Set along the St. Johns River, Deland is surrounded by natural lands that protect the vast floodplain forests surrounding Florida’s longest river. Along this western edge of Volusia County are a nice variety of hikes and backpacking trips to keep you busy for days.
Blue Spring State Park
If you’ve never seen manatees by the dozens, let alone a hundred or more, there’s no better place in Florida to watch these gentle giants drift past than near Deland along the boardwalk at Blue Spring State Park, paralleling the length of Blue Spring Run to the St. Johns River. This short, easy trail offers [...]
Bluffton Nature Trail
South of Astor along the St. Johns River, the Bluffton Recreation Area in Lake George State Forest paints a picture of Florida’s prehistoric past. As botanist William Bartram canoed the St. Johns River in 1773, he noted massive mounds of snail shells piled up on its shorelines. These middens, prehistoric garbage heaps, spoke to civilizations [...]
Clearwater Lake Loop
Most hikers headed for Clearwater Lake in the Ocala National Forest are looking for the Florida Trail, which starts its northbound journey of 70 unbroken miles just north of SR 42 in Paisley. But the original segment of the Florida Trail blazed by Florida Trail Association founder Jim Kern and his first work crew in [...]
Florida Trail, Alexander Springs to Farles Lake
Get acquainted with Big Scrub on this 8.4-mile stretch of the Florida Trail in the Ocala National Forest as it rises through longleaf pine forests to meet the world’s largest sand pine scrub, punctuated by a variety of ponds and prairies. Connecting a first-magnitude spring with one of the more beautiful lakes in the Ocala [...]
Florida Trail, Clearwater Lake to Alexander Springs
The oldest section of the Florida Trail is one of the prettiest, as well. First blazed in the Ocala National Forest in 1966 by a hardy crew of trail maintainers led by Jim Kern, the Florida Trail between Clearwater Lake Recreation Area and Alexander Springs Recreation Area traverses beautiful, moderately hilly stretches of longleaf pine [...]
Florida Trail, Seminole State Forest
One of the older sections of the Florida Trail near Orlando is also one of its finest. A hike through Seminole State Forest leads you through the kind of vast, open spaces that you’d never imagine, driving along SR 46A or SR 46 or SR 44 around the forest, actually existed on this grand a [...]
Green Springs Park
Hidden deep in a leafy glade, a shimmering pool rises from the earth to pour through palm hammocks towards the St. Johns River. At Green Springs Park, the trails are short but well-groomed, with options for all abilities – a paved biking trail loops through the park along with a network of natural footpaths. Families [...]
Hontoon Island State Park – Indian Mound Nature Trail
There are many public lands on islands in Florida, but Hontoon Island State Park is one of the few surrounded by fresh water and accessible via a free ferryboat. For more than three thousand years, the Timucua lived on this deeply forested island, sharing the lush palm hammocks and pine flatwoods with deer, otters, and [...]
Kratzert Tract White Loop
For a quick dip into the beauty of the St. Johns River floodplain, the Kratzert White Loop offers a family-friendly walk beneath ancient oaks and cabbage palms of enormous size. This 1.5-mile loop was originally built by the Central Florida chapter of the Florida Trail Association and continues to be well maintained and easy to [...]
Lyonia Preserve
The Florida scrub jay, one of Florida’s most colorful native birds, is the star of the show at Lyonia Preserve in Deltona, a precious slice of ancient scrub habitat remaining on a high ridge now otherwise topped with housing developments. Recently refurbished and reopened with a new interactive nature center, gift shop, and café, the [...]
St. Francis Trail
One of Central Florida’s most scenic and easy-to-follow day hikes, the St. Francis Trail traverses the southeasternmost corner of the Ocala National Forest to lead you through what was once farms, fields, and a bustling commercial center on the St. Johns River. It’s hard to believe, as you walk under bowers of live oaks and [...]
Timucuan Trail
In less than a mile, you experience all of the major habitats of the Ocala National Forest—and can cool off with a swim. Noted for its clarity, Alexander Springs gushes out of a subterranean crevice to quickly form a broad waterway, Alexander Run. Down near the headspring, your adventure begins. Although it’s short, the Timucuan [...]
Wild Persimmon Trail
Was De Leon Springs the Fountain of Youth? History relates that when he sailed to Florida in 1513, he “ascended a large river, passing through two small rivers and three lakes, whence we came to a great boiling spring which the Indians call ‘Healing Waters’.” The waters bubbling forth into Spring Garden Run have been [...]
