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.
A morning of exploration allowed us to experience the not-quite-open-yet Good Neighbor Trail and its historic context during our visit to Brooksville this September.
John takes on an urban piece of the C2C in Sanford following the Rinehart Trail – bits of path, sidewalks, and road shoulders – to meet the Seminole Wekiva Trail
A 20.2-mile circuit on forest roads by bike provides a unique perspective on this 31,000-acre preserve along the St. Johns River floodplain in Christmas.
Inside the city of Orlando, the urban Bill Frederick Park has a wild side, too, with more than 2 miles of trails to meander through scrub forest and along Turkey Lake.
North of Orlando, Black Bear Wilderness Area in Sanford offers some of the best wildlife watching in the region on its loop along the St. Johns River.
Trot out your sense of adventure for an immersion into one of the wildest trails you’ll find near Orlando, the 7.1-mile loop in the Black Bear Wilderness Area in Sanford.
Discover the beauty of the St. Johns River floodplain along this 2 mile round-trip to the rivers edge in wildlife-rich Black Bear Wilderness Area
Taste a bit of Old Florida at the crazy quilt of outdoors and dining that is Black Hammock Fish Camp along Lake Jesup.
Black Hammock is a bit of Old Florida in Oviedo, with a trail showcasing a delightfully long boardwalk and a loop through scrub habitats above Lake Jesup
Winding along a narrow dirt road, Black Point Wildlife Drive offers from-your-car birding in the marshes and mud flats of Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge
Enjoy a gentle family-friendly hike along the Rainbow River at Blue Run of Dunnellon Park, where woodland footpaths and paved trails keep you mostly in the shade with dry feet as you explore the river floodplain.
If you’ve never seen manatees by the dozens, let alone a hundred or more at once, there is no better place in Florida to watch these gentle giants than the Blue Spring Boardwalk in the wintertime
