Florida Hikes!

Your guide to Florida's outdoors, by Sandra Friend, Florida's hiking expert, and her co-author John Keatley, covering the Florida Trail and other trails throughout Florida.

Crossing Big Cypress

It's Florida's roughest, wettest, weirdest backpacking trip, best tackled with friends. Along this 30 mile stretch of the Florida Trail in the heart of Big Cypress National Preserve, immersing in the swamp is the point of the hike. Sandra tackled it as the final stretch of her multi-year 1,110-mile section hike of the Florida Trail, end-to-end.
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Crossing Big Cypress

Paddling the Intracoastal Waterway for Alzheimer’s Awareness

Traverse the Intracoastal Waterway on a paddleboarding adventure for a cause: broken into a series of day paddles, Something I Will Never Forget, an organized paddleboard journey, spans from St. Augustine to Palm Beach.
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Paddling the Intracoastal Waterway for Alzheimer’s Awareness

Welaka State Forest

Protecting more than four miles of deeply forested waterfront on the St. Johns River across Little Lake George from the Ocala National Forest, Welaka State Forest offers both natural beauty and a deep subtext of cultural history.
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Welaka State Forest

Florida’s Utopia

At the Koreshan Unity in Estero, Florida, a group of believers gathered in 1894 to begin building their paradise. It is now a National Historic Site and a Florida State Park. Walk the trails and streets of "New Jerusalem" to learn its story.
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Florida’s Utopia

Hi, we're Sandra and John. We're Florida authors who enjoy the outdoors as a couple. Looking for places to hike, bike, camp, and paddle? Dig in! We share our adventures and the destinations we find to inspire, inform, and engage you with the outdoors.

Established 2006. Inspiring Florida to play outdoors.

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The Florida Trail

Florida Trail GuideFlorida is different. Stretching 1,400 miles from the edge of the Everglades to Pensacola Beach, the Florida Trail is one of only 11 National Scenic Trails across America. It starts in a swamp, and ends on a beach. What you’ll see in between will give you a new appreciation for natural Florida.

Get the Book Get the App Plan your hike

Learn about this fantastic statewide resource for backpacking and hiking and join us for a workshop to see what our state’s longest trail has to offer and to get your questions answered. We wrote the book!

Explore the Florida Trail Get Trail Updates

Planning a future THRU-HIKE or SECTION HIKE? Look into the resources of the Florida Trail Hikers Alliance.

Upcoming Events


Mar 2: IDidAHike, Suwannee Springs
Apr 20: National Park Week
Jun 1: National Trails Day
2019 FEE-FREE DAYS FOR FEDERAL PUBLIC LANDS: Jan 21, Apr 20, Aug 25, Sep 28, Nov 11.

Newest & Updated Destinations

Hiking dunes at Fort Pickens

Florida Trail, Fort Pickens

At the westernmost tip of Santa Rosa Island, the Florida Trail comes to its Northern Terminus in the shadow of the most important historic sites in Northwest Florida, Fort Pickens.
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Florida Trail Seashore Dunes

Florida Trail, UWF Dunes Preserve

At the UWF/SRIA Dunes Preserve on Santa Rosa Island, the Florida Trail traverses a series of coastal habitats cradled by the sweeping dunes, providing a one-of-a-kind 3.4-mile hike.
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Narrow bridge Yellow River Ravines Florida Trail

Florida Trail, Yellow River Ravines

For an acrobatic adventure on the Florida Trail, the 11.1-mile Yellow River Ravines section between Holt and Harold tosses both tricky swamp traverses and creative creek crossings your way.
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Pine flatwoods at Prairie Lakes

Florida Trail, Prairie Lakes Loop

Alternating between moss-draped oak hammocks and the wide open prairies that characterize this part of Florida, the Florida Trail loop at Prairie Lakes provides one of Central Florida’s oldest and most scenic hiking destinations.
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Recent Articles

Florida Trail, Big Cypress

Crossing Big Cypress

It’s Florida’s roughest, wettest, weirdest backpacking trip, best tackled with friends. Along this 30 mile stretch of the Florida Trail in the heart of Big Cypress National Preserve, immersing in the swamp is the point of the hike. Sandra tackled it as the final stretch of her multi-year 1,110-mile section
Read More

Paddling the Intracoastal Waterway for Alzheimer’s Awareness

Traverse the Intracoastal Waterway on a paddleboarding adventure for a cause: broken into a series of day paddles, Something I Will Never Forget, an organized paddleboard journey, spans from St. Augustine to Palm Beach.
Read More
The Planetary Court at Koreshan State Park

Florida’s Utopia

At the Koreshan Unity in Estero, Florida, a group of believers gathered in 1894 to begin building their paradise. It is now a National Historic Site and a Florida State Park. Walk the trails and streets of “New Jerusalem” to learn its story.
Read More
Construction zone along Lake Okeechobee

East or West around Lake Okeechobee?

