Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
With the Cross Florida Greenway hugging its northern boundary and the famed Santos Trails for mountain bikers, Belleview is a destination for outdoor recreation.
Biking the Santos Trails for the first time this fall, I opted to leave my vintage Cannondale at home and try a rental bike for my first spin through these famed off-road trails south of Ocala.
As a peninsula in Lake Weir, parts of Carney Island Conservation Area are naturally air-conditioned. Walk 4 miles beneath ancient oaks and expect to see wildlife.
Stretching 90 miles from the St. Johns River near Palatka to the Gulf of Mexico, the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway is a mile-wide recreational corridor with hiking, biking, and equestrian trails as well as paddling and boating access.
The history of the Cross Florida Greenway’s birth and the building the Land Bridge – and the Florida Trail – across this new stretch of public land in Central Florida in 1999.
A visit to the Barge Canal Diggings near I-75 after 13 years of the Florida Trail on the Cross Florida Greenway reveals steady changes over the years, shown in a series of photos.
A landmark along Interstate 75 near Ocala, the Land Bridge remains one of the more popular destinations for hikers, bikers, and equestrians on the Cross Florida Greenway.
The Land Bridge section of the Florida Trail has a special place in my heart since I helped create it under the tutelage of Kenneth Smith, ‘Mr. Greenway,’ who retired last year from being a section leader.
43.8 miles. A prime destination for backpacking and day hiking south of Ocala, the Florida Trail follows the Cross Florida Greenway through woodlands between the Withlacoochee and Ocklawaha Rivers
6.7 miles. Between the Land Bridge Trailhead and Santos, the Florida Trail winds its way around horse farms to meander through stands of oaks and pines.
5.1 miles. History is on display along this segment of the abandoned Cross Florida Barge Canal, from a town demolished nearly a century ago to agricultural land undergoing habitat restoration.
3.6 miles. Bookended by soft sand pines and ancient oaks, this particularly fascinating hike along the Cross Florida Greenway includes a massive dune-like slope and the Land Bridge over Interstate 75.
241 miles. With segments linking Withlacoochee State Forest and the Cross Florida Greenway, the Western Corridor provides access to wild spaces between Tampa and Ocala
