Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
The showiest carnivorous plants of Florida, six major species of Sarracenia are found along Florida’s trails
I spent a weekend seeking out Florida’s most uncommon and unusual flora – pitcher plants – in their stronghold of the Western Panhandle. Here’s what I found.
Florida’s oldest state forest offers waterfront camping and a variety of loop trails for hikers, cyclists, and equestrians, plus a 5.7 mile linear segment of the statewide Florida Trail.
At Tarkiln Bayou State Park, the showy blooms of pitcher plants are on parade each spring. The boggy Perdido Pitcher Plant Prairie is ground zero for these beauties.
Summer is prime time for delicate orchids and carnivorous plants among the bogs of the Apalachicola National Forest, especially along the Apalachee Savannas Scenic Byway.
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.
A gentle introduction to Tarkiln Bayou Preserve State Park, the Tarkiln Bayou Trail starts as a sidewalk but ends as a boardwalk to view the glowing gems of this botanical area and the bayou itself.
Make a 9.5-mile loop in the Florida Trail east of Camel Lake in the Apalachicola National Forest by using a blue-blazed connector weaving through titi swamps and around large flatwoods ponds.
Vast pine savannas and pitcher plant bogs await at one of the toughest loop trails in the Orlando area a 7.5-mile challenge at Triple N Ranch WMA.
At De Leon Springs State Park, the Wild Persimmon Trail is a 4.4 mile wild walk along the edge of habitats in the floodplain forest created by the springs
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
East of Pensacola, Yellow River Marsh Preserve State Park is a sweeping panorama of wet prairies, home to the largest concentration of pitcher plants in Florida.
Yellow River Marsh Preserve is an easy place to see pitcher plants along unmarked trails that ramble through the wet flatwoods near Blackwater Bay.
