Walking around Lake Okeechobee
Grassy Waters near Taylor Creek
One of my favorite annual pastimes is walking around Lake Okeechobee, Florida’s largest lake and the second largest lake entirely within the United States. It’s 110 miles or so around the perimeter of the “Big Water,” a rural slice of Florida where sugar cane fields and cattle ranches dominate the landscape. For nine days, we walk the “Big O” Hike, 35 feet above this ocean-like lake on the man-made Herbert Hoover Dike, which was built in the 1930s after hurricanes devastated several of the lakeshore towns. It’s a long walk on the Florida Trail with a great group of friends, and you can join us, too, this upcoming Thanksgiving week! Read about the experience...
A perpetual traveler, I'm Sandra Friend, the author of more than 20 books on outdoors, nature, and travel subjects. I'm an award-winning member of the Society of American Travel Writers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the Florida Outdoor Writers Association.