Colt Creek State Park is one of Florida’s newest parks, part of the massive Green Swamp Wilderness near Tampa, with RV and tent camping, backpacking, kayaking, fishing, hiking and off-road bicycling.
Hiking
DAYTONA BEACH — Tiger Bay State Forest is a vast wilderness quite close to Daytona Beach International Speedway, and it’s a great destination for camping, fishing, off-road bike riding, hiking and horseback riding.
Topsail Hill State Park preserves 3 miles of pristine beach, magnificent white sand dunes and sparkling coastal lakes. With lots of camping and cabin sites, it’s a gem in the Panhandle.
This state park has superior cabins and is a great base for kayaking the Suwannee and hiking. It’s also home to an oddly dated museum on Stephen Foster. (We considered it a funky Florida find.)
Amateur astronomers love this place in the heart of Florida’s cow country — 54,000 acres of wide-open prairie, 25 miles from the nearest town, ideal for stargazing under a pure night sky.
A 22,000-acre wilderness with 60 miles of trails for hiking, biking and equestrians through five thriving wildlife habitats. Six primitive camping areas, or try this secret campground with river access.
The beach town of Marco Island is all manicured and modern, but here are four adventures into the wild and authentic Florida that are within a quick drive. You can wade across a lagoon to a wild beach or have lunch in a funky fishing town or stroll on a boardwalk into a beautiful old growth cypress swamp.
Florida Panhandle campgrounds offer a taste of the seasons without the inconvenience of snow, but beware of the summer crush of visitors from Southern states.
Every year, we pull together our list of holiday gift ideas for outdoors recreation, and this year’s list covers five categories: kayaking, camping, hiking, snorkeling and loungin’ Key West style.
Fall is the start of Florida’s hiking season and here are five favorite hikes around the state to inspire you. Florida hiking trails are incredibly varied and can be full of all sorts of wildlife.
Amid a sea of subdivisions, you’ll find a pair of man-made wetlands west of Delray Beach where you will encounter extraordinary wildlife viewing from strategically placed boardwalks. After COVID and construction closings, they are both open as of fall 2020.
Ocala National Forest covers more than 600 square miles of Central Florida, and all of it is open to dispersed, primitive camping.
Just 45 minute from Tampa/St. Pete, the beautiful river, state park and region is a natural haven that can keep you busy exploring for days. There’s an outfitter to make trip-planning easy, plus it offers cabins and camping.
Some of the best hiking near Orlando can be found at the Little Big Econ State Forest, where bluffs along a scenic river add interest. The forest is 5,000 acres preserved in a suburban area in the middle of the triangle formed by Orlando, Cocoa and Daytona Beach.
Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park — the biggest state park in Florida — is a vast, wild place near Everglades City. Year after year, we drove right past, but there are three great reasons to spend time here. We’re glad we did.
When driving I-95, you can travel five minutes off the highway and find romantic ruins, have a picnic and a walk through the woods in this Flagler County state park. In minutes, you feel like you’re in another world.
This cypress-lined Alafia river has an unusual feature for Florida: Rocky shoals that create fun rapids to kayak. It’s near hiking trails, springs and a very nice paddling trail at Little Manatee River State Park.
A very old, very big live oak tree inspired me to stop at this park near the Villages in Central Florida, and I found it to be a nice place to picnic, paddle and take a short hike.
Peaceful Waters Sanctuary is an outstanding birding site and a particularly good destination for nature-starved folks from Broward and Palm Beach counties. It’s also close to two good places for 3-mile-long walks in natural settings.
The Castle Windy Trail is a shady respite from the never-ending sun of Cape Canaveral National Seashore, introducing you to the primitive coastal environment that was once typical of Florida’s Atlantic shoreline.