Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
News, trail updates, and conservation issues, as well as our explorations of trails around Florida and the world.
With four active red-cockaded woodpecker nests, the Disney Wilderness Preserve in Poinciana – a great place to hike – has become a hotbed of activity as the little ones hatch out. The Nature Conservancy manages this mosaic of prairies and pine forests, and keeps an eye on the endangered species who live here: using video …
I was surprised to see a Google alert pop up today about a rally going on at the Port Mayaca Florida Power & Light nuclear power plant. Back before September 11, 2001, the Barley Barber Swamp was open to the public for hiking tours led by a very knowledgable guide, who I had the pleasure …
Here’s another one that’ll get trotted out in earnest on the Florida Hikes! blog once I transcribe all my notes from the hike. Talk about a beauty spot, and a hard-won one. I found this treasure deep within the forests of Washington County, between Fountain and Ebro, north of Panama City, after a rigorous several …
The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission sent out notice this past week that they’re expanding their Burmese python hunting to all hunters on state and federal lands in South Florida – including Big Cypress National Preserve. That’s good news to Florida hikers, since stumbling across one of these monster snakes in the wilds isn’t …
I received an email yesterday from Bonnie, a reader who’s visiting the Port Richey area soon. She asks: I’ll have a few days to do some hiking – perhaps a 2 -3 day backpack trip – something within a 50 mile radius of the Port Richey area preferably…So – which one of your books would …
Yesterday, Google launched a product that will make some hikers leap for joy and others wince. We go to the woods to get away from it all, right? At least some of us do. Well, with the new My Tracks application for Android-powered cell phones (like the T-Mobile G1), you can beam a real-time track …
Where in Florida am I? I took this image at sunset today (with the moon rising), and it wasn’t on a hiking trail. However, there are several excellent places to hike within 15 minutes of here, three of which are in one of my 50 Hikes guides. I’m headed out over the next two days …
It’s officially winter in Florida, when thoughts turn to pink flamingos … and Everglades National Park. For the next 90 days or so, it’s prime time to visit this unique wilderness along the tip of Florida’s peninsula. “There are no other Everglades in the world,” wrote Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, advocate for the creation of the …
Hi, gang! We returned from Apalachicola today in a driving rain, the Gulf of Mexico so dark and silvery it felt like driving through a Clyde Butcher photograph. Rob and I just celebrated our third wedding anniversary AND my latest book, “Orlando & Central Florida: An Explorer’s Guide” is turned in, AND the Florida Hiking …
Spent last Sunday hiking a kick-butt section of the Torreya Hiking Trail about 1/3 of the way around the loop, going counterclockwise from the blue trail out past the Confederate gun emplacements near the Gregory House. A living history group had just decamped the night before. Joining me was Judd from our FTA Tallahassee office, …
St. Joseph Peninsula State Park is rather remote. To get there, you need to drive through Indian Pass, where the Indian Pass Raw Bar will tempt with its old Florida funk and fresh oysters. It isn’t anywhere near the beaten path – it’s about as far as you can get from I-10 in the Florida …
I was in search of the new interpretive trail at Fisheating Creek last Monday when time overtook me the first try, and dusk overtook me the second try. However, I managed to get some clarifications from folks who’ve been there and seen it. The interpretive trail starts from at the new FWC office along SR …
