hiking central florida: a guide to the area’s greatest hiking adventures

Hiking Central Florida describes forty of the region’s best and most varied hikes, those that offer the chance to observe unspoiled, natural Florida at its finest. With terrain ranging from wet cypress swamps to dry pinewood forests, the region offers subtly striking scenery and it harbors rich diversity.

Covering the area from Ocala to State Road 60 near Lake Wales and Yeehaw Junction--and also embracing the northern stretch of the Florida Trail in the Ocala National Forest and the Bulow Plantation/Bulow Creek hike on the Atlantic coast--this user-friendly guide takes you from short family hikes in places such as Canaveral National Seashore, to backpackers’ delights. It provides all the information you need to make the most of exploring Central Florida by foot.

Look inside to find:

- Hikes suited to every ability
- Directions to the trailheads
- Comprehensive trail descriptions and maps
- Mile-by-mile directional cues
- Difficulty ratings, average hiking times, and best hiking seasons for every featured hike
- Area-specific tips on safety, hiking ethics, plants and animals, preserving the environment, and more

M. Timothy O’Keefe, head of the Journalism division at the University of Central Florida, has published 13 books, over 1,000 magazine articles and more than 5,000 photographs. His work has appeared in several National Geographic books, National Geographic Traveler, Time-Life Books, Newsweek, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Scientific American, Travel & Leisure, Caribbean Travel & Life, Reader’s Digest Magazine, and Reader’s Digest Books. O’Keefe’s writing and photography have won more than 50 regional and national awards. The Florida Outdoor Writer’s Association (FOWA) named his Seasonal Guide to the Natural Year: Florida with Georgia and Alabama Coasts ＂Best Book＂ of 1997. The following year, FOWA named The Spicy Camp Cookbook (Menasha Ridge Press) as the ＂Best Book＂ of 1998. Tampa Bay Magazine has called him ＂Florida’s premier wildlife photographer and writer.＂