Ocala National Forest

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The Ocala National Forest is the second largest National Forest in Florida and covers approximately 607 square miles (389,000 acres) in central Florida. It is located three miles east of Ocala, Florida, 16 miles southeast of Gainesville, Florida, and 18 miles northwest of Orlando, Florida. The Ocala National Forest (established in 1908) is the oldest national forest east of the Mississippi River and the southernmost national forest in the continental U.S.

The Ocala National Forest lies between the Ocklawaha and St. Johns Rivers in central Florida. It has acreage in Putnam, Lake and Marion Counties.

The Ocala National Forest is noted for its sand pine scrub ecosystem. The forest contains the largest concentration of sand pine in the world as well as some of the best remaining stands of longleaf pine in Central Florida. The forest’s porous sands and largely undeveloped character provide an important recharge for the Floridan aquifer.

The Ocala is a unique and fascinating forest that offers an accommodating climate for year round recreating. Camping can be enjoyed during all seasons on the Ocala. The Ocala National Forest receives more visitors than any other national forest in the Sunshine State. Millions of visitors annually escape to this forest, which is one of Central Florida's last remaining traces of forested land.

The Ocala Forest is also known for having over 600 natural lakes and ponds. The forest is riddled with slow-moving rivers and wet "prairies". They are sunny, shallow expanses of water, usually ringed by cypress trees and filled water lilies and other with aquatic plants. Between the river boundaries of this Forest lie central highlands, coastal lowlands, swamps, springs and hundreds of lakes and ponds. Near the Juniper Prairie Wilderness and Juniper River is "The Yearling Trail", the location where The Yearling was filmed.

Ocala has a wide variety of wildlife. The Florida Black Bear population has it's highest concentration here. Whitetail deer, wild boar, and numerous small animals, including opossum, raccoon, and armadillo can be found as well. The sandy soil is home to the Gopher Tortoise.

The hundreds of forest lakes and grassy ponds provide some of the state's most outstanding bass fishing opportunities with world renowned Rodman Reservoir system forming most of the northern and north western border as part of the Ocklawaha River Basin.

Kerr City, Florida, a ghost town is located on CR 316 just west of SR 19.

Many hiking trails run through the forest including the Florida Trail, Salt Springs Observation Trail, Lake Eaton Sinkhole Trail, St. Francis Trail, and Yearling Trail. In the middle of the park is the Pine Castle Bombing Range.

The following is a list of lakes in or on the border of the forest: Lake Dorr Lake Woodruff Lake Dexter Lake George Lake Ocklawaha Lake Delancy Orange Lake Lochloosa Lake Crescent Lake Halfmoon Lake Lake Bryant

[edit] Campsites

The forest contains 12 major campsites.

The Doe Lake campsite is the closest major campground to Lake Weir. This campsite is in the west of the forest, five miles east of Lake Weir. The campsite lies right by the Ocklawaha River.

Big Bass Lake campsite is the southernmost campsite in the forest. It is known as a halfway mark between Weirsdale and Altoona.

Big Scrub campsite is two miles northeast of the Doe Lake campsite. The nearest town to this campsite is Moss Bluff.

Clearwater Lake campsite was named after Clearwater Lake, which is close to the campsite. The nearest town to this campsite is Paisley. It is also the easternmost major campsite forest. This campsite is also close to the Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge.

Buck Lake campsite is located about 100 feet above sea level, and is where State Road 19 and Lake County road 445 meet. The campsite is three miles to the north of Altoona, Florida and six miles north of Umatilla.

Alexander Springs campsite is about four miles northeast of Buck Lake. It is close to Route 445, ten miles southwest of Astor.

Halfmoon Lake campsite is named after the nearby Halfmoon Lake.

Lake Delancy campsite is the northernmost major campsite in the forest. It is three miles east of Rodman Reservoir. The campsite is 10 miles southeast of Orange Springs.

Juniper Springs, the campsite in which is practically the center of the Ocala National Forest this campsite lies near the junction of State Road 19 and State Road 40.

Silver River campsite

Hopkins' Prairie campsite

Grassy Pond campsite

Camp La-No-Che is a 1400 acre Boy Scout camp located on the south side of the forest in the town of Paisley, FL

[edit] External links

	Protected Forests of Florida
National	Apalachicola \| Choctawhatchee \| Ocala \| Osceola \|

State	Belmore \| Big Shoals Public Lands \| Blackwater River \| Carl Duval Moore \| Cary \| Cottage Hill \| Deep Creek \| Etoniah Creek \| Four Creeks \| Goethe \| Holopaw \| Jennings \| John Bethea \| Lake George \| Lake Talquin \| Lake Wales Ridge \| Little-Big Econ \| Matanzas \| Myakka \| Okaloacoochee Slough \| Picayune Strand \| Pine Log \| Point Washington \| Simmons \| Ross Prairie \| Seminole \| Tate's Hell \| Tiger Bay \| Twin Rivers \| Wakulla \| Watson Island \| Welaka \| Withlacoochee \|