Dog-friendly hikes

Part of an extensive corridor of natural lands – more than 10,000 acres worth east of Tampa – protecting the flow of the Alafia River, Alderman’s Ford Nature Preserve offers a surprising treat for a Central Florida hike– whitewater. The Alafia River flows over limestone boulders as it winds through a deeply eroded channel, forming [...]

I came here in search of a garden, and found a park. Having read that a small wildflower garden was tucked within this 22 acre park in northern Gainesville, I figured it was worth visiting for the sake of my botanical research. And the park I found surprised me. For such a small swath of [...]

A breezy walk along the St. Johns River is an easy way to start your day in Jacksonville at the Arlington Lions Club Park. With a 3/4-mile unpaved trail, 1/4-mile accessible trail, and connecting boardwalks along the river, all with plenty of park benches for resting, this trail system is a comfortable excursion for visitors [...]

At Blackwater River State Forest, each of the recreation areas offers access to hiking, and popular Bear Lake is no exception. A 4-mile trail loops around this impounded reservoir, which flows into Sweetwater Creek. The hike leads you through pine flatwoods and bluff forests, where Southern magnolia and hickory trees provide shade. It’s an excellent [...]

Nestled in an unexpected corner of Flagler Beach, Betty Steflik Memorial Preserve protects more than 200 acres of mangrove marsh, mud flats, and coastal uplands right on the edge of this downtown beach community. Established in 1995, an extensive network of boardwalks carries you along estuarine creeks and out to the Intracoastal Waterway, offering panoramic [...]

The Big Oak Trail is one of the most scenic hikes in North Florida and is part of the statewide Florida Trail. Much of the hiking parallels the Suwannee and Withlacoochee Rivers, which meet here at a confluence where the Withlacoochee (not to be confused with the one in Central Florida) flows south from Georgia [...]

Starting at the canoe launch opposite the Big Shoals Trail, the Long Branch Trail heads upriver to follow a mellow Suwannee River—broad and shaded by overhanging tupelo trees. It’s a relaxed hike through scrubby flatwoods and deeply shaded hardwood forests, where sassafras peeks out from the undergrowth and southern magnolia rustles in the breeze. Although [...]

THIS TRAIL IS CURRENTLY CLOSED DUE TO CONSTRUCTION OF A MULTIUSE TRAIL BISECTING IT. SIGNS SAY IT WILL REOPEN IN JULY 2012 A barrier island on the Atlantic Coast between Amelia Island and Little Talbot Island, Big Talbot Island is best known for its unusual rocky shoreline called Blackrock Beach. One step on this beach, [...]

At the tip of Key Biscayne, Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park is one of the busiest parks in South Florida. Large crowds flock here for the excellent beaches, more scenic than those in neighboring Miami. The historic Cape Florida Lighthouse towers over much of the activity, and a walk along the Biscayne Bay waterfront [...]

A ribbon of asphalt that connects communities and parks within the historic Apalachicola River town of Blountstown, the Blountstown Greenway is ideal for walking or biking and, in part, serves as a path for the Florida Trail through the center of town. Heavily shaded by deep upland forest for much of the journey, it connects [...]

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 [...]

Circle a cypress lined pond in the Apalachicola National Forest on the Camel Lake Loop. It’s a short hike on high ground in a place where most habitats are downright swampy. Despite the name of the Camel Lake Recreation Area, this body of water is Camel Pond, one of many large ponds in this part [...]

Adjoining the historic Orman House in downtown Apalachicola, Chapman Botanical Garden honors the memory of Dr. Alvan Wentworth Chapman, a noted botanist who lived and worked as a medical doctor in Apalachicola. In 1860, Chapman published Flora of the Southern United States, one of the first such studies of southern plant life. Both Chapman oaks [...]

Four days, 43 miles: that’s just part of the challenge of the Citrus Hiking Trail, the second-longest backpacking loop on a single piece of land in the state of Florida. Add aggressively rolling sandhills, steep descents into sinkholes, and rock-strewn footpaths, and you’ve got yourself one of Florida’s most rugged hikes. Traversing extreme contrasts in [...]

A 30-acre tract within the city of Gainesville, this patch of preserve is the legacy of Mrs. Gladys Cofrin, an active environmentalist who had a horse farm and family homestead on this site. Thankfully, she passed it along to the people of Gainesville instead of selling out for yet another subdivision. The short nature trail [...]

