CRESTVIEW, Fla., July 19, 2026—The city of Crestview was officially designated as a “gateway community” as part of the Florida National Scenic Trail during a dedication ceremony yesterday.

The Florida Trail is a congressionally designated long-distance hiking trail that stretches for more than 1,500 miles from the panhandle to the Everglades.

Crestview joins the other panhandle gateway communities of Pensacola Beach, DeFuniak Springs, Blountstown, Sopchoppy and St. Marks along the Florida Trail in the Panhandle Region of the trail.

A gateway community is a designated town close to the trail that offers hikers lodging, food, stores for resupply and other local attractions.

According to Tom Daniel of the Florida Trail Association board of directors during yesterday’s ceremony, Crestview has been on the list of gateway communities since 2007.

Daniel said the Crestview trailhead on the Eglin Air Force Base reservation is the most active trailhead on Eglin. Of the 464,000 acres of the Eglin reservation, 250,000 are open to the public. A permit and background check are required for all hikers before arriving at Eglin.

Florida Trail Association volunteers call the Eglin portion of the trail the land of “was that thunder?” due to the noise of explosions during weapons testing and Air Force Special Operations Command training.

Once hikers leave downtown Crestview, the trail travels west along U.S. Highway 90 through Holt to Log Lake Road where it rejoins the wilderness hiking trail.

The Trail

The Florida Trail, started in 1966, extends more than 1,500 miles from the Florida panhandle to the Everglades where hikers can enjoy the scenic, natural, cultural and historical resources of the Sunshine State. 

It connects the Gulf Islands National Seashore in Escambia County to Big Cypress National Preserve near the Everglades. A portion of the trail goes directly through downtown Crestview.

In 1983, Congress recognized the Florida Trail as the country’s eighth national scenic trail and designated the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service as the trail’s administrator.

The Florida Trail is one of 11 national scenic trails and is one of three trails contained entirely within a single state. It is divided into four main geographic regions: the Panhandle, Northern, Central and Southern regions.

The trail is about an hour’s drive from most Floridians and receives almost 375,000 visits each year.

Volunteers from organizations such as the Florida Trail Association contribute thousands of hours to help maintain the trail.