A former 5,000-acre cattle ranch in the midst of the Green Swamp Wilderness Area, headwaters to the Hillsborough, Peace, Ocklawaha, and Withlacoochee Rivers, Colt Creek State Park is a mosaic of wetlands and uplands with extensive forest roads serving as trails
Lakeland
With an array of parks and natural lands and a growing system of bike trails, Lakeland is a hub for recreation along the Lake Wales Ridge and into the Green Swamp.
Dade City
Gateway to the vast Green Swamp, Dade City offers easy access to day hikes and backpacking trips in the vast green spaces of Withlacoochee State Forest and water management district lands.
Eureka Springs
Eureka Springs Park includes what remains of a tropical botanical garden established in 1938 around springs that fed a lush floodplain forest along Six Mile Creek.
Florida Trail, Central Florida
In Central Florida, the Florida Trail presents two options: east or west around the Orlando metro. Forested public lands provide protection for much of the route.
Fort Foster State Historic Site
Part of Hillsborough River State Park, Fort Foster State Historic Site takes you back to the era of Florida’s earliest pioneer settlers and their clashes with the native Seminoles.
Frostproof
Edged by expansive state forests and wildlife management lands, Frostproof boasts a large concentration of trails in the southeastern corner of Polk County.
Gator Creek Preserve
A dip into a corner of the Green Swamp, Gator Creek Preserve north of Lakeland offers 2.5 miles of easy loop trails for the whole family to explore
Hiking Tampa’s Oak Ridge
It was the lack of blazes that caught my eye. Especially at intersections. Here and there, we’d find a diamond marking the route that the equestrian trails followed. But with Lenny leading the way, we simply followed. The Oak Ridge Tract of Lower Hillsborough River Wilderness Area is another in a vast patchwork of lands […]
Hillsborough River State Park
Water in motion: the Hillsborough rapids foam and froth over limestone boulders beneath grand cypress trees in Class II rapids. One of Florida’s oldest state parks, Hillsborough River State Park showcases this masterpiece of nature from an overlook and trail system built by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
Hollis Garden
Snuggled along Lake Mirror in downtown Lakeland, this 1.2 acre formal garden is presented as a series of themed gardens, starting with a secretive fern and waterlily grotto at the top of the hill and an arboretum of historic trees.