Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
Along with his wife Chelsey, Chris Stevens produces the blog Sunshine State Seekers. An avid hiker and camper, Chris serves as a Trailmaster for the Florida Trail Association.
Directly across Tampa Bay from St. Petersburg, two loop trails in Cockroach Bay Nature Preserve navigate restored wetlands and a lookout point known as Mount Cockroach.
Surrounded by commercial farming, this rare piece of conserved natural land offers upland loops around a creek feeding Cockroach Bay.
On this 4.4 mile loop, experience an impressive array of habitats in Florida panther habitat – from sandy flatwoods to flooded cypress swamps – in the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed.
Just four miles east of Interstate 75, get your feet wet in one corner of the vast the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed on the trails of Flint Pen Strand.
At CREW Marsh, a network of well-marked paths crisscrosses the northwestern tip of the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed, providing loops of up to 3.1 miles along a vast marsh.
Showcasing elements of a sandhill ecosystem, Loop C in the Croom Tract of Withlacoochee State Forest offers broad views of varied foliage and wildflowers under a sparse canopy.
Traversing floodplain forests and mesic flatwoods, the ecological diversity of the Eco-Walk trail is stunning, though at times it may require wet shoes to complete the loop.
A short drive from downtown Tampa, Cypress Creek Nature Preserve is an interesting window into a gradient of ecosystems along a tributary of the Hillsborough River.
Along a blackwater river surrounded by dense subtropical forest, the Econlockhatchee River Paddling Trail offers a remarkable perspective of Florida landscapes from the water.
Meandering over hilly terrain past numerous scenic overlooks, the Singing Bluffs Trail at Edward Medard Conservation Park provides great birding among documented nesting bird colonies.
Hike rolling sandhills and rugged terrain sloping towards scenic views of the Alafia River and Little Fishhawk Creek near Lithia Springs.
An easy-going 2.8-mile loop trail explores the south tract of Fishhawk Creek Preserve providing a glimpse of a few natural and endangered Florida habitats.
