As Polk County continues to add to its array of natural lands, hiking opportunities are on the increase throughout the region for both day hikers and backpackers. Lakeland is a hub for hiking along the central Lake Wales Ridge and into the Green Swamp as well as the Alafia River valley.
Alderman’s Ford Preserve - 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 [...]
Alderman’s Ford Park - An easy loop at this popular county park, the Lithia Nature Trail slips behind the nature center for a walk in deeply shaded woods. Along the river’s floodplain corridor, you are in hammocks where massive [...]
Caloosa Nature Trail - Atop Florida’s most ancient of landscapes, the Lake Wales Ridge, the Audubon Center at Babson Park has a mission of interpreting the uniqueness of the plants and animals that call this island of biodiversity home. [...]
Catfish Creek Preserve State Park - Hang on for one wild walk! Allan David Broussard Catfish Creek Preserve State Park isn’t just “a perfect example of Lake Wales Ridge Scrub,” it’s a landscape unlike any other you’ll find in Florida. The [...]
Circle B Bar Reserve - Sitting along Lake Hancock between Lakeland and Auburndale, Circle B Bar Reserve is a success story that Aldo Leopold would be proud of. Formerly a cattle ranch, the reserve encompasses more than 1,200 acres being [...]
Crooked Lake Prairie - In a region where development has started to spread, Crooked Lake Prairie is a refreshing excursion into habitats found on the high hills of the Lake Wales Ridge. The network of interlinking loop trails includes [...]
Crooked River Preserve - 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 [...]
Eureka Springs - 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 [...]
Gator Creek Preserve - As the headwaters of four of Central Florida’s largest rivers, – the Hillsborough, the Withlacoochee, the Ocklawaha, and the Peace – the Green Swamp is one of Central Florida’s most crucial natural resources. Despite the [...]
Hickory Lake Scrub - Along the eastern shore of Hickory Lake, this 57-acre preserve showcases some of the unusual plants you can only find on the Lake Wales Ridge. When the rest of Florida was under a few feet [...]
Lake Kissimmee State Park – Buster Island Loop - Comprised of wet prairies, pine flatwoods, oak hammocks, and scrub, Buster Island in Lake Kissimmee State Park is indeed an island, surrounded by three lakes and waterways that flow into them. The trail loops through [...]
Lake Kissimmee State Park – North Loop & Gobbler Ridge - Most visitors to Lake Kissimmee State Park never see the lake. Certainly, they see the marina, and the Zipprer Canal that connects Lake Rosalie and Lake Kissimmee. Alligators sun on the canal banks, and you [...]
Lake Louisa State Park - 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, [...]
Lakeland Highlands Scrub - 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 [...]
Little Manatee River Hiking Trail - Diversity, scenery, and botanical wonders: all key to a great Florida hike. Laid out as two loops on the northernmost portion of Little Manatee River State Park, the Little Manatee River Hiking Trail is one [...]
Mosaic Peace River Park - The site of an open-pit phosphate mine until the early 1980s, this reclamation project borders the Peace River floodplain, where the boardwalk winds through the floodplain forest out to the river. Interpretive signs give background [...]
Saddle Creek Park Nature Trail - 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, [...]
