trip reports still show them. Plan on the primary network only, and treat anything else as closed whatever the ground looks like. 9
- Two roads in Big Cypress, described by the preserve itself
- The preserve grades its own gravel. Of the 23-mile Loop Road it says conditions change almost every day with rain and wind, that it often has potholes, and to take parts of it slowly to protect your vehicle. Of the 17-mile Birdon, Upper Wagon Wheel and Turner loop it says the road is almost always in good condition with maybe a few potholes and is passable for all vehicle types. In the rainy season, May to October, expect daily afternoon thunderstorms, high humidity and temperatures in the mid to high nineties. 13
- The Everglades entrances are an hour apart from each other
- The park has three entrances in three different cities, and the Park Service states that each of them and the interior Flamingo visitor centre are at least an hour’s drive apart. There is no public transport inside the park. The main park road from the Homestead entrance has narrow shoulders and pull-offs with a maximum speed limit of 45 to 55 miles an hour in most places. On winter weekends the Homestead and Shark Valley entrances become extremely congested, and the park suggests weekdays, arriving before 10 a.m., and sharing a vehicle. 16
- The wet season runs May through November, and it closes things
- Everglades National Park gives its wet season as May through November, with afternoon thunderstorms expected daily and heavy rainfall that typically subsides quickly. Mosquitoes and biting flies can be profuse enough to make being outside uncomfortable without repellent or netting, some facilities may be closed or not fully operational, and ranger programmes and tours are more limited. It is the cheapest and emptiest half of the year here, and the one that asks the most of a traveller. 18
- Biscayne is 95 percent water
- The Park Service states that Biscayne National Park is 95 percent water. It is a national park a vehicle can reach the edge of and nothing more, which is worth knowing before routing a day around it: the park is a boat trip, and the shore is the car park. 19
- Merritt Island is 140,000 acres and its drive takes a pass
- The refuge consists of 140,000 acres of varied habitat on the Atlantic coast, and a refuge pass is required to enter the Black Point Wildlife Drive. The fees collected go back into visitor facilities. It is the most accessible wildlife driving in the state and it sits beside the Kennedy Space Center, which closes parts of the refuge on launch days. 20
- The three forests, and the two acreages published
- The National Forests in Florida are the Ocala, the Osceola and the Apalachicola. The Forest Service publishes 567,742 acres for the Apalachicola, which it calls the state’s largest forest, and 229,185 acres of wetland and pine flatwoods for the Osceola, and gives no acreage for the Ocala on that page. The Florida National Scenic Trail came under Forest Service management in 1983. 23
- The Ocala holds more than 600 lakes and rivers
- The Forest Service describes the Ocala as having more than 600 lakes and rivers, with springs, migratory birds and some of the world’s rarest plants. It is the forest closest to central Florida’s cities and the one whose OHV systems fill first, and its camping runs under the same fourteen-day rule as the rest. 28
- Dispersed camping: 100 feet from water, and previously used ground
- On the national forests in Florida the stay limit is generally 14 days a month. Dispersed camping is not allowed less than 100 feet from streams and other water sources, nor in the vicinity of developed recreation areas, and during general gun season camping is allowed only at designated campsites. The forests ask that you pick a site someone has used before, because plants, soil and wildlife pay for a new one, and that human and pet waste is buried at least six inches down and 100 feet from water. A party of more than 75 needs a special use permit from the nearest forest office. 25
- One motor vehicle use map per forest
- The Forest Service publishes a separate motor vehicle use map for the Apalachicola, the Ocala and the Osceola, distributed through the Avenza store. Each is the legal record of what is open to a vehicle on that forest, and there is no combined Florida map: the forest you are on decides which document governs you. 27
- Thirty-eight state forests, over 1.2 million acres
