Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
Named after the city in Italy when the post office was established in 1888, Venice is one of Florida’s first planned cities, designed by noted architect John Nolan in the 1920s as an Italian renaissance village
A popular recreation destination for local residents, Ann & Chuck Dever Regional Park also encompasses significant uplands along Oyster Creek
T. Mabry Carlton Reserve is less than a dozen miles from downtown Venice but wild enough that the Florida panther roams these woodlands along the Myakka River floodplain.
The southernmost beach in Venice, Caspersen Beach is best known for its bounty of fossil shark’s teeth, which people scoop and stoop to dig out of the sand
Where Oyster Creek meets Lemon Bay in Englewood, Cedar Point Environmental Park provides easy interpretive hikes through coastal habitats on a wildlife-rich peninsula
On Manasota Key at Blind Pass, south of Venice, the Fred Duisberg Nature Trail is a gentle meander on boardwalks through a mangrove forest along Lemon Bay to a scenic overlook.
It’s summer, but that shouldn’t stop you from playing outdoors. Go paddle at Oscar Scherer State Park.
At Spanish Point, scents hang heavy in the morning air: a moonflower in the act of closing for the day, the sweetness of citrus blossoms, the purple morning-glory clambering over mangroves, the brush of salt breezes.
Offering scenic views of wild shores along the Myakka River, this hike at Jelks Preserve makes a big loop along the trail system to immerse you in a variety of habitats
Circling Lake Osprey, the wheelchair-accessible Lake Osprey Trail at Oscar Scherer State Park offers an exploration of the uplands surrounding the artesian-spring-fed waters.
Explore the edges of Lemon Bay Aquatic Preserve in this Sarasota County Park with more than 4 miles of trails – including accessible trails – winding through coastal habitats
A Sarasota County preserve established for the Florida scrub-jay, Manasota Scrub Preserve has a 1.5 mile loop in 145 acres of scrubby flatwoods.
The only state forest along the southwestern Gulf Coast of Florida, Myakka State Forest offers an extensive trail system along the Myakka River basin
