Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
Florida places and trails that can be accessed by paddlers from the water.
Access by water
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
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.
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.
Where the highway ends, Bayport Park begins. Perched on the edge of the estuary where the Weeki Wachee River meets the Gulf of Mexico, it offers spectacular sunset views along with its water access.
Florida’s largest offshore park, Biscayne National Park protects living coral reefs and islands that are the northernmost part of the Florida Keys
With a developed swimming area surrounding a first-magnitude spring, Blue Springs Recreation Area is a liquid playground in hues of blue, a broad open basin pouring forth a spring run with a dozen more major springs along its length.
Walk among the ancients in Bulow Hammock, starting with the imposing Fairchild Oak, one of Florida’s largest live oak trees
In the northernmost of the Florida Keys, Elliott Key is the most remote place in Florida where you can take a hike in the shadow of a major city.
Providing a buffer between the heavily developed Gulf Coast between Fort Myers and Estero and the delicate estuaries that serve as nurseries for the aquatic life of the region, Estero Bay Preserve State Park encompasses ten miles of shoreline along Estero Bay.
