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
Paddling in Florida
Along busy US 19 in Tarpon Springs, hugs the western shore of Lake Tarpon, offering plenty of picnic pavilions along a boardwalk following the cypress-lined shore.
Surrounding one of Florida’s most picturesque first magnitude springs, Alexander Springs Recreation Area provides visitors with many options to enjoy the spring and the woodlands around the spring basin.
A sweep of Atlantic Coast beach awaits along the southern tip of Amelia Island, where the sand glistens and the surf is frequently up. Amelia Island State Park protects 200 acres along the island’s shore.
Noted for its botanical beauty, the Apalachicola National Forest is the largest National Forest in Florida, sweeping south and west of Tallahassee
With its natural waterfront on Tampa Bay, Apollo Beach Nature Preserve is a perfect place for birders, not beachgoers, a place to launch a kayak and scan the skies for osprey.
Stretching from Melbourne Beach to Sebastian, this refuge protects sea turtle nesting grounds along the Atlantic Ocean
At the edge of Boynton Beach, where historic farmlands have given way to subdivisions, Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge is a 145,000 acre buffer between suburbia and the Everglades
The original Cedar Key isn’t where you think it is. It’s offshore, within sight of the current historic waterfront, an island called Atsena Otie Key, part of Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge.
If you’ve wanted to see bioluminescence while paddling in Florida, this is your put-in spot. Bairs Cove offers an easy launch into the Indian River Lagoon as well as a sheltered cove along Haulover Canal.
Made up of liquid pools of beauty on the edge of Florida Caverns State Park, Baltzell Spring is a compelling destination for spring hunters along the Chipola River in Marianna.
In a hidden corner of Collier County, Barefoot Beach Preserve provides immersion in nature at a beauty spot along two miles of natural shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico just north of Wiggins Pass.
Home to a gentle 1-mile loop hike through coastal habitats, Barrier Island Sanctuary is a gateway to Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, with an informative oceanfront coastal biology center.
