Long Weekend
2 days · ~260 miles · from Bradenton
The old cattle-drive route across Florida's forgotten middle, then a loop of the vast lake at its heart — muck-city football towns, a hand-built castle, and the sober memorials of the 1928 hurricane.
This trip chains: The Florida Cracker Trail · The Big Water
East on the Cracker Trail: Solomon's Castle out in Ona, the Cracker Trail Museum at Zolfo Springs, virgin hammock at Highlands Hammock, and a lap of Sebring's historic circle and raceway. Overnight Sebring.
South to Lake Okeechobee: climb the Hoover Dike for the inland sea, the 1928 memorials at Belle Glade and Port Mayaca, muck-city Pahokee, and a fish sandwich at the old Clewiston Inn before the run home.