KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – A portion of the North Florida Land Trust’s Smith Lake Preserve is now part of the Florida National Scenic Trail.

NFLT, the Florida Trail Association and the U.S. Forest Service opened a new two-mile portion of the trail last week in Smith Lake Preserve to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 1,500-mile Florida National Scenic Trail.
“We are proud to now be a part of the Florida Trail and invite everyone to come take a walk on the trail and experience nature’s beauty for yourself,” said Allison DeFoor, president of NFLT. “We acquired Smith Lake Preserve in 2019 and have been working alongside the Florida Trail Association to reroute the trail away from roadway medians and through our preserve. We thank our partners for helping us be a part of one of Florida’s great assets. This is why we do what we do because it is now or never.”
This new trail is a regional highlight. It runs through Smith Lake Preserve and eliminates the need for hikers to walk along the road. There is not a trailhead at Smith Lake Preserve. Hikers can park at Goldhead Branch State Park and walk along the trail to enjoy it.

“The Florida Trail Association is pleased to have these two miles of roadwalk replaced with a scenic sandhill landscape,” said Royce Gibson, executive director of the Florida Trail Association. “This new route will provide a high-quality outdoor recreation experience, and we look forward to working with the North Florida Land Trust and other partners on similar endeavors as we close more gaps in the Florida National Scenic Trail.”
The 463-acre Smith Lake Preserve was acquired by NFLT in 2019 and is part of the Ocala to Osceola (O2O) Wildlife Corridor, a 1.6-million-acre network of public and private lands that connects the Ocala and Osceola National Forests, a critical link within the Florida Wildlife Corridor. It consists of significant areas of long-leaf pine sandhills, flatwoods and scrub habitats, providing habitats for many wildlife species, including the gopher tortoise, wild turkey, southern fox squirrel and Eastern indigo snake.
“I am excited for NFLT to host this new section of the Florida Trail and open an additional conservation land for the community to enjoy,” said Rianna Elliott, NFLT’s director of land stewardship. “It will allow the public to experience what a beautiful preserve Smith Lake is while providing additional safety to hikers by moving off the roadway. This project really speaks to the mission of the North Florida Land Trust.”