Apalachee Savannahs Scenic Byway
National Forest Scenic Byway 35 mi in Florida.
About the Apalachee Savannahs Scenic Byway
The Apalachicola Savannahs, home to the Apalachee Savannahs Scenic Byway, are sub-tropical grasslands scattered with longleaf pine trees and covered with drought-resistant undergrowth. It’s an open landscape where wiregrass, or sometimes palmetto, covers the forest floor. Swamps and savannahs are commonly interspersed with the longleaf community. Wildflowers such as orchids, pitcher plants and sundews flourish. These savannahs are some of the most botanically rich areas in the country.
Often holding water all year long, the savannahs host a stunning display of pitcher plants, sundews, wild orchids, asters, black-eyed susans, blazing star, Harper's Beauty, sneeze weed, and meadow beauty, among others. The Byway also offers excellent glimpses of cypress swamps, magnolia bays, creeks, sloughs, groves of oak hammocks, and some of the largest remaining natural stands of longleaf pine / wiregrass habitat in the South.
- Search for sights and sounds and enjoy the beauty of the savannahs. - Endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers, fox squirrels, black bears, bobcats, wild turkeys, gray foxes, raccoons and alligators are at home in the diversified ecosystems of the Apalachee Savannahs Scenic Byway. - Travel through the flat-to-gently rolling terrain. Stop and explore bays of magnolia and cypress, groves of oaks, or stands of longleaf pine that thrive in the sandhills and flatwoods. - History buffs will enjoy visiting Prospect Bluffs near the southern end of the byway.
The Florida National Scenic Trail, better known as the Florida Trail, is a federally designated, non-motorized recreation trail that meanders approximately 1,500 miles acro
US Forest Service's own description, in its words. Byway page on fs.usda.gov.
Camping along the byway
- Mile 2 · 1.9 mi offCamel Lake Campground · Forest Service · 11 sites · reservable
- Mile 11 · 0.6 mi offFlorida River Island · City, county or regional park · 10 sites · reservable
- Mile 16 · 3.0 mi offWhite Oak Landing · City, county or regional park · 3 sites · reservable
- Mile 24 · 2.1 mi offWright Lake Campground · Forest Service · 20 sites · reservable
- Mile 27 · 2.5 mi offHickory Landing Campground · Forest Service
Public campgrounds within 5 miles of the road as the crow flies, in order along the byway; each one's page has its facts, season and weather by month.
About this page's facts
The line is the Federal Highway Administration's scenic byways layer (HEPGIS, a snapshot of 2022-06-24, a US government work), cut at the state line and simplified for the map; the length is the line's. The designation is the program's own: the national tiers from FHWA's America's Byways roster, the rest from the layer's designation field. Road conditions, closures and seasonal gates change: check the agency's own page and the state's road conditions before you go.