Crews Lake Park in northern Pasco County offers a hiking loop with a nice immersion into the sandhills, where you’ll see lots of spring and fall wildflowers.Although the trail loses its natural feel as it passes through the picnic areas along the former lakeshore – the lake now receded due to tapping of the aquifer [...]

At the northernmost end of the Lake Wales Ridge, a significant landform that stretches from Minneola down towards Lake Okeechobee, creating the “spine” of the Florida peninsula, Crooked River Preserve showcases a wide variety of habitats in a short hike. The high, well-drained sandy soils of the Lake Wales Ridge were prized by citrus growers, [...]

Dunns Creek State Park protects sandhills and scrub along a sharp bend in the St. Johns River. It is home to at least eight healthy populations of rare Etonia rosemary (Conradina etonia), the only other occurrence on public land outside Etoniah Creek State Forest, and has a steephead ravine at one end of the park. [...]

In the suburbs of Orlando, the Econ River Wilderness is in one of those places where you’d never suspect wilderness still existed, 240 acres tucked one road back from strip malls and squeezed between subdivisions on the county line. And for some years, it was drowned by intentional runoff from a newly-constructed housing development onto [...]

Best known for its antebellum mansion with one of the most extensive Louis XVI furniture collections in America, Eden Gardens State Park has its wild side, too. The Tucker Bayou Trail, recently relocated, starts and ends at the new Tucker Bayou picnic area down a side road off the new park entrance. This short, mazy [...]

In 1938, amateur botanist and world traveler Albert Greenburg established a botanical garden with tropical plants around springs that fed a lush floodplain forest along Six Mile Creek. Years later, he started the first tropical fish farm in Florida in the springs, and in 1967 donated the 31-acre site to the county. Construction of the [...]

Near the mouth of the Matanzas River, Faver-Dykes State Park is a popular launch point for paddlers eager to explore the estuaries between the barrier islands and the coast. Nestled in oak hammocks along Pellicer Creek, this peaceful park also has an easy nature trail for landlubbers to trace the route of the creek through [...]

Along this woodland in Ocala, enjoy a swath of true urban wilderness, a mile-wide corridor edged on both sides by subdivisions and strip malls. Both remain gratefully out of sight and sound as you walk along the Florida Trail in the Baseline section of the Cross Florida Greenway. Now I’m not a fan of paved [...]

Paralleling a segment of the failed Cross Florida Barge Canal, this mostly linear section of the Florida Trail sticks to a high berm created when the canal was dug. Nicely shaded for much of its route, it’s a gentle walk with the occasional scenic view of the waterway and the forests on its north side. [...]

Protecting nearly 9,000 acres of between Palatka and Keystone Heights, Etoniah Creek State Forest is home to a segment of the Florida Trail where backpackers and day hikers alike can get out and explore. This hike describes the western segment of the Florida Trail between the two major trailheads of Etoniah Creek State Forest, the [...]

Long referred to as the “jewel of the Florida Trail,” Juniper Prairie Wilderness in the Ocala National Forest is a complex mosaic of ancient scrub forests, pine islands, and broad, open prairies where wildlife thrives. The heart of the world’s largest sand pine scrub is also one of the state’s most flammable habitats, and, unfortunately, [...]

The Florida Trail along Juniper Creek (also known as the Juniper Creek Trail, Blackwater River State Forest) is a gorgeous place to explore in springtime, when mountain laurel blooms in both pink and white and the dogwoods put on a show. There are seepage slope bogs where pitcher plants look pretty as well. This is [...]

An immersion in both sandhills and scrub awaits on a walk along the Florida Trail between Lake Delancy and Lake Kerr. Amid the tall longleaf pines of Riverside Island and the diminutive oaks of the Big Scrub you’ll find a parade of wildlife. Florida black bear sightings are most common along this segment, and plenty [...]

Surrounded by the sprawl of new homes now crowding Oviedo and Chuluota, a sprawl swallowing pastures and orange groves, a ribbon of wilderness remains. It is the Little-Big Econ State Forest, more than 5,000 acres of uplands and cypress swamps flanking the Econlockhatchee River, a true Central Florida treasure. Along its 1,400-mile route across the [...]

