Florida Hikes

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

Palms along an atoll

Miami

One of Florida’s busiest metropolitan areas, Miami is the gateway to three national parks and gardens galore
INTERACTIVE MAP

A.D. Barnes Park

Miami   0.6 miles

Paved trails wind through the woods at A.D. Barnes Park, a Miami city park, where a tiny slice of native pine rocklands survives.

Adding to the Life List

Although John is a native Floridian, our research trip to South Florida became an opportunity for him to see many natural "firsts" in Florida that most people have on their life lists.

Anhinga Trail

Royal Palm Hammock   0.8 miles

For most visitors, the Anhinga Trail is their first glimpse into Everglades National Park. It's short, and the alligators are right there: hard to miss

Arch Creek Park

Miami   0.3 miles

An oasis of natural tropical hammock in North Miami, Arch Creek Park hugs the eastern edge of its namesake creek, which once had a natural limestone bridge used by indigenous peoples and pioneers.

Bayshore Loop

Flamingo   1.3 miles

A walk through the mangrove-lined edge of Florida Bay and the unique coastal prairie habitat of the Everglades, the Bayshore Loop explores the site of the former fishing village of Flamingo.

Bear Cut Preserve

Miami   2.0 miles

On the northern end of Key Biscayne, a set of sandy and paved trails lead out to a boardwalk overlooking fossilized coral reefs and downtown Miami in the distance.

Bear Lake Trail Everglades

Flamingo   3.5 miles

Paralleling the former Homestead Canal, the Bear Lake Trail takes you on a journey through tropical hammock and mangrove forests along a road scooped from the canal diggings.

Big Cypress National Preserve

Protecting nearly three quarters of the million-acre Big Cypress Swamp, Big Cypress National Preserve is Florida's second largest and most remote wilderness.

Bill Sadowski Park

Miami   0.4 miles

At the Bill Sadowski Park and Nature Center, the Old Cutler Hammock Nature Trail offers a glimpse of what Cutler Ridge, south of Miami, looked like before development.

Biscayne Bay

Biscayne Bay is a shallow estuary bounded by barrier islands and coral reefs along the Miami shoreline, more than 63,000 acres of placid salt water.

Biscayne National Park

Florida's largest offshore park, Biscayne National Park protects living coral reefs and islands that are the northernmost part of the Florida Keys

Bobcat Boardwalk

Shark Valley   0.3 miles

The 0.3-mile Bobcat Boardwalk at Shark Valley is a popular destination in winter and spring to see migratory and nesting birds.