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

Tampa Bay

A ramble through Robinson Preserve

December 2, 2011    Sandra Friend

Several years ago, while researching Exploring Florida’s Botanical Wonders, I stumbled across the newly opened Robinson Preserve in Palma Sola. Managed by Manatee County and directly across the road from Palma Sola Botanical Gardens, this preserve of mud flats and mangrove-lined shores has one of the best observation tower views in Florida, as well as …

Apollo Beach Nature Preserve

Apollo Beach      ( 27.790778, -82.419128 )      

With its natural waterfront on Tampa Bay, Apollo Beach Nature Preserve is a perfect place for birders, not beachgoers, a place to launch a kayak and scan the skies for osprey.

Arrowhead Nature Trail

Fort De Soto Park  |  St. Petersburg
( 27.639664, -82.735845 )      1.4 miles

Explore coastal habitats on the Arrowhead Nature Trail at Fort De Soto Park, an interpretive walk where you’ll learn about salt-dependent plants along Mullet Key Bayou.

Barrier Free Trail

Fort De Soto Park  |  St. Petersburg
( 27.622167, -82.714550 )      0.4 miles

The 0.4 mile Barrier Free Trail at Fort De Soto Park has a graded path wide enough for two wheelchairs to pass and six touch-activated interpretive speakers along the path.

Boyd Hill Nature Preserve

St. Petersburg      ( 27.725417, -82.649867 )      3.0 miles

Once a zoo in St. Petersburg, Boyd Hill Park has 3 miles of trails looping through a mosaic of natural habitats and tropical landscapes along Lake Maggiore.

Bradenton

Between Sarasota and St. Petersburg on the south side of Tampa Bay, Bradenton has trails that explore the mangrove-lined coast as well as wooded uplands to the east.

De Soto National Memorial

Bradenton      ( 27.520350, -82.644483 )      1.1 miles

Commemorating the landing of Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto, De Soto National Memorial is a significant archaeological site where the Manatee River flows into Tampa Bay.

E.G. Simmons Park

Ruskin      ( 27.739927,-82.466138 )      

E.G. Simmons Park in Ruskin offers a campground along with its beaches and mazy mangrove-lined waterways for paddlers and anglers along Tampa Bay.

Egmont Key State Park

Tampa Bay      ( 27.613088, -82.736473 )      

In Tampa Bay, Egmont Key, an island that was once a Civil War refugee camp, is now a bird rookery and historic site, with trails accessible only by boat.

Emerson Point Preserve

Palmetto      ( 27.531967, -82.625950 )      2.7 miles

Where the Manatee River meets the Gulf of Mexico, Emerson Point Preserve protects a significant archaeological site: the Portavent Mound. Trails loop around the peninsula.

Florida’s Waters

June 13, 2016    Sandra Friend

In Florida, water is an ever-present part of our lives. A visit to the Rainbow River yesterday brought back memories of the past and concerns for the future of Florida’s waters.

Gizella Kopsick Palm Arboretum

St. Petersburg      ( 27.782204,-82.625795 )      

Once a miniature golf course, this two-acre waterfront park just north of the Vinoy in St. Petersburg became the Gizella Kopsick Palm Arboretum, a lush showcase of palms, in 1976.