Florida Hikes
Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
A new way to let the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission know about things you see – positive or negative – on Florida’s trails is to send them a text. Discover a dead alligator, hog, or bear? Hear shotguns in the woods …
One of the delights of the Florida Trail is that it passes through Christmas, Florida, a beloved stop for postmarks during this holiday season and cheery all year round.
Of all of Florida's habitats, the one that truly sings "Florida" is the palm hammock, a richly textured riot of green and fronds, of mosses and lichens, of light and shadow perfectly balanced. Enjoy it on the Taylor Creek Loop.
On a cool, crisp morning in Central Florida, fog billows in long streamers across rural landscapes. It's time to visit Pine Lily Preserve in the mist.
Hiking in the moonlight? This trek through Hal Scott Preserve after dark is a regular offering of the Central Florida Chapter of the Florida Trail Association.
Frequently seen along the trail and in open areas in scrub habitats, wild pennyroyal (Piloblephis rigida) is a showy wildflower found in Florida's peninsula.
Slowly suffocating its host by creating a leafy canopy above it and roots that surround it, the strangler fig (Ficus aurea) earns its name. You'll see it throughout tropical habitats in South Florida.
Large puffy lichens, such as pale greenish-gray Cladina evansii and yellowish Cladina subtenuis are lumped under the colloquial name of deer moss.
Florida rosemary (Ceratiola ericoides) is not related to the edible herb rosemary, which is in the mint family. It is one of the showier shrubs in scrub habitat due to its rounded shape and sometimes enormous size.
With an unusual color and shape compared to most ducks you see, the black-bellied whistling duck is surprisingly common throughout all of Florida.
Epidendrum conopseum
A night bloomer that begins to close as daylight arrives, moonflower (Ipomoea alba) is commonly seen around Lake Okeechobee and throughout the Big Cypress as a draping vine cascading over trees and shrubs.
