A historic North Florida city along the St. Johns River, Palatka is located just a few miles east of the Florida Trail and a fifteen minute drive from the Ocala National Forest, providing a great gateway to outdoor adventures.
Bayard Point Conservation Area - The St. Johns River runs broad and deep near Green Cove Springs, where Bayard Point Conservation Area preserves an untouched Florida riverfront, bottomland floodplain with dense stands of bald cypress, sweet gum, and red maples. [...]
Davenport Landing Trail - 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 1800s, Florida’s rivers [...]
Dunns Creek State Park - 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 [...]
Florida Trail, Buckman Lock to Rodman Dam - 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 [...]
Florida Trail, Buckman Lock to SR 20 - Connecting the Ocala National Forest and the northern end of the Cross Florida Greenway with Rice Creek Conservation Area, the Florida Trail between Buckman Lock and SR 20 west of Palatka is a 7.4-mile ramble [...]
Florida Trail, Etoniah West - 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 [...]
Florida Trail, Gold Head Branch State Park - One of Florida’s oldest state parks, the Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park opened in the 1930s, its facilities built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. It is one of the few state parks that [...]
Florida Trail, Hopkins Prairie to Salt Springs - While the Ocala National Forest is best known for having the largest expanse of scrub forest in the world, a lesser known facet of the forest – unless you hike the Florida Trail – are [...]
Florida Trail, Lake Delancy to The 88 Store - 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 [...]
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 [...]
Florida Trail, Rodman to Lake Delancy - 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 [...]
Florida Trail, Salt Springs to The 88 Store - 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 [...]
Gold Head Branch State Park – Ridge and Ravine Trails - 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 [...]
Ocala National Forest – Bear Swamp Trail - Little known except to those who frequent this beautiful campground in the Salt Springs Recreation Area in the Ocala National Forest, the Bear Swamp Trail provides a glimpse into the ancient forest that undoubtedly crowded [...]
Ocala National Forest – Salt Springs Loop - For a hint of fall color in the Ocala National Forest, the Salt Springs Loop trail just south of the town of Salt Springs showcases a variety of habitats, among them a floodplain forest along [...]
Ravine Gardens State Park - Built in 1934 by CCC workers with 250,000 ornamental plants and 95,000 azaleas, Ravine Gardens was named the “Nation’s Outstanding Citizen Works Administration Project” when it opened. In 1970, it became a state park. A [...]
Rice Creek Conservation Area - In the 1780s, British loyalists Thomas Forbes and William Panton fled from the American Revolution in Georgia to Florida, then a British colony. Applying for a land grant, they received acreage west of modern-day Palatka. [...]
