I decided to explore Tate’s Hell State Forest one day, the name of which sounds a little ominous. This place has a backstory which I don’t know if there’s any truth to or not about the name coming from a guy named Tate getting lost in the forest for days, only to emerge and declare that it was his hell, then immediately die or something like that. For my purposes I started by finding a few access points off of US-98. One went to a picnic area, and the next to the High Bluff Coastal Trail. I did the trail, or at least a few miles of it, to find that Tate’s Hell looks a lot like other parts of Florida’s panhandle with swampy areas, the typical vegetation, lot of sand, and at least more unique to this trail a lot of wild rosemary plants. There is nothing high about this trail though, regardless of the name.
After that I ventured up toward the Gully Branch Day Use Area which is a pretty good trek via car into the depths of the forest. There I found the expected picnic area though. What was interesting was stopping to see all the primitive campsite options along the way, which the majority of are mere feet from the New River. If you wanted some solitude, a chance to do some really good fishing from a campsite, and are not horrible afraid of alligators, then these would be your dream come true. I’d imaged if I ever camped here that I’d be on high alert for gators all the time and would be wearing bug netting since there are creeks and swamps everywhere, and I know how that plays out along the Gulf of Mexico.
Finally I checked out the Ralph G. Kendrick Dwarf Cypress Boardwalk. I enjoy boardwalks, and this one just takes out high over and out into a huge swamp full of cypress, with the boardwalk being high enough that you can see for a long ways in all directions, and understand the magnitude of the swamp you’re standing above. I don’t think I’ve ever quite had that perspective from a boardwalk before due to taller plants blocking view, so thank you “dwarf” cypress. I rate this as a must see for anyone visiting.
