Blue skies, blue water: the beauty of a hike at Blue Run Park in Dunnellon is in the glimpses of blue amid the supersaturated greens that provide deep shade along its trails. Blue Run itself is the Rainbow River under its oldest of names. It, too, was Blue Spring, like many found across Florida, named […]
Belleview
With the Cross Florida Greenway hugging its northern boundary, and the famed Santos Trails for mountain bikers, Belleview is a destination for outdoor recreation
Big Cypress Trail
Deep in the heart of an ancient swamp, the Goethe Giant – one of Florida’s largest cypress trees – stands tall at the end of a boardwalk in Goethe State Forest.
Buck Island Pond Trail
Looping around a cypress-lined pond in the midst of pine flatwoods northwest of Dunnellon, the Buck Island Pond Trail at Goethe State Forest has quite a few interesting features, including a pitcher plant bog.
Cedar Key
Perhaps the most popular getaway on Florida’s Nature Coast, Cedar Key is at the end of a 24-mile highway that follows a railroad bed which naturalist John Muir walked.
Chasing rainbows: Florida springs protection
April is Florida Springs Protection Month, according to our state agencies. A walk through Rainbow Springs State Park confirms that as beautiful as they look, the springs are not in good health.
Chiefland
Not far from where the Suwannee River flows out into the Gulf of Mexico, Chiefland is a major community with access to public lands along the Suwannee River and Goethe State Forest.
Comfort Suites Dunnellon
The newest accommodations to open in Dunnellon, Comfort Suites is a welcoming place with an airy lobby, stone fireplace, and comfortable rooms near recreation on the Rainbow River and Cross Florida Greenway.
Cross Florida Greenway
Stretching 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 that contains equestrian, mountain biking, hiking, and paved trails.
Cross Florida Greenway – Finding a Route
After several years of working on trail crews in Western Pennsylvania, I returned home to Florida in 1999 looking to find an organization similar to the Keystone Trails Association, which coordinated volunteer efforts on hiking trails. I discovered the Florida Trail Association, and to my delight, an active trail-building effort going on very close to […]