Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
With 50 years of experience roaming Florida’s outdoors, we have favorite hikes dating all the way back to childhood. Use our favorites as your launch point for your next adventure!
8.2 miles. Now the Roberts Lake Trail, the former Loop Road to Oasis section of the Florida Trail is now blazed blue. It is where sawgrass and cypress meet, where the Everglades and Big Cypress blend.
An easy walk of 2 miles, the Salt Springs Loop in the Ocala National Forest is a popular hike, since it leads to an observation platform on Salt Springs Run.
A delightful immersion into the natural side of Merritt Island, the trails at Sams House at Pine Island range from mild to wild as they draw you deeper into coastal habitats along the Indian River Lagoon
With more than 4 miles of hiking in two trails, the River Trails of Silver Springs State Park are the park’s most popular walks, as they lead you to views along the Silver River.
One of the world’s largest and deepest springs, Silver Springs pours out more than 550 million gallons of water daily, forming the Silver River
Winding 1.4 miles through the slough, the broad wheelchair-accessible boardwalk at Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve in Fort Myers leads you into a dark cypress strand
A live oak tree more than 200 years old is the centerpiece of Split Oak Forest, a 2,000-acre prairie and scrub preserve near Orlando, home to families of sandhill cranes
A delight to visit, the Spring Boils Trail showcases bubbling springs both big and small, starting within sight of the main springs at Silver Glen Springs before it leads you to coves of tiny bubblers
One of Central Florida’s most scenic and easy-to-follow day hikes, the 7.9-mile St. Francis Trail traverses the southeastern corner of the Ocala National Forest
At Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, Florida pioneer crafts and Florida folk music are as important as the lovely setting on the Suwannee River
One of Florida’s oldest roadside attractions, Sunken Gardens is now a county park showing off more than a century’s worth of botanical bounty in St. Petersburg
Perched on the bluffs at the confluence of the Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers, Suwannee River State Park is one of those don’t-miss Florida outdoors experiences, with two ghost towns, Civil War battlements that once protected a strategic railroad bridge, and the ruins of a former governor’s riverfront mansion.
