Florida Hikes

Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides

St Marks River Park picnic table

Florida parks with picnic tables

Florida parks with picnic tables and picnic pavilions. Great places to plan a picnic with the family. Pavilions usually must be reserved in advance.

Ponce de Leon Springs State Park

In the middle of the Florida Panhandle, Ponce de Leon Springs is along the upper end of a belt of shimmering springs that feed the Choctawhatchee River basin.

Ponce Preserve

Ponce Inlet   1.6 miles

Just south of Daytona Beach, Ponce Preserve protects a cross-section of barrier island habitats, with nearly 2 miles of trails connecting the beach and the Halifax River

Princess Place Preserve

Explore wild spaces and cultivated grounds along eight different trails at Princess Place Preserve, an 1880s homestead at Cherokee Grove on Pellicer Creek.

Rainbow Springs Sandhills Trail

Dunnellon   4.5 miles

A stroll through the gardens of Rainbow Springs leads to rolling terrain punctuated with centuries-old ravines created by phosphate mining for a walk into Dunnellon's past.

Rainbow Springs State Park

Dunnellon   5.0 miles

A botanical and a geological delight, Rainbow Springs wraps the beauty of a first-magnitude spring with gardens and waterfalls once part of a classic Florida attraction.

Ravine Gardens Hiking Trails

Palatka   2.1 miles

A steeply sloped ravine. Tunnels of azaleas. Bubbling springs. Two swaying suspension bridges. That's what makes the loop at Ravine Gardens State Park so much fun.

Ravine Gardens State Park

With swinging bridges over a deep ravine painted in bright colors by azaleas each February, Ravine Gardens State Park offers hiking and biking loops in Palatka

Red Bug Slough Preserve

Sarasota   1.7 miles

Walk beneath a mature live oak canopy along the rim of a protected waterway within the heart of residential Sarasota.

Reddie Point Preserve

Jacksonville   1.5 miles

Sand beaches and salt marshes fringe a wild peninsula along the St. Johns River where trails meander more than a mile to reach a mature hardwood hammock.

Rice Creek Nine Mile Tract

Palatka   3.5 miles

Meander across shady landscapes on this 3.5 mile hike combining a short loop bordering a marshy lake with a linear trail tracing a steep sandhill ridge above the Rice Creek basin.