Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
Hiking, biking, paddling, camping, and other outdoor recreation near the town of White Springs. The first Florida Trail Gateway Community – where the Florida Trail walks you right through town – as well as a hub on the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail, it’s a destination with plenty of recreation.
.White Springs
Expect a reroute of the Florida Trail in White Springs, as the Suwannee Valley Campground has been purchased and turned into a nudist resort.
At Big Shoals State Park, the Big Shoals Trail leads you to scenic perches high atop the river bluffs when you can watch Florida’s only Class III whitewater rapids
The Woodpecker Trail at Big Shoals State Park provides a 7-mile wildlife-rich round trip ride, but watch out for those puddles! John plunges in anyway to get the story.
On the Disappearing Creek Loop off the Florida Trail along the Suwannee River, watch Camp Branch burble through rapids and cascade into a giant sinkhole
A boardwalk trail at Falling Creek Falls north of Lake City leads you to overlooks on a waterfall with a 10-12′ drop in a picturesque setting
Every hiker raves about Fat Belly’s, the go-to barbecue in White Springs
With Florida’s only Class III whitewater and the beauty of a Florida waterfall along a stretch of trail that is rugged but extremely scenic, this 2.8 mile section of the Florida Trail is a real winner
7.4 miles. Rugged climbs through abandoned river channels and along the highest elevations along the Suwannee River make this hike a serious roller-coaster through river bluff forests and sandy beaches.
This roly-poly section of the Florida Trail is pretty rugged despite its short distance, since it involves a lot of scrambling in and out of ravines and eroded bluffs created when the Suwannee River seasonally overflows its banks.
As the Florida Trail sweeps in a broad arc through North Florida, hikers are introduced to ancient trees, unusual karst formations, and rolling sandhills.
75.5 miles. Along the Suwannee River, the Florida Trail clings to bluffs and scrambles through ravines for physical challenges and great scenery
As part of a question sent to me by Rick, a reader in New England, he asked “we would be interested to find an area where we hike from inn to inn over a few days” as part of a vacation day hiking in Florida. As I’m in the midst of working on a new …
