Florida Hikes

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

Feet in kayak with mangrove lined waterway in front of it

Featured Articles

Featured articles and destinations for planning your explorations of Florida’s outdoors.

Paddling the Thousand Islands

One of the hidden natural treasures of Cocoa Beach, the Thousand Islands provide a fun paddle through a maze of mangroves on a marked trail through a conservation area.

Permits and Passes

How to obtain passes and permits for Florida's public lands, including state parks, state forests, national parks, and Eglin Air Force Base.

Pinecrest Gardens

Established in the 1930s as a tropical tourist attraction, Parrot Jungle, this tropical forest in Pinecrest has deep roots, if you will, showcasing both native and exotic tropical species.

Pioneer Paddling Trail

Merritt Island   2.7 miles

Amid mangrove swamps along an old pioneer route in Kings Park, the Pioneer Paddling Trail offers an intimate look at a forgotten wild corridor on Merritt Island.

Snakes on a Trail

One week, three venomous snakes, and many harmless ones: all encountered on our early morning bike rides along paved trails on cool mornings.

Sunflowers on the St. Johns

For more than a decade, I've been chasing sunflower blooms in Florida wetlands in October. In 2021, it's a banner year for these showy beauties in Central Florida.

Ten Thousand Islands

Where the waters of Big Cypress and the Everglades meet the Gulf Coast, the Ten Thousand Islands are a maze of mangrove forest: the second largest mangrove forest in the world, bested only by Bangladesh

The Moon Tree Garden

Florida's most unique arboretum features a circle of sycamores honoring the Apollo missions, all here thanks to an Apollo 14 project for the U.S. Forest Service to take tree seedings into orbit around the moon.