As the Florida Trail follows the curve of the basin in which Mills Creek drains from Lake Mills into a bowl of marshlands to the east of Chuluota, it leads you through a colorful array of habitats. There are oak hammocks where ancient oaks seem to bend under the weight of streamers of Spanish moss, [...]

It took more than a decade of planning to get the project on the ground, but the Ocean-to-Lake Trail, a spur of the 1,400-mile Florida Trail leading from Lake Okeechobee to the Atlantic Ocean at Hobe Sound, is now a reality. The easternmost segments provide some ongoing access challenges, but the western section – accessed [...]

One of five segments of the Florida Trail that are paved around Lake Okeechobee, the 13.7-mile walk between Port Mayaca and Henry Creek offers unparalleled vistas of both open water and the marshes of Chauncey Bay, teeming with bird life. This is definitely a section that city folks who exercise on pavement will excel at, [...]

One of the most awe-inspiring sections of the Florida Trail, the segment between the Rodman Dam (more properly known as the George Kirkpatrick Dam) and Lake Delancy immerses you into longleaf pine forests that seem to go on forever. Providing a fine balance between the Big Scrub habitats and the breathtaking old-growth longleaf pines, it’s [...]

Amid a patchwork of scrub ridges and longleaf pine islands, the Florida Trail makes its way northwest around the vastness of Lake Kerr on this 10.1 mile section. It’s accessible to day hikers via two connector trails – blazed in blue – that attach at Salt Springs and from behind The 88 Store, a popular [...]

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 [...]

Explore a pre-Colombian village lost in Florida’s past – and uncovered again in modern times, thanks to the efforts of curious archaeologists – by following this trail in Fisheating Creek Wildlife Management Area. The Fort Center site is documented as possibly the first place in the eastern part of our continent where people crew corn. [...]

It’s the birthplace of the St. Johns River, a mosaic of wet prairies, cypress swamps, and hardwood hammocks in the wide open spaces between Yeehaw Junction and Vero Beach—waiting for you to explore. Zipping along SR 60 between Florida’s Turnpike and Vero Beach, you just don’t think about hiking. Orange groves, perhaps, or prairies or [...]

If there is a place in Florida where ghosts walk the dunes, this would be it. In the early 1560s, France established a foothold in Florida, with Jean Ribault claiming the land for France. The settlement of Fort Caroline took hold along the St. Johns River. A few years later, Pedro Menendez de Aviles established [...]

The steephead ravine that forms Gold Head Branch is a riot of green: deep green needle palms, ferns of every shape and size, water trickling, merging, and flowing downstream, and the canopy of native trees above, from hickory and sweetgum to longleaf pine and live oak. You can follow the trails from the ravine downstream [...]

As the St. Johns River snakes its way north from the Canaveral Marshes, it passes through a series of vast marshes and lakes well-known to Central Florida residents – Lake Harney, Lake Jesup, and Lake Monroe. What you rarely see, however – unless you’re a boater – are the connections between the lakes and marshes. [...]

Encompassing a virtual jungle of ancient oak hammocks and floodplain forests to the west of Lake Jackson, Highlands Hammock State Park is Sebring’s crown jewel and a Florida State Park that you won’t want to miss. Nine nature trails ramble through a variety of habitats, but the core of the park – massive oaks and [...]

Resources Overview Location: Tampa Length: Up to 5.8 miles in a round-trip and two loops Lat-Lon: 28.1491, -82.2273 Type: Balloon Fees: Florida State Parks entrance fee Difficulty: Easy to Moderate Bug Factor: Moderate Restroom: Yes, near suspension bridge Watch for poison ivy along the trail. Directions Take I-75 to Tampa exit 265 (Fowler Avenue). Head [...]

Get lost in the woods in the heart of old Gainesville while getting in touch with the past. Ever since I went to the Hogtown Medieval Faire for the first time, I’ve wondered about old Hogtown. I’ve seen the signs for Hogtown Creek—poor thing, encased in concrete culverts and shunted beneath lanes and lanes of [...]

On this barrier island just north of Clearwater Beach, the Osprey Trail at Honeymoon Island State Park offers a close-up look at a rookery of “sea eagles,” the noble osprey. There are nesting colonies of osprey and pelicans along the Osprey and Pelican Trails, and sweeping views across the sound and the Gulf of Mexico. [...]

