Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
Places to paddle in Florida, including rivers and streams, spring runs, freshwater lakes, coastal lakes and lagoons, and coastal paddling trails
On forested bluffs above Lake Apopka, Magnolia Park anchors the eastern terminus of the Lake Apopka Loop Trail near a campground under ancient live oaks
Showcasing the lower Suwannee River, Manatee Springs State Park centers around a clear blue spring, one of Florida’s largest and most picturesque
Providing a peek into an ecologically important area along the eastern edge of Bethea State Forest, the 2.5 mile Maple Set Trail showcases the beauty of the St. Marys River basin.
A tropical retreat along the coast of Coral Gables, Matheson Hammock Park has two distinct sides: a wild slice of the ancient Miami Hammock and a waterfront with a man-made atoll on Biscayne Bay.
Providing paddlers and boaters access to the Apopka-Beauclair Canal, the McDonald Canal Boat Ramp is a quiet spot for a picnic lunch and birding stop
With recreational activities ranging from hiking to biking, boating, fishing, and bioluminscent kayaking, Florida’s top destination for birding is also home to Kennedy Space Center
Fed by first-magnitude Jackson Blue Spring and nearly a dozen smaller springs, Merritt’s Mill Pond is a waterway unlike any other in Florida, its unusual hues trapped between rocky slopes and edged with moss-draped cypress trees.
One of Florida’s oldest state parks and notable for its Civilian Conservation Corps architecture, Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park offers a lesson in Florida topography.
Surrounded by a rim of old growth cypress, Morrison Springs is a beautiful second magnitude spring with swimming and diver access down an interpretive boardwalk
On a breezy isthmus between Lake Hart and Lake Mary Jane, Moss Park offers superb campsites and picnic pavilions under moss-draped live oaks.
Launch your kayak from either Koreshan Historic State Park or Lovers Key State Park for a paddle into Estero Bay to see Mound Key, a significant Calusa archaeological site that is now its own state park.
At Mud Spring, mud isn’t what you’ll see in the gently rounded basin that cradles an underwater garden, but a glassy natural pool.
