Florida Hikes

Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides

Hiking with dogs

Best Hikes for Dogs

A selection of our top picks for where to go hiking and backpacking with your dog, including parks with dog parks and dog beaches.

Fort Cooper State Park

Protecting woodlands and marshes around Lake Holathlikaha, Fort Cooper State Park preserves an important chapter of the Second Seminole War. An annual re-enactment relives the battle.

Fort George Island Cultural State Park

With layer upon layer of human habitation atop the highest natural hill on the southeastern Atlantic Coast, Fort George Island offers a long look at the past.

Jennings Sandridge Trails

Middleburg   4.1 miles

Extraordinary quiet awaits west of Jacksonville on a 4.1 mile immersion into a healthy pine savanna on a central loop within the Sandridge Trails at Jennings State Forest.

Johnson Pond Trail

Dunnellon   2.7 miles

A mosaic of upland habitats along the northern edge of Withlacoochee State Forest surrounds a large prairie long known as Johnson Pond.

Lake Louisa Hiking Trail

Clermont   7.7 miles

Using the decades-old Lake Louisa Hiking Trail as its backbone, this 7.7-mile loop spans natural wetlands and rolling hills at Lake Louisa State Park.

Leon Sinks Geological Area

Tallahassee   4.5 miles

In the Apalachicola National Forest just south of Tallahassee, Leon Sinks Geological Area offers a delightful introduction to the wonders of karst topography on its trails.

Mill Creek Preserve

Alachua   5.3 miles

Slip through a curtain of pine plantation to discover a folded karst landscape with towering American beeches, spruce pines, swamp chestnut oaks, and a small waterfall on a 5.3 mile hike.

Olustee Battlefield Trail

Olustee   1.1 miles

The hike through Olustee Battlefield is short, but its historical significance is great. More than 2,000 men died in this forest on February 20, 1864, when Confederate and Union forces met and fought Florida's bloodiest battle

Prairie Lakes Loop

Kenansville   11.4 miles

Enjoy the counterpoint of moss-draped oak hammocks and expansive prairies at Prairie Lakes along one of the older and more beloved pieces of the Florida Trail.

Princess Place Preserve

Explore wild spaces and cultivated grounds along eight different trails at Princess Place Preserve, an 1880s homestead at Cherokee Grove on Pellicer Creek.

Rainbow Springs Sandhills Trail

Dunnellon   4.5 miles

A stroll through the gardens of Rainbow Springs leads to rolling terrain punctuated with centuries-old ravines created by phosphate mining for a walk into Dunnellon's past.