Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
Orlando is one of Florida’s best places to hike and bike, with a large quantity of trails and superb quality
Of all of Florida’s habitats, the one that truly sings “Florida” is the palm hammock, a richly textured riot of green and fronds, of mosses and lichens, of light and shadow perfectly balanced. Enjoy it on the Taylor Creek Loop.
A patch of wild in a sea of suburbia, Bear Creek provides nearly a mile’s worth of exploration atop sandy bluffs in a shady creekside hammock in Winter Springs.
Visiting this Seminole County preserve for the first time, a string of excellent wildlife sightings culminates in seeing three bears at the trailhead.
While the iconic Senator is no more, Big Tree Park continues to fascinate visitors with its enormous cypress trees, including Lady Liberty. The park provides access to the Cross Seminole Trail.
A 20.2-mile circuit on forest roads by bike provides a unique perspective on this 31,000-acre preserve along the St. Johns River floodplain in Christmas.
Inside the city of Orlando, the urban Bill Frederick Park has a wild side, too, with more than 2 miles of trails to meander through scrub forest and along Turkey Lake.
Trot out your sense of adventure for an immersion into one of the wildest trails you’ll find near Orlando, the 7.1-mile loop in the Black Bear Wilderness Area in Sanford.
Taste a bit of Old Florida at the crazy quilt of outdoors and dining that is Black Hammock Fish Camp along Lake Jesup.
Black Hammock is a bit of Old Florida in Oviedo, with a trail showcasing a delightfully long boardwalk and a loop through scrub habitats above Lake Jesup
The magic is floral at EPCOT each spring when Walt Disney World trots out the International Flower & Garden Show with its thousands of blooms.
Paddle down Shingle Creek from Shingle Creek Regional Park at Steffee Landing in Kissimmee, where canoe and kayak rentals are now available for visitors.
At the City of Orlando’s Carl T. Langford Park, a maze of paved trails lead you through hammocks of ancient live oaks, out to an observation deck on an ephemeral pond, across a suspension bridge, and through vast green spaces where kids can play.