Running down the middle of this popular urban park, the Exotic Trail traces a path through the exotic gardens of the former estate of Hugh Taylor Birch, Terramar. These tropical plants aren’t invasive, and they’re nicely identified along the first half of the circuit. There are more than 200 species on display. The Exotic Trail [...]

Connecting Karick Lake Recreation Area with the Red Rocks area of Blackwater River State Forest, the Jackson Red Ground Trail follows the path taken by General Andrew Jackson and his 1,200 troops in 1818 as they marched towards Pensacola from Apalachicola. Jackson had just received orders to be in charge of the “Indian Removal” from [...]

With cool ocean breezes and a plunge in the surf after your hike, the 2.7-mile trail at Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park in Jacksonville is a great choice for a summer outing. Hanna Park, as it is best known, is one of the region’s largest, with recreational opportunities ranging from camping and fishing to mountain biking [...]

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park protects a remnant of what was once the great Indian Prairie stretching to Lake Okeechobee, a mosaic of wet and dry grasslands where wildflowers flourish Look into the grasses to see the colorful blooms of meadow beauty, blazing star, and wild bachelor’s button. Walk the nature trails, ride the forest [...]

Explore a lush hammock along the Caloosahatchee River at the LaBelle Nature Park, a quiet passive park in the city of LaBelle. Interpretive signs present information about the trees and plants that grow beneath the shade of the bromeliad-draped live oaks and tall cabbage palms, and there are benches to perch on to watch the [...]

Two trails, one trailhead. The Lake Eaton Trail is in the heart of the Big Scrub, part of the “Lake Eaton Trails” on the northeast side of Lake Eaton in the Ocala National Forest, halfway between Salt Springs and Nuby’s Corner along CR 314. From the air (or satellite photo) you can see Lake Eaton [...]

In the rolling hills of the Lake Wales Ridge south of Clermont, Lake Louisa is the southernmost lake in the Palatlakaha River chain of lakes, its waters flowing northward to feed Lake Susan, Lake Minehaha, and Lake Minneola. Extending between the park entrance and the recreation area along Lake Louisa, the hiking trails showcase the [...]

It’s an unexpected find, this quiet preserve down a dirt road not far from the waves of suburban sprawl pushing south from the Polk Parkway, letting Lakeland flow towards Bartow. One of the first acquisitions for Polk County’s Environmental Lands Program and undoubtedly one of the more heavily used, the Lakeland Highlands Scrub protects 160 [...]

At the north edge of Tampa, Lettuce Lake Park protects 240 acres along the Hillsborough River, providing a getaway for hikers, bicyclists, and picnickers. Trapped between tall cypress trees in ponds dense with water lettuce, Lettuce Lake is a bend in the river creating a haunting swamp. Boardwalks lead you through this wild place. Best [...]

North of Gainesville, the northern forests make their southern stand. Mill Creek Preserve, north of Alachua and part of the Alachua County Forever registry, encompasses nearly 1,200 acres of unexpected delights in an area well-known for its sinkholes and disappearing streams. By taking a hike, you pass through the curtain of pine plantation you see [...]

Wind through the pines and step back in time to trace the unfolding of the Battle of Olustee near Lake City. The hike through Olustee Battlefield is short, but its historical significance is great. More than 2,000 men died in this forest on February 20, 1864, when Confederate and Union forces met and fought the [...]

A lesser-known part of Withlacoochee State Forest, the Oxbow Trail is on the northernmost tract of the forest along the Withlacoochee River, the trails and campsites all Eagle Scout projects. While the easy-to-follow big loop trail is a popular circuit for families and folks taking their dogs on a walk, the tougher-to-follow but more visually [...]

Mist rising off Sand Pond in morning—a must-see, making the cypress-lined lake ever so ghostly in the middle of Florida’s first state forest, Pine Log. From the Sand Pond trailhead, which starts near the campground, three hiking trails offer different looks at the diversity of this forest. A disconnected linear segment of the Florida Trail [...]

More than a century ago, the forests surrounding first-magnitude Rainbow Springs were a beehive of activity as miners dug pits in the limestone to find nuggets that made Dunnellon a boomtown—phosphate. This area was the first place where phosphate was commercially mined in Florida. The deep pits and spoil piles left behind were recovered by [...]

