Hike Bike Paddle Camp Florida with authors Sandra Friend and John Keatley as your guides
Parks, natural lands, and trails notable for wildlife encounters, the whole range from armadillos to alligators, Florida black bears to gopher tortoises, and manatees to whales.
The Snake Bight Trail in Everglades National Park leads you a wild place where tropical forests meet the mangrove shorelines of Florida Bay, where crocodiles cruise the saline shallows and mosquitoes thicken the air.
The interpretive Soldier’s Hole Trail at Fort De Soto State Park offers a close look at the three varieties of mangroves that grow in Florida plus some gorgeous views of Bunce’s Pass.
Within sight of the Atlantic Ocean, Sonny McCoy Indigenous Park is a rare patch of green space in the city of Key West, with native trees and a natural freshwater pond.
The South Creek and Lester Finley Trails are part of the South Trail System at Oscar Scherer State Park, focusing on the flow of South Creek towards Little Sarasota Bay.
Place your hands in Neil Armstrong’s handprints and look up to the moon at this unique waterfront park in downtown Titusville that recounts the history of the American space program.
A live oak tree more than 200 years old is the centerpiece of Split Oak Forest, a 2,000-acre prairie and scrub preserve near Orlando, home to families of sandhill cranes
A delight to visit, the Spring Boils Trail showcases bubbling springs both big and small, starting within sight of the main springs at Silver Glen Springs before it leads you to coves of tiny bubblers
Protecting more than 1,500 acres along Lake Jesup, Spring Hammock Preserve is home to some of Florida’s oldest and largest cypress trees
At Spruce Bluff Natural Area, trails lead to the site of a pioneer settlement and the largest Ais mound in South Florida amid scrub and wetlands in Port St. Lucie.
St. Andrews State Park is a pristine getaway on this coast that you won’t want to miss. It’s one of two bookends of natural wonder along the shoreline of Panama City Beach.
One of Central Florida’s most scenic and easy-to-follow day hikes, the 7.9-mile St. Francis Trail traverses the southeastern corner of the Ocala National Forest
Blessed with brilliant white quartz sand, St. George Island State Park is a sparkling, quiet getaway protecting more than 2,000 acres of coastal habitats on a barrier island between Apalachicola Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
