Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
With some of Central Florida’s highest elevations, Clermont is where the Lake Wales Ridge meets the edge of the Green Swamp
INTERACTIVE MAP
On a 1.7-mile loop, Crooked River Preserve showcases a wide variety of habitats in a short hike on the northernmost extent of the Lake Wales Ridge in Clermont
Hikes near Orlando theme parks, by reader request. The area between Sea World and Universal Studios is both heavily populated and commercial, so you have to drive beyond the Orlando International Airport to find the wild places.
Managed by The Nature Conservancy, the Disney Wilderness Preserve is a 12,000 acre showcase for habitat conservation amid growing suburban sprawl south of Orlando
On Lake Apopka’s western shore, Ferndale Preserve offers amazing panoramas of Florida’s fourth largest lake, along with serious elevation changes on its four miles of multi-use trails
Established as a botanical preserve for native plants, Flat Island Preserve protects islands in the Okahumpa Marsh, offering hikers and paddlers immersion in a lush wilderness
With a corridor spanning more than 220 miles across nine Florida counties, the Florida Coast to Coast Trail (C2C) is Central Florida’s long distance bike path
At the Green Mountain Scenic Overlook and Trailhead, the highest elevations in Central Florida provide a sweeping panorama of Lake Apopka and Florida’s longest set of trail switchbacks
Across two counties and along the entire north rim of Florida’s fourth-largest lake, this 20,000 acre conservation area is a sweep of wildlife-rich marshes
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.
As longleaf pine reaches for the sky, the rolling hills of Lake Louisa State Park near Clermont return to their forested roots
South of Lake Apopka, the Lake Wales Ridge is a significant landform down the middle of the Florida peninsula, with its highest hills and oldest biological communities
Protecting more than 128 acres along Lake Apopka, Oakland Nature Preserve offers an accessible boardwalk through marshes to the lake and uplands trails to explore
