Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
Hundreds of miles of trails and dozens of campgrounds and recreation areas make the Ocala, Apalachicola, and Osceola National Forests compelling outdoor destinations.
With a strong aquamarine hue accented by refracted rainbows as sunlight plays across the ripples on its sandy bottom, Silver Glen Springs is a first-magnitude spring in the Ocala National Forest.
A popular recreation area in the Apalachicola National Forest west of Tallahassee, Silver Lake is looped by a nature trail that provides scenic views of the lake
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
What’s it like to do trail research? Here’s a typical day out on the trail for us when we’re tracking down relocations of the Florida Trail or finding new trails to add to this website.
A perfect combination of cold weather, blue skies, and winter in a North Florida cypress swamp let us happen upon two instances of rainbow swamps on a hike in the Osecola Experimental Forest. Does that make a double rainbow?
A follow-up to the conservation legacy of Teddy Roosevelt’s administration, The Weeks Act was signed by William Howard Taft in March 1911. It authorized the Federal government – for the first time – to purchase private land to protect watersheds throughout the eastern United States.
While less than a mile long, the Timucuan Trail at Alexander Springs Recreation Area is the best place to sample the Big Scrub habitats of the Ocala National Forest while enjoying lush habitats along a spring run.
On a return trek to Hidden Pond, we find that all is well in this oasis in the middle of the Juniper Prairie Wilderness, just waiting for backpackers to savor it.
By itself, the Trail of Lakes is a 3.9-mile blue blazed connector between two portions of the Florida Trail around Camel Lake, a soggy, boggy walk in the Apalachicola National Forest. You can use the Florida Trail to create this 9.5 mile loop
An interpretive walk with extensive details on timbering history, the Trampled Track Trail leads to a waterfront view on Ocean Pond.
At Wright Lake Recreation Area near Sumatra, a day hiking loop along the western edge of the Apalachicola National Forest features an unusual bridge and numerous pitcher plant bogs
