Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
Florida parks with picnic tables and picnic pavilions. Great places to plan a picnic with the family. Pavilions usually must be reserved in advance.
Protecting more than 1,500 acres along Lake Jesup, Spring Hammock Preserve is home to some of Florida’s oldest and largest cypress trees
St. Andrews State Park is a pristine getaway on this coast that you won’t want to miss. It’s one of two bookends of natural wonder along the shoreline of Panama City Beach.
Blessed with brilliant white quartz sand, St. George Island State Park is a sparkling, quiet getaway protecting more than 2,000 acres of coastal habitats on a barrier island between Apalachicola Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
Protecting fragile coastal habitats on the tip of Cape San Blas as it curves around to shelter St. Joseph Bay, T.H. Stone Memorial St. Joseph Peninsula State Park provides a sweep of beachfront on both bay and Gulf to enjoy.
On the north tip of Jupiter Island, St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park is one of those rare parks that you can only reach by boat – motored, or under your own power, as most visitors do, by paddling through mangrove-lined coves.
Cut in two by Interstate 95 south of Melbourne, St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park spans 35 square miles across two counties, protecting a mosaic of habitats for wildlife, particularly the Florida scrub-jay.
At Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, Florida pioneer crafts and Florida folk music are as important as the lovely setting on the Suwannee River
At the south tip of Manasota Key, Stump Pass Beach State Park sits at just the right angle to collect seashells like a scoop, so early risers have great shelling
Perched on the bluffs at the confluence of the Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers, Suwannee River State Park is one of those don’t-miss Florida outdoors experiences, with two ghost towns, Civil War battlements that once protected a strategic railroad bridge, and the ruins of a former governor’s riverfront mansion.
Perched on a bluff above the St. Johns River north of Palatka, Tanglewyld Nature Park is a patch of public land along the horseshoe bend that River Road follows through Bostwick.
Conserving a vast swath of wetland habitats in low-lying areas along the Perdido River floodplain, Tarkiln Bayou Preserve State Park is home to four species of Sarracenia – pitcher plants – unique to the Gulf Coast.
Blending a historic route of the Florida Trail with an easy return along a forest road, the 4.7 mile Taylor Creek Loop traverses palm hammocks along the St. Johns River floodplain.
