CREW Flint Pen Strand Big Loop
Estero 7.7 milesPlunge into a wild landscape of verdant pine forests and mysterious cypress swamps on a series of connected loops stretching from Flint Pen Strand to the Bird Rookery Swamp Trail.

Naples is the western gateway to the wilds of South Florida, a tropical getaway on the Gulf

Plunge into a wild landscape of verdant pine forests and mysterious cypress swamps on a series of connected loops stretching from Flint Pen Strand to the Bird Rookery Swamp Trail.

The westernmost of the loops at Flint Pen Strand, the 1.5 mile Red Trail is an easy introduction to the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed.

It’s Florida’s roughest, wettest, weirdest backpacking trip, best done with friends. Sandra tackled it as the final piece of her 1,110-mile section hike of the Florida Trail, end-to-end.

John's hike across Big Cypress to lay down a GPS track for The Florida Trail Guide (and later, FarOut) was his first experience at backpacking with wet feet.

At the northernmost end of Naples, the breezy shores of Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park entice beachgoers and nature lovers to an observation tower, nature trail, and beach walk.

Swift tides rolling through Wiggins Pass define the northernmost beach of Naples, a spread of sun-drenched sand within sight of a line of condos that stretch southward.

In a lesser-known corner of the Big Cypress Swamp, Dr. Robert H Gore III Preserve immerses hikers in truly wild South Florida landscapes on its nature trails.

During their first-ever bat monitoring program at Picayune Strand State Forest, FWC found a rare and endangered species - the bonneted bat, Florida's largest bat.

It’s the Amazon of North America, home of the ghost orchid. Protecting more than 85,000 acres, Fakahatchee Strand is Florida's largest state preserve and most certainly our wildest.

Drifting across placid waters, find your bliss with the perfect adventure on Florida's hidden waters, with Lucy Tobias your guide.

Explore the habitat of Florida's apex predator on a pair of short hiking trails in one small corner of the vast territory that the endangered Florida panther roams.

A wild, watery wilderness for Florida backpackers, the 42.2-mile Florida Trail in Big Cypress National Preserve is both beautiful and extraordinarily challenging.
