Dueling fireworks – Winter Springs and Oviedo – were visible from the Florida Trail the other night if you knew where to look! My friend Joan, aka Bluetrail, had a great plan – head out on the Cross Seminole Trail bridge over SR 434 after dark. Sure enough, it was a high enough vantage point […]
The Florida Hikes! Blog
News, trail updates, and conservation issues, as well as our explorations of trails around Florida and the world.
A quick trip through Leon Sinks Natural Area
I’m trying out a few new tricks using WordPress plugins and specialized code from my image host, SmugMug.com. Let’s see how this works… [HTML1]
A Tale of Two Ravines
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 […]
Along Hopkins Prairie
Last week, my buddy Bob and I hit the Florida Trail to knock off another segment in the Ocala National Forest — this time, Hopkins Prairie. My first visit here was with Deb Blick, cartographer and data collector extraordinare of the Florida Trail Association, and it was a walk at a data collector’s pace. On […]
Apalachicola Reserve
At the far north end of Market Street, that famed boulevard that slices right through the heart of Apalachicola’s historic business district, the road ends at the Apalachicola Reserve Nature Center and its adjoining nature trail. While the center is only open on weekends, the trail is available anytime (dawn to dusk), and I took […]
Backpacking, children, and Central Florida
Earlier this week, I had an email from Chris, a Central Florida father who wants to take his son on his first backpacking trip. In part, his email said: My son and I are looking for our first hike and camp (one overnight trip). We live in Orlando, FL and I so far Lake Louisa […]
Before the Burn: Juniper Prairie Wilderness
Here’s what the Juniper Prairie Wilderness looked like prior to the fire. The loss of this beautiful area is heartbreaking. I was fortunate to visit in February on a hike on the Florida Trail with my friends Bob & Bonnie Coveney. We witnessed a lot of damage from the 2006 blaze, more than I expected. […]
Big Lagoon’s Sandy Sweep
Out past Pensacola within earshot of the Gulf of Mexico, Big Lagoon State Park is notable for being a gateway to the Great Florida Birding Trail, with a large observation tower overlooking the vast sweep of the namesake lagoon. There are always wading birds and raptors here, either poking around the shallows or diving for […]
Books for Hikers … for you!
My dear friend Linda “eArThworm” Patton has just set up shop at www.booksforhikers.com, where she is moving and expanding her long-time Backcountry Bibliography to include many more written resources for hikers. For those not in the know, Linda’s a retired librarian and just can’t help herself. Yup, she’s got shelves, bookcases, and stacks of these […]
Chinsegut’s Big Pines
I took my parents with me this weekend on an exploration of the trails at Chinsegut Wildlife & Environmental Area near Brooksville. Here’s Mom taking photos of some of the incredibly tall longleaf pines in this stand of virgin forest. This patch of forest is little-known and, on a perfect sunny morn, we had the […]