The most obscure interpretive trail in the Ocala National Forest is well off the beaten path along the Ocklawaha River, accessed via a narrow dirt road. Why here? Location, location, location—in the … [Read more...]
Historic Sites
Learn a little history while you take that walk. These hikes are either at historic sites or have historic elements along them, such as pine trees with catfaces for turpentine trapping, battlefields, cemeteries, pioneer homesteads, lighthouses, forts, and more.
Florida Trail, Pat’s Island to Hidden Pond
One of the most popular hikes on the Florida Trail is also one of the most interesting. Hidden Pond is an oasis in the middle of the Juniper Prairie Wilderness, a designated wilderness area in the … [Read more...]
Canaveral National Seashore – Seminole Rest Trail
At the site of a former plantation and important archaeological site on the Indian River Lagoon, Seminole Rest provides excellent interpretation of this coastal outpost across the shimmering waters … [Read more...]
Wakulla Springs State Park – Cherokee Sink Trail
A karst window into the watery world of the Woodville Karst Plain, Cherokee Sink is a large, deep water-filled sinkhole in a less-traveled section of Wakulla Springs State Park. More than 250 wide at … [Read more...]
Florida Trail, Little Big Econ State Forest
Flanking the banks of the Econlockhatchee River, a ribbon of wilderness protects a swath of forests edged on one side by suburbia, on the other by ranchland. It is the Little-Big Econ State Forest, … [Read more...]
Florida Trail, Hickory Hammock to Chandler Slough West
Following a narrow ribbon of oak hammocks along the rim of vast prairies edging the Kissimmee River floodplain, this segment of the Florida Trail weaves back and forth from US 98 into cattle pastures … [Read more...]
Florida Trail, Pruitt
It’s not just the ancient live oaks, but the switchbacks and scrambles, the habitat diversity, the stories that the landscape tells—and “Stonehenge.” These are some of the reasons that the … [Read more...]
Mead Garden
Established in 1937 as a memorial to world-renowned horticulturalist Theodore L. Mead, Winter Garden's original showcase of camellias was reborn in the 1960s with community volunteers enhancing the … [Read more...]
Little-Big Econ State Forest – Kolokee Loop
One of the most scenic places to hike in the Orlando metro, Little-Big Econ State Forest offers a loop hike that starts less than a mile from the Barr Street trailhead. Named the Kolokee Loop after a … [Read more...]
Shingle Creek Regional Park – Historic Steffee Homestead
On its southward flow towards Lake Tohopekaliga, Shingle Creek – the northernmost tributary feeding Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades – winds through what is now some of the densest urban mass in … [Read more...]
