April 18-26 is National Parks Week. Do yourself a favor and get out this weekend to one of Florida’s National Parks! Now you might scratch your head and say, but that’s … the Everglades! Well, Everglades National Park, protecting our River of Grass, is one of the best-known National Parks worldwide, but it is NOT the only National Park in Florida. We also have:
Biscayne National Park – offshore from Miami and Homestead in Biscayne Bay. Accessible only by boat, but has hiking trails you can enjoy.
Big Cypress National Preserve - Yes, the country’s first National Preserve falls under the auspices of the National Park Service. Why isn’t it called a National Park? Activities such as hunting, ORV use, and oil wells are permitted on the land. Visit the trails accessible off US 41, including the Florida Trail at Oasis Visitor Center.
Canaveral National Seashore - Stretching from Volusia to Brevard Counties, this is a popular location for beach hiking and camping and includes a length stretch of wilderness beach between the developed recreation areas accessible from A1A as well as four nature trails.
DeSoto National Memorial - In Bradenton, this small park commemorates Hernando de Soto’s landing on this coast. An interpretive trail enables you to explore the archaeological site along the mangrove shore.
Dry Tortugas National Park – Florida’s southwesternmost point, accessible only by water, and the site of Fort Jefferson, an imposing late-1800s structure that once guarded the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico.
Fort Caroline National Memorial – Site of the first French settlement in the New World, on the St. Johns River Bluffs in Jacksonville. Has a top-notch interpretive trail explaining the interactions between the French and the native Timucua.
Fort Matanzas National Monument – Hard to miss when you’re in the Ancient City section of St. Augustine, this massive coquina fortress was built by the Spanish to protect their interests in the New World.
Gulf Islands National Seashore - Gulf Islands includes protected land on barrier islands stretching from Navarre west to Mississippi. In Florida, the most popular destinations for Gulf Islands National Seashore are Perdido Key and Fort Pickens, which has the westernmost section of the Florida Trail, but don’t forget Naval Live Oaks with its landside hiking.
Timucuan Ecological & Heritage Preserve - Also in Jacksonville, this preserve includes a patchwork of lands along the St. Johns River that are of historic and archeological interest, with massive middens, coastal hammocks, estuaries, and Kingsley Plantation. Has some excellent hiking trails at the Theodore Roosevelt Area adjoining Fort Caroline.
