Located at the southern end of Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg offers hikes that are relatively short, since Pinellas County is the most densely populated county in Florida, and most of those residents live at its southern end. These are urban getaways, often interpretive, great for families, and frequently along a body of water.
Boyd Hill Nature Park
Boyd Hill Park originally began its life as a zoo and botanical garden for the city of St. Petersburg. It has since evolved over the decades into a mosaic of natural habitats and wild tropical landscapes along the shores of Lake Maggiore. From the outer Main Trail, there are five side trails (mostly loops) showcasing [...]
Eagle Lake Park
In the heart of Pinellas County, Eagle Lake Park is the legacy of the Taylor family, who helped to found Largo – then known as Citrus City – with their groves and citrus packing plant. Surrounding their homestead was one of the last significant pine forests in the most densely urban county in Florida, as [...]
Egmont Key State Park
Resources Overview Location: Egmont Key Length: 1 mile Lat-Lon: 27.613088, -82.736473 (for ferryboat dock) Type: round-trip Fees: state park access fee Difficulty: easy to moderate Bug Factor: moderate Restroom: not on the island Pets are not allowed on the island. Egmont Key State Park website Directions The Tampa Bay Ferry departs from Fort De Soto [...]
Emerson Point Preserve
Where the Manatee River meets the Gulf of Mexico, Emerson Point Preserve protects a significant archeological site: the Portavent Mound. More than 150’ long and 80’ wide, this artificial flat-topped hill shaded by ancient live oaks is one of the oldest temple mounds in Florida, more than 1,000 years old, built by the ancestors of [...]
Fort De Soto Park – Arrowhead Nature Trail
Explore several coastal habitats on the Arrowhead Nature Trail at Fort De Soto Park, an interpretive walk with plenty of stops where you’ll learn all about the salt-dependent plants along the rim of Mullet Key Bayou. Several openings in the mangroves enable you to enjoy scenic views with a wide sweep of the shallows of [...]
Fort De Soto Park – Barrier Free Trail
Dangling like an anchor into the southern waters of Tampa Bay, Mullet Key is known to the world as Fort De Soto Park, home of a rare find: unspoiled, uninhabited Suncoast beaches. During the Spanish-American War, the pressure was on to protect Tampa, since troops shipped out of the port for Cuba, and thus Fort [...]
Fort De Soto Park – Soldier’s Hole Nature Trail
Its name comes from legends of soldiers deserting the fort in the dead of night, slipping through the mangrove swamps to freedom. Soldier’s Hole is a cove in the mangrove forest, abuzz with mosquitoes and thick with tidal muck. It’s a nursery for fish and crustaceans taking their nutrients from the detritus formed by fallen [...]
