A new subchapter of the Florida Trail Association has assembled in one of my favorite getaways, around Lake Okeechobee. Overseen by the Loxahatchee Chapter, this new subchapter is drawing folks from all around the big lake.
Here’s a report of their first get-together and meeting from Betty Loomis, a friend and long-time Florida Trail member from [...]

Every winter, hundreds of manatees converge at Blue Spring Run near Deland, as do the folks who want to see them up close in the wild. Here’s a clip from a visit I made last weekend while working on the new edition of “50 Hikes.” I loved the commentary from the two ladies next to [...]

There’s a nice article in today’s St. Petersburg Times outlining the hard work the Suncoast Chapter of the Florida Trail Association has done, of late spearheaded by Mitch Almon, to connect the various loops in Withlacoochee State Forest together as part of the Western Corridor of the Florida Trail. Unfortunately, one of the natural lands [...]

With the final signs up and brochures circulated, the Great Florida Birding Trail’s Panhandle Section is finally complete. It points you to places of special beauty, and many of them are hiking trails on which birding is superb, including some of my personal favorite. Here’s where hiking and birding intersect in Escambia and Santa Rosa [...]

We did it! I heard a little buzz about this while I was out on the trail last week and indeed it’s official: Florida was named the BEST TRAILS STATE at the 2008 National Trails Symposium in Little Rock, Arkansas, last month. Key to the award is our own Office of Greenways and Trails, who [...]