Happy to have finished the Lake Okeechobee section of the Florida Trail today! After having previously biked from Lakeport to Port Mayaca and the return trip, today I completed biking completely around the lake by going from Clewiston in the south to Port Myaca on the east side of the lake. This 61-mile trip was very grueling due to the strong northerly headwind going to Port Mayaca. I was also very surprised to see that the trail degraded to a dirt/pebble-filled path for nearly 1/3 of the trip after starting on a wide, paved pathway. My Pinarello F10 Dogma road bike was not a good choice for the degraded pathway, so I returned using the highway surrounding the lake. The road had lots of large trucks but did have a good shoulder. For those choosing to bike ride around Lake Okeechobee, I highly recommend using the existing highways rather than the actual Florida Trail on the dike.

Stopping for break on Florida Trail
Port Mayaca
Port Mayaca
Florida Trail on Lake Okeechobee
Port Mayaca
Harvesting sugar cane