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In this blog, we’ll review the beautiful Highlands Hammock State Park just 4 miles west of Sebring Florida. Highlands Hammock has a rich history as a park since 1931, two years before the Florida State Park system was established. Local citizens acquired the property of the ancient hammock so it wouldn’t be turned into farmland. In 1935 it became one of the first four Florida State Parks. During the great depression, the Civilian Conservation Corp establish a camp as a headquarters at the park and built out additional park facilities.[1]
Highlands Hammock State Park contains 9,000-acres featuring 15 distinct natural communities, including some of the more interesting and varied hiking of any Florida State Park we’ve visited. Eight of the nine hiking trails are near the main loop road and take the visitor through an amazing variety of natural environments. We’ll hit these distinct hiking trails later in more detail, but safe to say that you are in for a real treat when hiking these established and beautiful trails.
Contrary to the amazing hikes, the very established campground is less than best in terms of campsite space, signage, and infrastructure. It was the first Florida State Park we’ve stayed at where the signage was confusing within the campground and maneuvering was difficult given some of the very tight roads.
As far as the campground, there are sites that can accommodate RVs from 20 to 50 feet, along with three ADA sites near restrooms. Sites have both water and electric service, as well as picnic tables and fire rings. There are public showers and laundry machines available. In total, there are 131 reservable RV sites with one dump station, giving a poor ratio of 131:1. Meaning you may have to wait a considerable time to dump tanks during busy times.
There are five criteria we look at when rating a campground. First up, Hospitality and Check-In. We give this a 4 out of 5 as it was easy to check-in. We did have to leave the vehicle to check-in at the ranger station, but it was a simple matter of having the ranger confirm our reservation and giving us our site tag.
Next in our review is Infrastructure & Amenities which we are giving a 2 out of 5. One thing we did run into is that our maps program sent us to the park by way of Route 634 from the west. As this road enters the state park, it became very rutted for a few miles and bounced the truck and trailer around significantly. We later found a broken fender support under the trailer and think this may have been caused by this road. Just a warning that if you are coming to the park from the west, you may want to avoid route 634 and head into Sebring first then hit the park from the east on the main park road.
Within the park, the main park road loop is paved, and the campground loops are paved but very narrow in places. The signage within the campground, however, lacked clarity in terms of what campsites were in what sections of the campground, causing some confusion. More so, since the campground is very old, the campsites themselves are loosely defined and generally very close together. Backing in and leaving were no easy tasks. When departing, we actually had to ask our neighbors to move their vehicle so we could safely pull away.
There are a mix of more modern bathhouses and older bathhouses in the campground. Also on our site, we had to use two water hoses connected to reach the water outlet for the site. Like most Florida State Park campgrounds, the campground is well maintained and cleaned by the campground hosts, and there is a security gate with passcode to enter the campground area after hours.
Site Quality gets a 2 out of 5 as the quality of the sites vary in terms of being level and in terms of privacy. It is easy to tell that the campground was built long ago and could use a restructuring at this point, especially as RVs have grown. In general, the campsites are not well designed, are basically too close together, and have little to no privacy. This is too bad as the natural beauty of the park and hiking is on the opposite end of the spectrum.
Having stayed at many different state park campgrounds in Florida, the campsites at Highlands Hammock are some of the least desirable. The Park should seriously reconsider the general layout of the campground, spacing of the sites, road loops and signage.
While we were not fans of the older campground infrastructure and campsites, our Exercisability rating is a 5 out of 5. There are great paved park roads to run and bike on with very occasional slow traffic. And while there are no water sport options at the park, the hiking is easily some of the best at any state park we’ve visited in Florida. Be aware that most of the trails at Highlands Hammock are relatively easy hikes of limited distances and easy to navigate without much elevation gain. Most people should be able to hike these trails without too much difficulty. Here are some details around a few of the main hiking trails…
The Wild Orange Grove Trail is a secluded hike that feels jungle-like in places. This hard pack trail is in the midst of thick palms and brush, and the trail can be muddy in spots. Although we hiked this trail in early March, there were occasional mosquitoes to deal with due to the moist environment. There is a good deal of natural beauty on this hike even though the conditions were wet in places.
The Alexander Blair Big Oak Trail has one of the older oaks of any Florida State Park. The trail is very different from the more jungle-like Wild Orange Grove Trail and shows off some great examples of very old oak trees. The main attraction is the Big Oak in the middle of the trail which is accessible from the main trail. There is a complete circle trail around the massive oak.
The Young Hammock Trail is in a different environment from the large trees of the Big Oak trail or the jungle-like Orange Grove trail – with higher trees creating a beautiful canopy for the peaceful trail. It is a peaceful and quiet trail that is refreshing to walk through.
The Cypress Swamp Trail is totally different from the other trails in that it takes the hiker through acres of watery cypress swamp on an elevate boardwalk most of the way. I think pretty much everyone on the trail was keeping an eye out for alligators given the proximity of the single-file boardwalk to the swamp and the various potential hiding places for alligators!
Besides these highlighted hiking trails, there are several other great hikes to be aware of. Anyone visiting the park should save plenty of time to explore some of the best hiking we’ve experienced in any Florida State Park.
For our final rating, we are giving a 4 out of 5 for Workability as the bandwidth for AT&T was very good. Using an iPhone 10, we had speeds of 36.9 Mbps down and .53 Mbps up on AT&T, making it fairly easy to use.
Overall, we thought Highlands Hammock State Park was a fair value and a good destination if you are looking for great hiking in a unique and varied natural setting. You should be aware that the trails will be buggier during the warmer months, so plan accordingly. Hiking is best-in-class at this park, even if the campground could use some work. Be aware that larger RVs may have more difficulty maneuvering within the campground and in and out of campsites. We also think that Highlands Hammock State Park is a good choice for a stopover if you are traversing lower central Florida east or west near Sebring. Just make sure you give yourself plenty of time to explore the great hiking!
All the best in your camping endeavors!
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- Wikipedia – Highlands Hammock State Park ↑