Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
With some of the state’s largest population centers and easiest access by air, Central Florida is a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts in the know.
Nestled alongside the Alafia River in Riverview, Pebble Park is a family-friendly natural area offering quiet shaded trails and approachable open spaces.
Centered on a deep sinkhole and swallet that drains directly into the Floridan Aquifer, Peck Sink Preserve is a 112-acre conservation area near Brooksville.
With a surprising diversity of oak species for Central Florida, Perry Oldenburg WEA protects a prime piece of sandhill habitat where gopher tortoises thrive.
Tunneling into a vast swamp forest now protected as Tiger Bay State Forest, a mile-long strip of preserved brick highway from 1917 provides a peek into early Florida auto travel
Showcasing habitat diversity along the St. Johns River basin, the Pine Island Trail treats you to ancient oaks, open scrub, and the bank of the river itself
In every season, wildflowers are the highlight along more than 4 miles of trails at Pine Lily Preserve, where its namesake lilies bloom in late summer.
A paved ribbon stretching the length of Pinellas County from St. Petersburg to Tarpon Springs, the Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail provides cyclists with nearly 38 miles of low-stress cruising
At the south end of Canaveral National Seashore, Playalinda Beach is a popular destination for beachgoers along the Space Coast thanks to its natural beaches and views of Kennedy Space Center.
Just south of Daytona Beach, Ponce Preserve protects a cross-section of barrier island habitats, with nearly 2 miles of trails connecting the beach and the Halifax River
Enjoy the counterpoint of moss-draped oak hammocks and expansive prairies at Prairie Lakes along one of the older and more beloved pieces of the Florida Trail.
The Sandhill Trail at Rainbow Springs State Park leads hikers into rolling terrain punctuated with ravines created by mining and restored by nature, and offers a new perspective on the Rainbow River
A place of beauty that morphed from phosphate pits to botanical attraction over the course of a century, Rainbow Springs State Park cradles one of Florida’s most beautiful first-magnitude springs
