While this region is best known for its beaches – and plenty of interpretive trails lead you there – to the north lie vast tracts of land for backpacking, including the state’s oldest state forest, Pine Log State Forest, and the beautiful Econfina Creek watershed.
Constitution Convention Museum State Park
At the Constitution Convention Museum State Park, interpretive exhibits and artifacts put a face on Florida’s frontier days, with a special focus on the historic city of St. Joseph (now Port St. Joe). Established by homesteaders who were kicked out of Apalachicola thanks to a sneaky land deal called the Forbes Purchase (1830), St. Joe [...]
Deer Lake State Park
The coast of Walton County is home to rare coastal dune lakes, an ecosystem that only exists in Florida and in Australia and Africa, and you’ll find them at Deer Lake State Park. As the freshwater lakes become too full, they naturally spill over and flow into the Gulf of Mexico. At that time seawater [...]
Econfina Nature Trail
Sluicing its way through high bluffs and low flatlands, Econfina Creek is one of Florida’s most beautiful and unsung waterways. The Florida Trail follows it for nearly 20 miles through Washington and Bay Counties. This easy day hike will give you a good taste of the geologic wonders to be savored along its shores. Although [...]
Eden Gardens State Park – Tucker Bayou Trail
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 [...]
Florida Caverns State Park – Caverns Trail System
Most people come to see the stalactites and stalagmites at Florida’s only show cave. But the hiking’s even weirder at Florida Caverns State Park. One of the best parts of Florida Caverns State Park is its Caverns Trail System, an interconnected group of nature trails that surround the big show cave. Most folks don’t step [...]
Florida Trail, Econfina Creek
Following the course of Econfina Creek, this protected segment of the Florida Trail provides a gorgeous weekend backpacking experience, particularly in springtime when the mountain laurel and azalea are in full fragrant bloom. The upper portion of the creek flows swiftly through steep-sided clay banks, with ravines and vegetation reminiscent of the Appalachian Mountains. As [...]
Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park
Hugging the shoreline of Rocky Bayou, an important aquatic preserve, Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park near Niceville has one of the prettiest campgrounds in the Florida State Park system – well air-conditioned by a cross-flow of breezes between the bayou and Puddin’ Head Lake – and one of the most picturesque trail systems. The [...]
Grayton Beach State Park
Along the South Walton coast, Grayton Beach State Park preserves special treasures—not just a waterfront with emerald waves and sparkling sand, but a rare coastal dune lake with freshwater mere feet from the sea. The trail system introduces you to a coastal dune lake and its surrounding habitats. Start with the Barrier Dunes Nature Trail, [...]
Henderson Beach State Park
If you’ve spent any time at the beach, you know that sand collects around the dune grasses and builds up, forming larger dunes. At Henderson Beach State Park, one of the more immense dunes built up around an old military bunker, and it’s now the home of the Henderson Beach Nature Trail, a 3/4-mile pet-friendly [...]
Pine Log State Forest
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 [...]
Ponce De Leon Springs State Park
What a delight to find a cool pool of bright blue water beneath tall cypresses—and a trailhead at the same time! Just off I-10 in the eponymous town of Ponce De Leon, this first-magnitude spring pumps out 14 million gallons of water a day, creating Spring Creek. Resources Overview Location: Ponce de Leon Length: 0.6 [...]
St. Andrews State Park – Gator Lake Nature Trail
With the roar of the nearby surf in your ears and sand in your shoes, it’s hard to believe that the glimmering body of water at the bottom of this ancient sand dune is called Gator Lake for good reason—you’ll find its namesake alligators there. Although less than a half-mile in length, this interpretive loop [...]
St. Andrews State Park – Pine Flatwoods Trail
[set_id= 72157624781421114] With a replica of a turpentine distillery at the beginning of this Panama City Beach hike, this is a walk to get you acquainted with one of the more important historic uses of Florida’s barrier islands—naval stores. Products of the coastal pine forests were of paramount importance to early military efforts, when ships [...]