A 487-acre mosaic of mud flats, mangrove swamps, and beaches, Robinson Preserve is a testament to the spirit of Aldo Leopold. Formerly farmland in a district of Bradenton known for its tropical plant nurseries, this expanse of waterfront habitats has undergone extensive restoration, from removal of invasive species to re-creating tidal creeks and basins nourished [...]

An urban park just on the fringe of the industrial area east of downtown Lakeland, Saddle Creek Park draws a lot of attention for its primary attraction—fishing. Like those at nearby Tenoroc Fish Management Area, the oddly shaped lakes are remnants of phosphate mine pits, filled with water and stocked with game fish like largemouth [...]

Gushing more than 550 million gallons of water out of a cluster of springs each day, Silver Springs is the birthplace of the Silver River, a wild and scenic waterway that my paddler friends like to describe as “6 miles upstream and 1 mile downstream.” A tangled jungle of floodplain forest edges the meandering waterway [...]

Back in the 1980s, when I first heard that land had been acquired near Silver Springs for a state park, I was thrilled. Having grown up nearby, it bothered me that the Silver Springs attraction no longer let you roam the gardens for free, and I knew there would now be a way to walk [...]

It’s been a long time coming – Marion County’s first conservation area is now open for hikers to enjoy. Tucked between residential and business areas in Silver Springs across from Silver River State Park, this slice of sandhills and scrub is a crucial upland recharge area for the nearby first-magnitude spring. As rain falls on [...]

Fed by a trickle of hidden springs through lush hammocks of cabbage palms, Spring Hammock Preserve in Winter Springs is one of the most delightful places to take a hike in the Orlando area. In this 1,500 acre preserve, the trails are easy to explore. You have options ranging from paved to splashy muddy adventuresome, [...]

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 [...]

Explore river bottom forest around the St. Marks River at one of the most recent acquisitions by Florida State Parks. St. Marks River State Park protects 2,589 acres southeast of Tallahassee, straddling the Jefferson and Leon county line. It encompasses old trade routes that were used in the first exploration and settlement of the region [...]

Two different faces, two different spaces: the 125-acre Sweetwater Branch Preserve, acquired in 2006, is a unique natural land in the city of Gainesville. It provides a buffer and wildlife corridor on the northern rim of Paynes Prairie along a historically important waterway, part of a 50,000 acre conservation buffer between Gainesville and Hawthorne. While [...]

Defined by the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers creating the Apalachicola River, Three Rivers State Park includes Lake Seminole, a top-notch bass fishing destination, as well as a large lakeside campground with a wheelchair-accessible rental cabin, picnic pavilions, two hiking trails, and canoe rentals. Resources   Overview Location: Sneads Length: Up to 2.5 [...]

Protecting 509 acres in an otherwise crowded urban area, a large swath of floodplain forest and pine flatwoods along the Ortega River – a tributary of the St. Johns River – Tillie K. Fowler Regional Park sits right along US 17 across from the Jacksonville Naval Air Station. While the Nature Center and its trails [...]

By itself, the Trail of Lakes is a 3.9-mile blue blazed connector between two portions of the Florida Trail around Camel Lake, a soggy, boggy walk in the Apalachicola National Forest. To enjoy it as a day hike with no shuttling, you can use the Florida Trail to create a 9.5-mile loop (starting and ending [...]

The place: the Suwannee River. The year was 1863, and those pesky Federals were snooping all over Florida, seizing goods and burning plantations. A steamboat builder in Bradford Springs wrote to Governor Milton to let him know he’d scuttled his finest craft in the nearby springs to keep it out of enemy hands. More than [...]

Created by volunteers from the Friends of Wakulla Springs, the new Wakulla Springs Trail provides up to 10 miles of hiking in a round-trip and loop that showcases the variety of habitats along the river’s floodplain. A new bridge over Sally Ward Spring Run provides access to the uplands along the far side of the [...]

Most folks who hear about the Green Swamp imagine a giant watery wilderness like the Okeefenokee or the Everglades, but this swamp is very different. It is the headwaters of four Florida rivers—the north-flowing Withlacoochee and Ocklawaha, and the south-flowing Peace and Hillsborough. But rather than from a vast open swamp, these rivers are born [...]

Walk the landscape and discover the history that inspired Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Yearling in 1938, on Pat’s Island in the Ocala National Forest. In the fall of 1876, Reuben and Sara Jane Long established a homestead on Pat’s Island, a high spot in the Big Scrub. Shaded by longleaf pine and [...]