- The Florida Forest Service manages 38 state forests and one ranch totalling over 1,236,322 acres, with a stated mission of protecting the forests’ biological diversity while integrating public use. That is more ground than the three national forests hold between them, and it is the system most Florida trips actually use. 35
- Three state forest OHV areas, and a day-use pass for each
- The Florida Forest Service runs off-highway vehicle trails at three places: the Croom Motorcycle Area in the Withlacoochee State Forest, the Clear Creek area in the Blackwater River State Forest and the trail system at Tate’s Hell. Off-highway vehicles there means off-highway motorcycles and recreational off-highway and all-terrain vehicles. A day-use pass is required, and the rules are to stay on designated trails, keep out of closed areas and off private property, and follow the applicable law. 37
- Tate’s Hell is 212,645 acres with camping on the riverbanks
- The forest lies in Franklin County between the Apalachicola and Ochlockonee rivers, reaching into southeast Liberty County, south of the Apalachicola National Forest and a mile and a half northwest of Carrabelle. Primitive campsites are dispersed through it, most on riverbanks with paddle access. A day pass is two dollars and an annual pass 45, with the OHV trail system charging 15 a day or 80 a year. Day use runs sunrise to sunset. 38
- Blackwater River is 219,077 acres in the panhandle
- The forest sits northeast of Pensacola in Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties, 20 miles north of Milton on State Road 191. Its Clear Creek OHV area costs 15 dollars a day, and the state forest day pass is two dollars with an annual at 45. Day use is sunrise to sunset, and every horse on any Florida state forest needs proof of a current negative Coggins test. 41
- Water management district land is open, and closed to vehicles
- The St. Johns River Water Management District opens its lands year round, 24 hours a day unless otherwise noted, for non-motorised access: hiking, cycling, horses and primitive tent camping with no RVs. Motor vehicles are prohibited and off-road vehicles are named as not allowed, with limited vehicular access at particular properties only. Drones need written permission. It is a large part of the green on a Florida map and almost none of it is drivable. 46
- Volusia County sells beach driving by the day or the year
- Driving and parking on the beach are permitted in designated areas of Volusia County, at 30 dollars a day or 150 a year for a visitor, free for residents with registration and for people with disabilities. Vehicles park on the seaward side of the conservation zone and never beyond its markers, facing the ocean or backing towards the dunes, with headlights on and at least one front window open. The posted speed limit applies. 49
- Twenty-seven scenic highways, two of them All-American Roads
- Florida designates 27 scenic highways: two All-American Roads, the A1A Scenic and Historic Coastal Byway and the Florida Keys Scenic Highway; six National Scenic Byways, the Big Bend, the Florida Black Bear, the Indian River Lagoon, the Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail, the River of Lakes Heritage Corridor and Scenic Highway 30A; and nineteen designated by the state programme alone. Designation is about recognition and corridor protection rather than surface or season. 54
- A Big Cypress permit is one vehicle, one person, one year
- Recreational off-road vehicle use in the preserve requires a permit issued by the Park Service. It costs $100, runs from January 1 through January 31 of the following year, and the thirteenth month is a deliberate grace period in case a random drawing is needed. No more than 2,000 recreational permits may be issued in a year, and if the ceiling is reached for an area a lottery decides the next year’s issue. Permits are not transferable to another vehicle owned by the same person or family, or to another owner, and only the registered person may renew. Landowners, lessees and their guests use a special use permit instead, obtained from the preserve by email, which names a route and a vehicle type and does not cover recreation or hunting. 6
- Camping in Big Cypress: 14 days, 30 days, 120 days
