While we were roaming the trails of South Florida, a box of books arrived at our home: our author copies of Five Star Trails Gainesville & Ocala! We started working on this guide to the best trails in the Gainesville and Ocala vicinity last fall, nibbling away at hikes at the south end of the region like Carney Island Park – a perennial favorite for the annual New Years Eve campout, and we’ll be leading a guided hike there again this year, Dec 31, departing Doe Lake at 1 PM and arriving at Carney Island around 1:30.
Our research on this book continued through May, exploring trails we both had roamed before, at different times, and finding new places together, like Watermelon Pond Preserve, which we loved for the expansive prairie views and all the fox squirrels running around.
In all, the book has 38 hikes ranging from short and easy walks with the kids to longer day hikes on the Florida Trail in the Ocala National Forest and on the Cross Florida Greenway.
We’ll be signing copies of the book this Saturday between 2-4 PM at Travel Country Outdoors in Altamonte Springs. But if you can’t make it there, you can take advantage of our publishers special offer by using the code below for a 30% discount off cover price.
We’ve posted images from all the hikes – as well as GPX tracks – on a page dedicated to the book. Enjoy!
