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.
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.
Connecting Auburndale with Polk City and the Van Fleet Trail, this linear bike path is a greenway through a growing community along the Polk Parkway east of Lakeland
In 1891, Commodore Ralph Middleton Munroe built his cherished retreat, The Barnacle, in the dense jungle of the Miami Hammock. The Barnacle Historic State Park preserves that tiny sliver of history surrounded by urban Miami.
Protecting nearly 64,000 acres south of the Orlando metro along the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area is a delight for birders and hikers.
Hugging the state line with Georgia at Lake Seminole – the reservoir created by the dam where the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers form the Apalachicola – Three Rivers State Park is a prime getaway for anglers
A wildlife haven within earshot of Walt Disney World, Tibet-Butler Preserve provides 3.6 miles of well-kept and gentle hiking trails for family fun
Surrounding more than 42 square miles of the Tomoka River watershed, Tiger Bay State Forest provides nearly 20 miles of interpretive and multiuse trails between Daytona Beach, Ormond Beach, and DeLand
On a hike of nearly 2 miles, the Island Trail at Tillie K. Fowler Regional Park shows off upland and floodplain forest habitats along the Ortega River in Jacksonville.
