Yesterday I needed some time to play in the woods, so off we went to Ravine Gardens State Park and Gold Head Branch State Park. To visit both in one day highlights how human intervention changes the natural landscape. Ravine Gardens was a WPA project in the 1930s to keep people employed, and became one …
A visit to Flint Creek Outfitters
When I was driving out to the Ocala National Forest the other day, I heard a radio commercial for a new outfitter in town. Now I was saddened to see Brasington’s pull out of town some time ago, since they focused on gear for hiking and kayaking, so there has been a void in the …
A visit to Trout Lake Nature Center
A quick visit to Trout Lake Nature Center in Eustis opened up a new world of things to do close to home.
A Walk at Wekiwa
A walk in the park at Wekiwa Springs State Park doesn’t have to be a long one. Here’s a way to sample the park’s highlights and habitats along its trails.
A Walk with Angus Gholson
While researching Exploring Florida’s Botanical Wonders, I had the honor of a visit to Angus Gholson’s herbarium in Chattahoochee, as well as a guided hike through the new Gholson Nature Park, a wonderland of rare wildflowers.
A.D. Barnes Park
Paved trails wind through the woods at A.D. Barnes Park, a Miami city park, where a tiny slice of native pine rocklands survives.
A.L. Anderson Park
Along busy US 19 in Tarpon Springs, hugs the western shore of Lake Tarpon, offering plenty of picnic pavilions along a boardwalk following the cypress-lined shore.
Above the Clouds
After arriving cold and wet at Icewater Springs Shelter to watch it rain, rain, rain the rest of the day, we awoke to this amazing vista from the shelter: looking down on the clouds with mountaintops rising through them.
Addison Blockhouse Historic State Park
Beneath a dense canopy of cabbage palms and live oaks, the remains of a 19th century plantation rise from the forest floor at Addison Blockhouse State Park.
Alafia River State Park
Alafia River State Park lets you launch on a Florida downhill while mountain biking the rugged terrain of a reforested open pit mine.
Alderman’s Ford Preserve
Discover a surprising play of whitewater across the Alafia River where the river churns as it winds through a deeply eroded channel.
Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park
In late winter, azaleas create ribbons of bright color beneath the live oak canopy across the grounds of Maclay Gardens, a series of formal gardens along the hillsides sweeping down to Lake Hall.