Florida Caverns State Park: Beech Magnolia and Bluff Trails (Blog Hike #929)

Trails: Beech Magnolia and Bluff Trails
Hike Location: Florida Caverns State Park
Geographic Location: north of Marianna, FL (30.81171, -85.22643)
Length: 1.2 miles
Difficulty: 3/10 (Easy/Moderate)
Date Hiked: February 2023
Overview: A loop hike along a rocky bluff overlooking a wetland.
Park Information: https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/florida-caverns-state-park
Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=929714
Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: 

Directions to the trailhead: From Marianna in the Florida panhandle, take SR 166 north 2.7 miles to the signed entrance for Florida Caverns State Park on the left.  Turn left to enter the park, pay the entrance fee, and then turn right on the second road that exits right.  This road quickly ends at the large blacktop parking lot for the Visitor Center; park here.

The hike: When you drive I-10 across the western part of Florida's panhandle, the gently rolling sandy dirt hills look like anything but cave country.  Yet the area's large number of springs and sinkholes provide above-ground testimony to a vast network of underground caverns.  One of the few places those caverns meet the air is at Florida Caverns north of Marianna.

            Opening in 1942, Florida Caverns State Park protects 1300 acres atop its namesake caverns, which are among the few air-filled (as opposed to water-filled) underground caverns in Florida.  The park and the adjacent golf course were built by the depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and the CCC also enlarged the caverns' passageways by hand to allow visitors to walk through them while standing up.  The park offers guided cave tours for a moderate fee, and the tours feature fantastic underground stalagmite and stalactite scenery.

            In addition to the cave, the park offers a 38-site developed campground, paddling and fishing on the Chipola River, an interesting museum that features both natural and human history, and 5 hiking trails totaling over 8 miles.  The park's river area and cave area both offer compelling hiking options, but the short loop described here explores the land that forms the roof of the cave.  Because this hike starts and ends at the Visitor Center, it makes a nice way to exhaust 45 minutes while you are waiting for your cave tour to begin or a nice add-on after you tour the cave.

Trailhead behind Visitor Center

            From the back of the Visitor Center, head uphill on the concrete path that leads to the cave tour's exit, then bear right to begin the gravel Beech Magnolia Trail.  A brown park sign marks the start of the Beech Magnolia Trail.  True to its name, the Beech Magnolia Trail makes a short loop through a forest dominated by beech and magnolia trees with a dense understory of palmetto.  A couple of small cave entrances exist in this area, but you will have to look hard to find them.

Rocky area near cave exit

            After a pair of left curves, the terrain gets more rocky, perhaps surprisingly so.  The rocks are uneven, so take care where you step.  At 0.5 miles, you reach the end of the Beech Magnolia Trail where it intersects the other end of the concrete path you started on.  The cave tour exit sits just to the left, and the oblong hole in the hillside makes a nice photo opportunity even if you do not take a cave tour.  To continue this hike, angle right on the concrete path, then angle right again to begin the dirt Bluff Trail.  Another brown sign marks the start of the Bluff Trail.

Cave tour exit

Wetland near Chipola River

           The Bluff Trail is another appropriately named trail: it traces the top of the rocky bluff that overlooks the wetland formed by the Chipola River.  The trail undulates with the bluff, and again you need to watch your footing in the rocky areas.  Ignore the Shortcut Trail, which exits left at 0.8 miles; it provides a shortcut back to the parking lot.

Tunnel Cave

            Just past 1 mile, you reach Tunnel Cave.  Tunnel Cave is only about 100 feet long with openings on either end, but some crawling will be required if you wish to pass through Tunnel Cave.  Past Tunnel Cave, a few hundred feet of level walking returns you to the parking lot to complete this hike.