Florida Hikes

Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides

Articles by Sandra Friend

Big Tree Park

Longwood   0.3 miles

While the iconic Senator is no more, Big Tree Park continues to fascinate visitors with its enormous cypress trees, including Lady Liberty. The park provides access to the Cross Seminole Trail.

Biking around Osteen

Using Beck Ranch Park as our launch point for a cycling adventure in Osteen, we discovered how easy it was to stitch together the local network of bike paths into a pleasant ride, with the Osteen Diner right at hand for lunch.

Bill Frederick Park

Orlando   2.4 miles

Inside the City of Orlando, the urban Bill Frederick Park has a wild side, too, with more than 2 miles of trails to meander through scrub forest and along Turkey Lake.

Bill Sadowski Park

Miami   0.4 miles

At the Bill Sadowski Park and Nature Center, the Old Cutler Hammock Nature Trail offers a glimpse of what Cutler Ridge, south of Miami, looked like before development.

Billie Swamp Safari

With airboat and swamp buggy rides as well as interpretation of native species, Billie Swamp Safari is a nature-based attraction providing immersion into the Big Cypress Swamp.

Biscayne Bay

Biscayne Bay is a shallow estuary bounded by barrier islands and coral reefs along the Miami shoreline, more than 63,000 acres of placid salt water.

Biscayne National Park

Florida's largest offshore park, Biscayne National Park protects living coral reefs and islands that are the northernmost part of the Florida Keys

Black Hammock Fish Camp

Taste a bit of Old Florida at the crazy quilt of outdoors and dining that is Black Hammock Fish Camp along Lake Jesup.

Black Hammock Wilderness Area

Oviedo   4.5 miles

Black Hammock is a bit of Old Florida in Oviedo, with a trail showcasing a delightfully long boardwalk and a loop through scrub habitats above Lake Jesup.

Black Mangrove

Black mangroves have shiny leaves and dark round seed cases. Their most distinguishing feature is their pnuemataphores, finger-like protrusions around the tree like slender, miniature cypress knees.

Black-bellied whistling duck

With an unusual color and shape compared to most ducks you see, the black-bellied whistling duck is surprisingly common throughout all of Florida.