- Frontcountry camping is at designated sites only, with check-in after 1 p.m., check-out before noon, quiet hours from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., six people per site, one RV and one tent or two tents, and two vehicles; off-road vehicles are not counted as vehicles for that limit. RV camping is allowed at Bear Island, Monument Lake, Burns Lake, Midway, Mitchell’s Landing and Pinecrest Group. ORV use inside frontcountry campgrounds is prohibited except at Bear Island and Burns Lake to reach the trailheads. No party may camp anywhere in the preserve for more than 120 days in a calendar year, more than 14 consecutive days in a designated campground, or, outside hunting seasons, more than 14 days in 30 in the backcountry. 6
- Fourteen days in thirty on the national forests, and none in deer season
- Forest-wide order 08-05-FL-13-01, signed February 3, 2014 and still in force across the Apalachicola, Ocala and Osceola, prohibits camping or maintaining a campsite for more than 14 days in any 30-day period unless a site is posted otherwise. The same order prohibits camping from one day prior to the state designated season for taking deer with modern firearms until the end of that season, except at developed recreation sites and designated hunt camps, and holds a developed campsite to five people. The forests add that dispersed camping is not allowed near developed recreation areas or within 100 feet of streams and other water sources, and that groups over 75 need a special use permit. 26
- Cross-country travel is illegal in every Florida national forest
- The Florida Forest Service and the national forests publish the same three-line summary in the state OHV guidebook. Cross-country travel is prohibited with motorised vehicles or bicycles throughout the national forests. Within restricted areas, travel by motorised vehicles and bicycles is permitted only on open numbered roads and designated trails specified for their use. And operating a motorised vehicle, licensed or unlicensed, from an hour and a half after sunset to an hour and a half before sunrise is limited to designated numbered roads only. The forests publish a Motor Vehicle Use Map for the Apalachicola, the Ocala and the Osceola, and those maps, not the look of the road, decide where you may drive. 42
- Florida titles off-highway vehicles, and a plated truck is not one
- Section 317.0002 states the legislature’s intent that all off-highway vehicles purchased after the act and all off-highway vehicles operated on public lands be titled, so that ownership can be determined. Chapter 317 defines an off-highway vehicle as an ATV, two-rider ATV, ROV or off-highway motorcycle used off the roads of the state and not registered and licensed for highway use under Chapter 320. A road-registered four-wheel drive is therefore none of those things and needs no OHV title; what it needs is the permission of whoever manages the land. The forests require riders to carry a Florida OHV registration, or proof of ownership if they hold no Florida title. 43
- An ATV may not be driven on a Florida road
- Section 316.2074(5) says that except as provided in that section an all-terrain vehicle may not be operated upon the public roads, streets or highways of this state, except as otherwise permitted by the managing state or federal agency. That last clause is what lets Big Cypress and the forests open specific routes. The same section defines an ATV as 55 inches or less wide with a dry weight of 1,500 pounds or less, requires a DOT helmet and eye protection for anyone under 16, and makes a violation a non-criminal traffic infraction. 42
- Riding on public land: courses, spark arresters and a noise limit
- Section 261.20 applies to off-highway vehicles on public lands. An operator under 16 must be supervised by an adult and must carry a certificate showing completion of an approved safety course, with a 30-day exemption for non-residents. The machine must have a Forest Service approved spark arrester, a braking system and a muffler, all working. Exhaust noise may not exceed 96 decibels A-weighted for vehicles built after January 1, 1986 or 99 for older ones, measured at 20 inches by the SAE J-1287 procedure. Lights are required between sunset and sunrise and whenever rain, smoke or smog cuts visibility. A first violation carries a fine of not less than $100 and can cost the privilege of riding on public land. 42
- State forests: designated roads, 30 mph, and three riding areas
- Chapter 5I-4 of the Florida Administrative Code governs the 38 state forests and one ranch, over 1,236,322 acres in all. Drive on designated roads only. The speed limit on every state forest road is 30 mph unless posted otherwise. Do not obstruct roads, gates or fire lines. Day use is sunrise to sunset, a day pass is $2 and an annual pass is $45 for up to six people, and passes are no longer sold at forest offices. Off-highway motorcycles, ATVs and recreational off-highway vehicles are prohibited on state forests except in the designated riding areas at Tate’s Hell, Withlacoochee and Blackwater River, each of which charges its own OHV fee on top. 36
