Castle Windy Trail
in Florida · centroid 43 mi from Orlando
The trail begins at Parking Area #3, in the Apollo Beach District of Canaveral National Seashore. After crossing the road the trail leads half of a mile to the shore of Mosquito Lagoon. Enjoy a leisurely walk across the island and discover how the plant life of Canaveral National Seashore has adapted to wind and salt spray coming from the ocean.
Please be aware that this trail is most often used in the winter months. With high humidity and heat mosquitoes will swarm the trail.
- States
- Florida
- Trail type
- National Seashore trail
- Centroid nearest city
- Orlando, FL · 43 mi · ~1.2 hr drive
- Centroid coords
- 28.8986°, -80.8035°
About Canaveral National Seashore
This trail is inside Canaveral National Seashore, a national seashore managed by the U.S. National Park Service. Conditions, road status, trail closures, and reservation requirements are published on the park's NPS page — check it before driving in, especially in winter or during major weather events.
Entrance fee: $25 per vehicle (verify current rate on the park page). An America the Beautiful annual pass ($80) covers entrance to all NPS units.
Official NPS trail page: https://www.nps.gov/places/castle-windy-trail.htm
Park homepage: https://www.nps.gov/cana/index.htm
Plan your hike
Maps + permits: long-distance trails like this often require permits for through-hiking, backcountry camping, or specific sections (especially in National Parks). Check with the maintaining organisation listed above and the relevant land manager before booking travel.
Water + supplies: water sources vary seasonally on most U.S. trails. Carry a filter and consult current trail-condition reports — through-hiker journals (PCT-L, AT Reddit, etc.) and the maintaining organisation publish regular updates.
When to go: hiking seasons vary widely with elevation, latitude, and snowpack. Through-hikers traditionally start the AT in March-April (Springer northbound) and the PCT in late April (Campo northbound). High-elevation western trails (CDT, JMT, Wonderland) generally aren't passable until July.
If you've hiked Castle Windy Trail and have current notes (water sources, trail closures, permit changes), tell us at /contact — we update pages as we learn.
Stay nearby
Other trails within 50 miles
Sources
Trail data on this page is compiled from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), the maintaining organisation's public-facing materials, and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA where excerpts are quoted). Distance, terminus, and descriptive text for nationally-designated trails are hand-curated from federal land-manager websites and trail-association sources. We do not modify the underlying data; this page presents what is already publicly recorded. To suggest corrections, see our methodology page.