Lost World Island in Ocala National Forest 

When I was a kid back in the '60s, my Uncle was caretaker over a huge private reserve next to Ocala National Forest. It was called Heather Island. It was wild and big. 8 miles from the highway to home. It was owned at that time by Governor Leroy Collins. You can't get in there, but if you look at it from Google Earth, you can see a stone plantation mansion & outbuildings. It was fascinating as a child.

Very cool hike finding that canoe was awesome!

Awesome Video. I Live In Florida Too. I’ve Been Wanting To Go There For A While. Keep Up The Great Work.

Highly exotic! Cool editing.

Beautiful stroll... thanks

One of your best videos yet, Joe! And it was good to see that you had another colab with Jungle Jay.

really enjoy the videos....Ocalas a great place for getting lost. looking forward to getting out and exploring soon.

Great video! Thanks for your work in bringing us a glimpse of this amazing site. I look forward to visiting it one day.

Unique and Beautiful. Thanks for this

Very beautiful. I have been someplace similar in the Forest, but definitely not there. Definitely something to look forward to.

Wow, that mound reminded me of a fort kind of. Very Cool. Thanks for the adventure.

Neat video. Such amazing history.

I've been watching a lot of your videos (and will continue to watch a lot more). Big fan here of all the exploring you do on your videos. Well done.

Love it when you explore off the beaten path in the wilderness. Your channel is getting better and better. Keep up the good work!

That twisted tree is beautiful. Thanks for going the distance. What did you use for a paddle?

Woah this was awesome love the editing.

Love the videos, keep 'em coming. I enjoy exploring the woods as well.

I wanted to give a slight correction. Ocala is not a wilderness, it's woods. A wilderness has old growth Virgin forest, no trails and very limited activity.

Just moved here from Maryland. These woods seem overwhelming, compared to md woods.

Cool video. Your videos make me want to keep exploring the ONF deeper than most dare. I've been living here for 36 years, and still haven't covered every square mile.

Cool video! Came over here from your Facebook post. First time watching! Gave ya a sub. Look forward to more videos. Love anybody who finds beauty in swamps. Really amazing out there.

Hope you can find your way back...

Pretty nice, thankyou ok

cool

Looks like a jungle

Awesome !

Be careful always carry a stick because believe me there are eastern diamondback rattlesnakes and pymigy rattlesnaks

I keep hearing about snakes and gators, but I haven't seen any in these videos of Ocala National Park?

You had better of put my canoe back where you found it!!!

Beautiful swamp areas ... love the twisted trees what a cool area thanks Florida Trailblazer :)

What an amazing find. If possible, would you mind personal messaging me about the general location of the area?

Modern Whites: This is such a sacred and awe inspiring place. Ancient Natives: This is where we piled up all our trash.

I think I saw "The Predator Alien Hunter" in the Trees.

Did you put the canoe back where it was? Also how did you cross? Use a stick to push the canoe across?

Becareful theres people that live deep in those woods dude. Like feral people!!! Im not kidding!!!

Hey man I have been across that creek in a boat I now right where this is it’s off mud creek by mud lake if you ever want to explorer the water let me know

Beautiful. What kind of camera stabilizer do you use while hiking?

Wow that's nice thanks for the videos 👍

Using that canoe is a good way to get shot. Its almost certainly a poachers canoe. Notice no front seat? That way the poacher can put deer gators etc in the canoe. I grew up in Fla.and have hiked about an trail in north and central Fla.

So you just took someone's canoe across two canals and left it there! They'll never find it again.

Love your videos. I've been watching them for a long time. ( Is there a time when ticks are really bad in florida? ) My wife and I walked a trail yesterday for 1.5 hours and when we got home we found over 30 ticks plus chiggers. I have found 1 or 2 before but this was crazy. We didn't even brush up against any limbs. The trail was fairly easy to navigate.

Have you done a research on the Skunk Ape?

Was there really a canoe waiting or was that something you left previously? What did you do for oars?

Can you tell me the location on how to get there

Where are the wild animals?

👍👍

Deer Florida trailblazer and other Florida trail blazers out there, hello! We would like you to join together and try to get eglin air Force Base to give up most of its land and return it to the people of our country. It won't be easy! It used to be called The Choctawhatchee National Forest and was brought into being by a fellow by the name of Gifford Pinchot with the enthusiastic backing of Teddy Roosevelt. The military saw the need for this area to be used during World War II and it has since been Incorporated into an area known as the Eglin Reservation. Now the area has been placed primarily "off limits" to anyone without special permission. The management of the Eglin reservation is poor to say the least. The testing of bombs and other munitions continue to this day including projects which cause damage to the environment. All you have to do is Google search this area in order to see the damage has been done since 1939 when the area was taken by the military. All we are asking is that the military return most of this beautiful, for the most part pristine wilderness to the people that were displaced so that our nation could have one of the original National Forests. That's right, Teddy Roosevelt thought enough of this area to make it a national forest before many other areas were declared protected. Most people in this state as well as in our country have not been out there to see how beautiful it really is. So, Florida trailblazer and all you other wannabe Florida trail blazers, let's get together and get a petition or whatever it takes and make the military turn over this environmentally sensitive area from the White sands of the Gulf of Mexico almost to the Alabama border and covering Santa Rosa Okaloosa and Walton counties, back to the people who were meant to use it in the first place. This national forest was bigger then the Everglades at one time. It was taken by the government for use as a training area at a proving ground at a time when our country was in grave danger. It is now time for the government to do the right thing and to return it back to the people. The military has a huge problem with anybody even mentioning this. The only thing that I can think of is that we need to get enough of us together, people that are smarter than me, environmentalists, lawyers, hunters, fisherman and all people who love natureto make a better future for the choctawhatchee National Forest as well as the people who live around it and the people of this nation who would like to come down here and enjoy this beautiful area before the federal government gobbles it up. Thank you for reading. My phone number is 850-376-6203. Text messages will probably be better. Wish us luck and pray for us! We are going to need it!

What about the skunk ape out there?

There are Bears and Panthers and Alligators,..do you carry a weapon? ( a flare gun would help scare them away)

Hey, I'm gonna spend next week out their. Any cool locations I need to check out?

Not tropical like the Amazon but not temperate like the Pacific Northwest

04:11 somebody paint those orange or white before someone gets hurt... Seems like it would be common sense..

I think it's more dangerous in the city. Although if some is using that canoe for illegal activity or something like growing Marijuana or something. Your doomed.

Any idea what Indian tribe lived there?

The dirt is actually sand lol

Watch out for the rainbow people