Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
Hiking, biking, paddling, and driving trails let you view wildlife up close at Florida’s National Wildlife Refuges.
New to Florida? Florida is different. If you don’t know much about our outdoors, start here to learn what’s unique about hiking, backpacking, and camping in Florida.
At Ding Darling NWR on Sanibel Island, the Indigo Trail is the easiest trail to access from the visitor center and the most popular, with up to 4 miles round-trip.
Six miles of trails meander through wide open spaces preserved for wintering waterfowl at 21,500-acre Lake Woodruff NWR along the St. Johns River.
At Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, the Leslie Duncan Memorial Trail is a short, accessible exploration into the habitats of the Big Cypress Swamp
A windswept walk along the Gulf of Mexico, the Lighthouse Levee Trail provides scenic panoramas of both the Gulf and marsh impoundments near the St. Marks Lighthouse.
Following the boardwalk behind the Visitor Center at Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, you’ll enter a jungle-like wonderland along the Cypress Trail into a habitat lush with ferns and bromeliads
At Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, the Marsh Trail provides a marked trail to follow on the extensive dike system. It is one of the region’s best birding sites, where you’ll see dozens of species.
Where Haulover Canal connects the Indian River Lagoon and Mosquito Lagoon in Merritt Island NWR, a manatee observation deck makes it easy to watch for manatees drifting by
An accessible interpretive trail providing an easy round-trip to a freshwater wetland, the Mannillo Trail gives an overview of the importance of National Key Deer Refuge in protecting both habitat and wildlife in the Lower Keys.
On a 2.8-mile loop trail, Maritime Hammock Sanctuary showcases maritime, or coastal hammock, marshlands, and mangroves along the Indian River Lagoon
With recreational activities ranging from hiking to biking, boating, fishing, and bioluminscent kayaking, Florida’s top destination for birding is also home to Kennedy Space Center
Established in 1957 to prevent the extinction of the diminutive Key deer, the National Key Deer Refuge spans 84,351 acres across 25 islands in the Lower Keys