Making the decision to walk the Florida Trail east or west around Lake Okeechobee used to be easy. Now, with construction zones blocking access to much of the southern half of the lake, it isn’t. Here are the facts on each route’s strengths and weaknesses to help you decide the
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Our thanks to…

Providing a gracious gift of more than 5,000 archival image scans of trails and travel throughout Florida and the world, which you'll see scattered throughout these pages and in our Flickr galleries.

FOWA Excellence in Craft Awards recipient: 2006, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017.

Affiliations

Sandra & John are members of the Society of American Travel Writers and the Florida Outdoor Writers Association. Sandra is also a member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America.

They are life members of the Florida Trail Association and the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association.

John is a life member of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the Adventure Cycling Association, the American Canoe Association,and the National Eagle Scout Association.

Partners


Good Nature. Good Reads. Watula Press is the publishing arm of Florida Hikes, producing books on travel, nature, and the outdoors.


Hikers Helping Hikers


Connect with fellow hikers to plan your journey on the Florida Trail. Chat with other Florida Trail Hikers to learn about trail conditions and logistics.

Find your way

NORTHWEST FLORIDA
Apalachicola . Apalachicola National Forest . Apalachicola River . Blackwater River State Forest . Blountstown . Crawfordville. Crestview . DeFuniak Springs . Destin . Fort Walton Beach . Ebro . Freeport . Gulf Islands National Seashore . Madison . Marianna . Milton . Navarre . Niceville . Panama City Beach . Pensacola . Ponce De Leon . Port St. Joe . Sopchoppy . St. Marks . St. Marks NWR . Tallahassee

NORTH FLORIDA
Amelia Island . Cedar Key . Chiefland . Fernandina Beach . Flagler Beach . Gainesville .High Springs . Jacksonville . Lake City . Live Oak . Mayo . Micanopy . Osceola National Forest . Palatka . Perry . Salt Springs . St. Augustine . Steinhatchee . Suwannee River Wilderness Trail . Trenton . White Springs

CENTRAL FLORIDA
Apopka . Belleview . Brandon . Brooksville . Bushnell . Canaveral National Seashore . Christmas . Clearwater Beach . Clermont . Coast to Coast Trail . Cocoa Beach . Cross Florida Greenway . Crystal River . Dade City . Daytona Beach . Deland . Deltona . Dunnellon . Frostproof . Geneva . Inverness . Kissimmee . Lakeland . Lake Wales . Leesburg . Melbourne . Merritt Island NWR . Mount Dora . New Port Richey . New Smyrna Beach . Ocala . Ocala National Forest .Orlando . Ormond Beach . Oviedo . Sanford . Silver Springs . St. Cloud . St. Petersburg . Tampa . Tarpon Springs . Titusville . Walt Disney World . Withlacoochee State Forest . Withlacoochee State Trail . Yeehaw Junction

SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
Bradenton . Charlotte Harbor . Ding Darling NWR . Englewood . Estero . Fort Myers . Naples . Pine Island . Punta Gorda . Sanibel Island . Sarasota . Venice

SOUTH FLORIDA
Arcadia . Big Cypress . Big Cypress National Preserve . Clewiston . Everglades City . Everglades National Park . Fisheating Creek . Lake Okeechobee . Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail . Lake Placid . Moore Haven . Okeechobee . Sebring

SOUTHEAST FLORIDA
Biscayne Bay . Biscayne National Park . Boca Raton . Coral Gables . Everglades National Park . Florida Keys . Fort Lauderdale . Fort Pierce . Hobe Sound . Homestead . Jupiter . Key Biscayne . Miami . Ocean to Lake . Palm Beach . Port St. Lucie . Sebastian . Stuart . Vero Beach . West Palm Beach