From the Prairie Creek Preserve to Rainbow Springs State Park, Gainesville and Ocala are polar opposites in many ways, but both offer much for those that share a love of the outdoors. With several hundred miles of trails throughout the region to choose from, Five-Star Trails: Gainesville & Ocala helps you find the best. Authored by Florida hiking expert and long-time Ocala resident Sandra Friend along with 40-year Eagle Scout and Florida Trail Association life member John Keatley, this handy guide provides a fresh perspective on the region's ever-expanding array of hiking trails. Covering more than 35 hikes across a three-county region, all within an hour's drive of either city, Five-Star Trails: Gainesville & Ocala gives you a reason to get outdoors now. Hikes are rated and highlighted according to their strengths from five perspectives: scenery, trail conditions, good for children, difficulty, and solitude. This handy guide makes planning your trip easy and enjoyable!

Five-Star Trails: Orlando is a handy guide for area residents, vacationers seeking outdoor fun, and for business travelers with a free afternoon. With a diverse collection of hiking routes, the book offers choices for everyone from solo trekkers to companions to families with either youngsters or oldsters to consider. Researched, experienced, and written by a local author, the guide provides in-depth trail descriptions, directions, and commentary on what to expect along the way. Each hike features an individual trail map, elevation profile, and at-a-glance key info, helping readers quickly determine the perfect trip for them when they are ready to head out the door. Sized to fit in a pocket, the book is convenient to keep in the car or toss into a backpack. Driving directions direct hikers to the nearest trailhead parking areas, and GPS trailhead coordinates get them to the start of the trail.

From the Prairie Creek Preserve to Rainbow Springs State Park, Gainesville and Ocala are polar opposites in many ways, but both offer much for those that share a love of the outdoors. With several hundred miles of trails throughout the region to choose from, Five-Star Trails: Gainesville & Ocala helps you find the best. Authored by Florida hiking expert and long-time Ocala resident Sandra Friend along with 40-year Eagle Scout and Florida Trail Association life member John Keatley, this handy guide provides a fresh perspective on the region's ever-expanding array of hiking trails. Covering more than 35 hikes across a three-county region, all within an hour's drive of either city, Five-Star Trails: Gainesville & Ocala gives you a reason to get outdoors now. Hikes are rated and highlighted according to their strengths from five perspectives: scenery, trail conditions, good for children, difficulty, and solitude. This handy guide makes planning your trip easy and enjoyable!

Five-Star Trails: Orlando is a handy guide for area residents, vacationers seeking outdoor fun, and for business travelers with a free afternoon. With a diverse collection of hiking routes, the book offers choices for everyone from solo trekkers to companions to families with either youngsters or oldsters to consider. Researched, experienced, and written by a local author, the guide provides in-depth trail descriptions, directions, and commentary on what to expect along the way. Each hike features an individual trail map, elevation profile, and at-a-glance key info, helping readers quickly determine the perfect trip for them when they are ready to head out the door. Sized to fit in a pocket, the book is convenient to keep in the car or toss into a backpack. Driving directions direct hikers to the nearest trailhead parking areas, and GPS trailhead coordinates get them to the start of the trail.

For Florida hikers, vacationers, outdoor enthusiasts, and wildlife watchers who want to plan and execute their own adventures, this second edition of the popular guidebook will be indispensable. Molloy and Friend explore the trails of Florida to provide readers with an easy-to-use, accurate, and thorough guide to hiking in more than 2 million acres of federally owned wilderness. These areas contain some of the Sunshine State's most spectacular scenery--from pristine beaches and emerald oceans to towering pine forests and sparkling spring-fed lakes. Illustrated with photographs by the authors, this guide describes every marked and maintained trail in Florida's national forests, parks, and preserves. Each description contains a profile of the path, detailing and rating its condition, length, and difficulty and describing the highlights and hazards of the trail. Profiles also give trailhead directions, trail connections, and hiking season information, followed by a running narrative describing what hikers can expect to see and experience on the trails. This updated edition covers large and small changes in the trails since 2000, most notably the new western corridor of the Florida Trail through Ocala National Forest and the storm-driven changes to the same trail at Gulf Island National Seashore and in Everglades National Park. Also included is a new section on Canaveral National Seashore. The book also features vignettes of natural and human history along the trails. Many of the areas border sinkholes and other geologic formations, wind through fascinating ecosystems such as the Everglades, and pass by historic sites such as old roadways, mail routes, battlefields, and military forts, andMolloy and Friend highlight these throughout the book in fascinating anecdotes. They also provide information on what to wear and bring on hiking expeditions to maximize safety and comfort along the great hiking trails of Florida's protected lands.

