With more than 1,400 miles of hiking statewide, the Florida Trail provides a gateway to grand landscapes for botanical beauty. Here are our top suggestions for fascinating botanical destinations along the Florida Trail.
Do Not Feed the Bears
Bear bagging is the art of hanging your food properly out of reach of bears. If you’re a Florida backpacker and haven’t learned how, here’s a short course. Securing your food from bears is required in the Ocala, Osceola, and Apalachicola National Forests.
Geneva Wilderness Area
Showcasing prairie ponds amid scrub on the edge of a pine flatwoods, Geneva Wilderness Area offers two loops of gentle paths on which to explore the habitats.
Holly Hammock Hiking Trail
A 2.4 mile loop showing off the habitat diversity of Ross Prairie State Forest, this easy hike provides scenic panoramas across the prairie on a mostly shaded trail.
Serenova Preserve
Accessed via a trailhead along SR 52, the 6,533-acre Serenova Tract of Starkey Wilderness Preserve is the “wild space” to the north of J.B. Starkey Wilderness Park in New Port Richey. An effort is underway to try to put a road through the preserve, and locals are fighting against it. Here’s what’s going on and how you can help.