History of the Florida Trail Association
The Florida Trail Association is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, volunteer organization headquartered in Gainesville Florida.
The Florida Trail was first envisioned by Jim Kern who, as a young man, hiked the Appalachian Trail. He wondered why his home state of Florida didn't have something like that and began work to make it happen.
In 1967 he and some friends hiked and blazed a trail in the Ocala National Forest and dubbed it the Florida Trail, and in 1968 he founded the Florida Trail Association.
In 1983 Congress enacted a law creating the Florida National Scenic Trail, the FNST. At that time, it became one of eight National Scenic Trails in the United States, which included the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail, among others.
Beginning with that small section of trail in the Ocala National Forest, the FNST today includes 1500 miles in its trail system stretching from the northern terminus at Fort Pickens - Gulf Islands National Seashore in the panhandle of Florida to the southern terminus at Big Cypress National Preserve, deep in the Florida Everglades.
The FNST has been and continues to be built and maintained by thousands of volunteers in nineteen Florida Trail chapters across the state of Florida, of which Western Gate is but one. For more information go to the Florida Trail association's home page