With numerous state parks and expansive state and national forests, North Florida provides the hiker with an extensive array of natural communities to explore. Forests of longleaf and slash pine flatwoods, coastal hammocks, desert scrub, and floodplain forests create welcoming habitats for vanishing species. The region's geology offers physical challenges for the hiker as welldeep ravines, rough riverside trails along steep bluffs, and giant sinkholes. Hiking in North Florida means the opportunity to camp along the state's broadest rivers, to clamber in and out of ravines and up and over relict dunes, to walk to the edge of sweeping vistas across prairies and salt marshes, to hike along vast lakes and bubbling springs. The hikes described in this all-new guide range in length from 1 to 22 miles. Each hike description includes a topographic map, mile-by-mile directions, and information on distance, difficulty, terrain, and hiking time. An overview chart makes it easy to pick a hike for every ability.

In the entire continental United States, only South Florida can lay claim to truly tropical habitats with native tropical plants. Rare ghost orchids grow in the humid depths of the Big Cypress, a region of vast prairies, haunting cypress strands, and deep sloughs filled with alligator flag. From its traditional start at Lake Okeechobee, the world's only Everglades sweep southward. North of Lake Okeechobee lie the remnants of ancient sand dunes forming high and dry scrub habitats, while along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coastlines the freshwater marshes of the interior meet the mangrove swamps of the barrier islands. In the Florida Keys, jungles of Caribbean plants top fossilized coral reefs surrounded by still aquamarine waters. This guide to a fascinating region contains a mix of easy nature trails, beach walks, and short interpretive boardwalks, as well as challenging day hikes and backpacking trips. The hikes range in length from 1 to 20 miles; each hike description includes mile-by-mile directions, a topographic map, and information on hiking time, mileage, and trail conditions.

Whether you re looking for a vacation spot on the Gulf Coast, a wild river to paddle, a dramatic waterfall, or a historic homestead to visit, seasoned travel writers Friend and Wolf show you the best of everything in the region. Coverage includes Gainesville, Pensacola, Panama City, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, and St. Augustine, with hundreds of authoritative and dependable lodging and dining recommendations for the entire area."

Florida s landscape is a marvel of diversity, and Central Florida is its pinnacle. Footpaths range through salt marshes, river floodplains, and along coastal dunes and beaches. Trails pass through desert-like scrub islands, jungle-like hydric hammocks, and deep, dark bayous. There s no better way to take in this natural world than by walking it. Ranging from 1 to 43 miles in length, each hike includes mile-by-mile directions, a topographic map, and information on hike duration, mileage, and trail conditions. This new edition includes 20 new places to explore, from hidden urban gems like the Circle Bar B Ranch in Lakeland and Ponce Preserve in Daytona Beach to the quiet rural landscapes of Catfish Creek State Park and Chinsegut Hill. Old standards like Tenoroc, Disney Wilderness Preserve, and Silver River State Park have been revisited and updated to keep you informed of changes in their trail systems."

What Florida's landscape lacks in topography, it makes up for in diversity, ranging from temperate Appalachian-style forests to tangled tropical jungles. Here hikers enjoy a broad range of habitats and wildlife that only Hawaii and California surpass. Trails pass through desert-like scrub islands, jungle-like hydric hammocks, and deep, dark bayous where giant cypress trees rise out of inky water. Footpaths range through salt marshes, river floodplains, and along coastal dunes and beaches with sparkling white sand. Florida has the world's only Everglades, and the delightful landforms of karst -- disappearing lakes and streams, yawning sinkholes lush with ferns, and the world's largest concentration of first-magnitude springs. More than 1,500 contiguous miles of the Florida National Scenic Trail stretch from the beaches of Pensacola, at the western edge of the Panhandle, to the Big Cypress Swamp in the Everglades.

The hikes in this new guide to the heart of the peninsula range in length from 1.2 to 100 miles. Each hike description includes a topographic map, mile-by-mile directions, and information on distance, difficulty, time, and terrain.