Take a hike! Glades County has many miles to meander on developed trails, including 40 miles of the Florida Trail, the National Scenic Trail in Florida, atop the Herbert Hoover Dike. This segment of the Florida Trail is home to one of the few annual hiking events in Florida, the Big O Hike, an outdoor challenge held each November during Thanksgiving Week.

The Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail is part of the Florida Trail, which has primitive backpacking campsites along the lake and the Rim Canal at Liberty Point, the C-5A water structure near Moore Haven, Lakeport, Indian Prairie, and Buckhead Ridge. This is the most remote section of the Florida Trail around Lake Okeechobee, offering extensive views across the marshes and prairies and excellent opportunities for birding.

At Fort Center, a newly developed 3-mile round-trip trail has observation decks for birding and offers a hiker-only loop at the very end of the trail, in a shady forest that’s a significant archeological site. Interpretive information tells the story of human occupation of these landscapes along the Fisheating Creek floodplain.

Platt Branch Wildlife and Environmental Area, off US 27 in Venus, has an extensive system of forest roads for hiking, as well as several miles of marked trails that loop through habitats at the leading edge of the Lake Wales Ridge, a significant Florida landform of ancient dunes topped with scrub plants. One of the trails circles around a large wet prairie and offers an observation deck for birding,

Near the Caloosahatchee River, Ortona Indian Mounds Park offers a short interpretive walk through the forests and fields that make up this complex of burial and ceremonial mounds from early cultures.