Following in the footsteps of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and ALDHA (Appalachian Trail Long Distance Hikers Association), we acknowledge those who complete the Florida Trail as “Thousand Milers.”
We recognize that completion means different things to different people. So we define “Thousand Miler” as a hiker who has completed at least 1,000 unique linear miles of the 1,400 miles available to hike along the Florida Trail. The Florida Trail is unlike most National Scenic Trails as it provides you options. You can hike east or west around Lake Okeechobee, and east or west around Central Florida. Some people, particularly thru-hikers, choose one side or the other; many section hikers do both. There is an official side trail, the Blackwater section, which some hikers use as an option to complete (or start) their hike at the Alabama border, especially if they are hiking the Florida Trail as one portion of the 4,000-mile Eastern Continental Trail. There are also two unofficial connectors: the Eastern Continental Trail route – which is primarily roadwalk and bike paths – from Key West to the Florida Trail’s southern terminus at Big Cypress, and the Ocean to Lake Hiking Trail, a 61-mile mostly-footpath spur trail from the Florida Trail’s Okeechobee East section to the Atlantic Ocean at Hobe Sound Beach.
The Florida Trail includes nearly 300 miles of roadwalks, which some hikers opt to skip over for safety or aesthetic reasons. The full mileage of the Florida National Scenic Trail is more than 1,400 miles. Add in the unofficial connectors and it tops 1,500 miles. But a typical linear thru-hike is slightly more than 1,100 miles. Thus the “Thousand Miler.”
Award Certificate
ALL hikers who have completed the Florida Trail are eligible for an award certificate as shown in the samples above. We will email you a a JPG that you can print or display on social media. To get yours, do the following:
1) Email us a photo to be included in the design. The photo does not have to be of you, but can be a favorite photo you took while on the trail. Horizontal photos are preferred.
2) Please self-report your completion via our form below. Be sure to include your real name, trail name, and year completed, as these are all incorporated into the award certificate. We also need your email address so we can send it to you.
Click on any of these samples to see them in detail.
