Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
Outdoor recreation destinations where you can see or climb into a sinkhole in Florida
A passive preserve, River Rise Preserve State Park adjoins O’Leno State Park, taking up where O’Leno leaves off with the Santa Fe River flowing underground. The river emerges all at once at River Rise, a significant geologic feature that bars paddlers from heading any farther upstream.
3.5 miles. Circling the largest prairie ecosystem on the Cross Florida Greenway, the Ross Prairie Loop showcases massive oaks and panoramic views
As the site of a significant Spanish mission, weird karst geology, and an array of Appalachian plants and trees that simply don’t creep much farther south, San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park is a passive preserve that most visitors only get to know a corner of.
On the 2.5-mile Sinkhole Trail, take a hike around a giant sinkhole and explore the uplands above the Silver River at Silver Springs State Park
One of the world’s largest and deepest springs, Silver Springs pours out more than 550 million gallons of water daily, forming the Silver River
One of Florida’s oldest roadside attractions, Sunken Gardens is now a county park showing off more than a century’s worth of botanical bounty in St. Petersburg
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.
On the eastern side of Sweetwater Preserve, hike a gentle loop through the woods along Sweetwater Branch.
One of the hikes that sticks in my memory from when I was under ten years old is the Pine Land Trail at Everglades National Park, with its oolite holes and tree snails.
With an elevated boardwalk guiding you through picturesque cypresses along the floodplain of Lake Bradford, the Tallahassee Museum is a multifaceted educational center focused on the natural and cultural history of the region.
Sinkholes are a serious problem in Central Florida, and the finger can be pointed at overdevelopment. Here’s why: it’s all about the water.
5.3 miles. On Pat’s Island, discover the landscape and the history that inspired Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings to write her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Yearling in 1938.
