Once a meandering waterway feeding the Everglades with Central Florida's rainfall, the Kissimmee River was diked and ditched and straighted by the Army Corps of Engineers decades ago, with disastrous environmental consequences. Undoing the damage will take time; projects are underway to return the river to its natural meanders. From Lake Okeechobee, the Florida Trail follows the eastern dikes along the south end of the river, then switches to the western side of the river to pass through scenic Hickory Hammock and along a historic cattle drovers route through the ghost town of Kicco, past the site of Fort Kissimmee, and through long-abandoned homesteads en route to River Ranch near SR 60.
Meandering nearly 103 miles within its 56 mile floodplain, flowing southward from the open prairies of Osceola County towards Lake Okeechobee, the Kissimmee River was straightened into a long, broad ditch by the Army Corps of Engineers back in the 1940s in the name of flood control. As time proved, the straightening of the river eliminated its natural filtration of silt and pollutants through its many oxbow wetlands, causing harm to Lake Okeechobee. Authorized by the U.S. Congress in 1992, the Kissimmee River Restoration Project calls for the restoration of more than 43 miles of meandering river channel through 40 square miles of land. It is along this corridor that the Florida Trail follows the newly freed river, along a historic route used by settlers in the 1800s as they moved south into the interior. Once a cattle drover’s route, the Florida Trail along the Kissimmee River winds through the ghost town of Kicco (named for the Kissimmee Island Cattle Company), where wooden sidewalks and a graveyard attest to settlers long gone, and past the sites of Fort Kissimmee and Fort Bassinger, erected during Colonel Zachary Taylor’s 1837 march to the shores of Okeechobee and into battle with the Seminole.
Hikers enjoy long unbroken stretches of trail for backpacking, with the river as their near-constant companion. Hickory Hammock, off US 98, is popular for day hikes and easy overnight trips, while the Avon Park and Kicco sections appeal to backpackers ready for a three to four day trek along marshes and prairies alive with wildlife. Prairie Lakes provides an overnight backpacking loop and great day hiking. You are in the midst of Florida’s ranch country, so expect encounters with cattle. As restoration progresses, the river sometimes floods parts of the trail.
COUNTIES: Okeechobee, Highlands, Polk, Osceola START POINT: Okee-tantie END POINT: Prairie Lakes WMA at Canoe Creek Rd MILES OF TRAIL: 91.6 TRAILHEADS: Okee-tantie, Hickory Hammock, Bluff Hammock, Kicco, Three Lakes WMA South, Prairie Lakes WMA at Canoe Creek Rd DESIGNATED CAMPSITES: 13 MAPS: 33, 34, 35 TRAIL PARTNERS: Avon Park Air Force Range, Army Corps of Engineers, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, South Florida Water Management District
Disclaimer: While FTA strives to maintain accurate information and is constantly updating its geodatabase, the trail and development along the trail corridor is constantly changing. The data has been collected from a variety of sources and accuracy varies. FTA provides this data for recreational purposes only and does not intend the data as a survey. Centerline data Florida Trail System (c) 2007 Florida Trail Association, Inc.
Hiking 
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Meandering nearly 103 miles within its 56 mile floodplain, flowing southward from the open prairies of Osceola County towards Lake Okeechobee, the Kissimmee River was straightened into a long, broad ditch by the Army Corps of Engineers back in the 1940s in the name of flood control. As time proved, the straightening of the river eliminated its natural filtration of silt and pollutants through its many oxbow wetlands, causing harm to Lake Okeechobee. Authorized by the U.S. Congress in 1992, the Kissimmee River Restoration Project calls for the restoration of more than 43 miles of meandering river channel through 40 square miles of land. It is along this corridor that the Florida Trail follows the newly freed river, along a historic route used by settlers in the 1800s as they moved south into the interior. Once a cattle drover’s route, the Florida Trail along the Kissimmee River winds through the ghost town of Kicco (named for the Kissimmee Island Cattle Company), where wooden sidewalks and a graveyard attest to settlers long gone, and past the sites of Fort Kissimmee and Fort Bassinger, erected during Colonel Zachary Taylor’s 1837 march to the shores of Okeechobee and into battle with the Seminole.
Florida Trail Map Brochure