Thanks to Barbara Bowen from New Port Richey, owner of Riverbank’s Outdoor Store, I learned about a new preserve in this very urban area along the Gulf Coast and set out to find it on a recent visit. What a delight to find a lengthy boardwalk winding along the scenic Pithlachascotee River, especially on a day when temperatures were topping 95F. The 1.3-mile double-loop trail system is a must for the next edition of “50 Hikes in Central Florida,” thanks to the diversity of habitats and the pleasant setting. It’s one of the most appealing nature trails I’ve visited in a long time. I’ve just added the details to the Florida Hikes! website, so check it out and plan a visit!

Hike James E. Grey Preserve

A visual and functional overhaul - plus more goodies for subscribers - was part of the reason I was so quiet this past week. I also fit in some hiking, too, but the big news is the new look and functionality of Florida Hikes! Let me run down some of the special features for you….

1) A new look, with easier-to-read text and a text sizing option in the upper right
2) All menu items are now on the top of the page, leaving more room for content on the articles and hikes pages.
3) Login for subscribers is now at the top right of all pages
4) Featured article gallery with four major articles
5) You can order guidebooks directly from the front page, below my welcome message
6) The subscription info includes a Hike-A-Week sample on the front page right sidebar
7) A new Weather module on the front page lets you type (and retain) your town, so you can pick up your weather forecast whenever you visit
8.  Hiking galleries on the front page. Each showcases the five most recent hikes added to a region, with click-through on the photo (or below it) to details. You can collapse or move these modules around, depending on your regional interest
9) Latest video and images from MyFloridaHikes in the right sidebar, along with click-through to MyFloridaHikes and links to great places to get gear
10) Links to specific cities and highways have been moved to the bottom of the page. You can also access them through the top menu: Hikes by City, Hikes by Topic, and Hikes by Place

In addition, subscribers now have access to 630 different GPX and KML files, which I’m slowly organizing and classifying by region. I’ve also added the Hike-A-Week archive for subscribers, by popular request, so if you’re a new subscriber you won’t miss out on what’s already been presented…29 weeks of hiking thus far!

More updates are in the works, but I hope you find this new site easier to navigate and more useful to you. I’m adding in more trail maps little by little - please note that in Internet Explorer, you are not seeing the whole map, and I’m working with the software folks to fix that - and with the help of a friend, will be greatly expanding content for you over the summer months. If you’re not already a subscriber, please dive in! And if you are, or just a fan of the site, I’d appreciate your feedback on what functionality, features, or products I could add in the future to make it more valuable to you. Thanks!

Connecting Key Largo to Key West, the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail has been under construction for more than a decade. It parallels US 1 and utilizes the old route  of the historic Overseas Railroad. According to DEP, more than 400,000 people make use of some portion of the route each year. DEP has allocated $19 million towards the project over the next two years, with the ambitious goal of fully opening the route for bicycle and pedestrian use by 2013. This is one of the more expensive trail projects in Florida due to the number of bridges involved, and the fact the route is paved. If you haven’t checked it out yourself, there are some nice, lengthy stretches in Key Largo, Long Key, and Marathon. Long distance hikers utilize the trail as a starting point for the East Coast Trail, connecting to the Florida Trail, trails in Alabama, the Appalachian Trail, and the International Appalachian Trail to connect Key West to Cape Gaspe, Quebec (and beyond to Newfoundland, for some), by foot, a journey that takes nearly a year.

With stormy skies threatening, I didn’t feel comfortable going after a full re-hike of Key Vista Park last week as I planned, so I stopped at Anclote Gulf Park instead. These parks adjoin along the Gulf Coast north of the Anclote River, which marks the divider between Pinellas and Pasco Counties. What intrigued me about this park was a new kiosk and boardwalk tucked away in one corner. I walked up to it and voila, it said it led to Key Vista Park. Perfect! I remembered a boardwalk in Key Vista Park from my visit years ago. Alas, a quarter mile into the park, the boardwalk abruptly ended. No stair to disembark, just me suspended a dozen feet above the park I’d hoped to explore, with no way to safely slip off the boardwalk and down into the piney woods.  Disappointing. It’s for the birds, then, I suppose - the views are great - and a time with more ample coffers to get the job done. But how strange!

The 2009 National Federal Lands photo contest is underway, and you can win some fabulous prizes with your outdoor photography!  Each year, this contest encourages you to get outdoors and enjoy America’s public lands, including our National Parks, National Forests, National Wildlife Refuges, and in the West, lands held by the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Reclamation. In Florida, you can submit images from the Florida Trail in our National Forests in Florida — I certainly plan to this year.  You’ve got time for hiking season to come around again: the contest ends 12/31/09.

Grand prize gets your photo on the cover of the 2011 Federal Recreation Lands Pass - the only pass that lets you into ALL fee areas for the USFS, NPS, USFWC, and BLM - plus an Olympus E-3 DSLR camera kit and a 5-day, 4-night trip to a Federal Recreation Area. I’d choose the Grand Canyon!  The 2nd & 3rd prizes also include trips, and the 4th prize and honorable mentions aren’t too shabby either.

For details, visit www.sharetheexperience.org