This forest is a land of swamps and hammocks untouched by man, as primitive still as when the Indians for whom it is named trod its many trails and canoed in its many waters. For recreational purposes ten areas have been developed. The most extensive being Camel Lake, a few miles south of the city of Bristol. At the lake there is swimming, boating and skiing and throughout the forest are Many acres for fishing and hunting for such game as deer, bear and the American gobbler. Here, too, is the Florida panther, the only state in the eastern United States where the panther is found, although hunting it is forbidden.
Many dirt roads be-sect the great forest making access quite easy for the visitor.
It has been a fishing paradise for the Indians of old and also for modern man, and it has been a transportation route to carry agricultural goods, industrial products and military goods during the Civil War. The central crossing of the river has always been at Bristol, accomplished first by hand ferry, then powered ferry and then by a bridge span. Construction of a new bridge and renovation of the old bridge is underway to accommodate the heavy traffic flow of State Route 20. The river is noted for its fine stock of fish including bass, bream and perch. Along both sides of the river large sycamore trees populate the shores and a diverse variety of native birds live in the foliage of trees and brush.