- Wildlife management areas: named and numbered roads only
- Chapter 68A-15 bars any motor vehicle from a part of a wildlife management area that area regulations close to vehicular traffic, or that is temporarily closed by administrative action for inclement weather, poor road conditions, construction, management work or wildlife surveys. Two-wheeled motor-powered vehicles and ATVs are prohibited on any road or trail not open to or used by other vehicles unless a specific area rule allows it. Area rules then repeat a consistent pattern: motorised vehicles on named or numbered roads only, parking within 25 feet of a road or in designated areas, and no tracked vehicles, airboats, ATVs or unlicensed and unregistered motorcycles. Camping during an open season is limited to designated campsites unless a special area rule says otherwise. 44
- Water management district land is not open country
- Rule 40E-7.525 prohibits the operation of licensed and unlicensed vehicles on South Florida Water Management District lands, naming swamp buggies, tracked vehicles, off-road and off-highway all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles and golf carts, with three exceptions: licensed vehicles on designated roads open to the public, roads or parking areas the district has affirmatively opened for a specified use, and anything covered by a special use licence or event authorisation. A designated road is one officially designated by name or number for public vehicular travel. Where no limit is posted, 20 mph applies. Camping is at designated campsites only and is capped at eight consecutive days or 30 total days a year. 45
- State parks close at sunset and count your nights
- Florida state parks are open 8 a.m. to sunset every day of the year. Campsite check-in is 3 p.m. and check-out 1 p.m., quiet time runs 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., sites take no more than eight people, and parking is limited to two vehicles per campsite or cabin at staff discretion. In high demand the maximum stay is 14 nights, after which a camper must leave the park for at least three nights; a manager may extend an on-site stay by up to another 14, to a maximum continuous stay of 28 nights, and a camper may hold 56 nights of total occupancy in one park in each six-month period, October to March and April to September. Fires, fishing, boating and swimming are allowed in designated areas only, and hunting is prohibited. 48
- Corps of Engineers water: three campgrounds and one 14-day clock
- The Jacksonville District runs one campground each at the Ortona, St. Lucie and W.P. Franklin lock recreation areas on the Okeechobee Waterway. Ortona South has 51 sites with electric and water, St. Lucie South has 9 RV and tent sites plus 8 boat-in and 3 tent sites, and W.P. Franklin North has 30 RV and tent sites plus 8 boat-in. Camping is permitted in designated areas only, sites are $30 a night for the hookup sites, and camping is limited to 14 days within a 30-day period. Ortona South and St. Lucie South belong to the same water resource project, so the 14 days cover both: a camper cannot run 14 days at one and move straight to the other without 16 days elsewhere in between. 52
Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
US Forest Service (USFS)
National Park Service (NPS)
US Fish and Wildlife (USFW)
Bureau of Reclamation (USBR)
Department Of Defense (DOD)
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
Other Federal
State
Local
Alaska Native Lands (Patented or Interim Conveyed)
Alaska Native Allotment
Road
Primitive Road
Road
Primitive Road
Trail
Roads open to all Vehicles, Yearlong
Roads open to all Vehicles, Seasonal
Roads open to highway legal vehicles only, Yearlong
Roads open to highway legal vehicles only, Seasonal
Special Designation, Yearlong
Special Designation, Seasonal
Trails open to all vehicles, Yearlong
Trails open to all vehicles, Seasonal
Trails open to vehicles 50" or less in width, Yearlong
Trails open to vehicles 50" or less in width, Seasonal
Trails open to motorcycles, Yearlong
Trails open to motorcycles, Seasonal
Special Designation, Seasonal
Trails Open to Wheeled Vehicles Only < 50" in Width, Yearlong
Trails Open to Wheeled Vehicles Only < 50" or Less in Width, Seasonal
Wilderness Area
Wilderness Study Area
