Page 118 - Travel Guide to Florida 2020

NORTH CENTRAL FLORIDA

good news for locals who know a dozen
hidden springs, which feed the rivers, are
popular swimming holes where hikers and
paddlers pause for a swim. Keaton Beach, a
fishing village south of Perry, has a sandy
beach on the Gulf of Mexico.
Tubing the area’s unique springs provides
an intimate look at a tangled wilderness.
Float through tunnels of vegetation too small
for canoes. Entry points include Blue Spring
State Park in High Springs and Fort White’s
Ichetucknee Springs State Park.
The Suwannee River can be paddled for
its entire length, from north of Jacksonville
to the Gulf of Mexico. Primitive camps are
provided for overnight stays. Overnight
lodgings, supplies and restaurants are found
in White Springs and Dowling Park.
An exceptional network of hiking, biking
and equestrian trails is well maintained and
mapped, thanks to the Florida Trail Associ-
ation. Gainesville’s Loblolly Woods Nature
Path is a serene hideaway in the heart of the
city. The two-mile-long Hogtown Creek
Greenway loop trail rewards all with views
FISHING, LAKE JACKSON • DESTINATION STYLE/GLENN HASTINGS of woods, waters and wildlife seemingly
untouched by urban sprawl.
BEACHES AND OUTDOOR GEMS Stretches of the Great Florida Birding Trail The Osceola National Forest’s most
Naturalist John Muir trekked through this thread through the region, offering popular spot is Ocean Pond, a two-mile-wide
region to end his famous Thousand-Mile sightings of upland and coastal species. swimming hole with a sandy beach. The
Walk to the Gulf at Cedar Key, noting many Hiking trails abound. 200,000-acre forest has hiking, birding, ATV,
previously unrecorded species of birds and Beachgoers speed past this area, lured to motorcycle and equestrian trails.
plants. Look for them in the region’s state the snow-white sands of the Emerald Coast The Tallahassee–St. Marks Historic Railroad
and national forests, preserves and parks. or eastward to the Atlantic beaches. That’s State Trail runs 20.5 miles from the capital to
St. Marks. It’s part of Florida’s Greenways and
Trails System, a National Recreation Trail
and a portion of the developing 120-mile
5 MUST-SEE “Capital City to the Sea Loop” corridor on the
Big Bend Scenic Byway. Trailahassee.com is
ATTRACTIONS
an online resource with information and
maps of more than 600 miles of trails in the
Tallahassee area.
1 CEDAR KEY: Tallahassee’s Alfred B. Maclay Gardens
visitcedarkey.com
State Park is a botanical showplace,
2 DEVIL’S MILLHOPPER GEOLOGICAL STATE PARK: renowned for winter blooming camellias.
floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/Devils-Millhopper-geological-state-park
More of the region’s unique flora and
3 EDWARD BALL WAKULLA SPRINGS STATE PARK: fauna is found at such diverse spots as the
floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/edward-ball-Wakulla-Springs-state-park
sprawling savanna at Paynes Prairie Preserve
4 LAKE JACKSON MOUNDS ARCHAEOLOGICAL STATE PARK: State Park, a prehistoric sinkhole at Devil’s
floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/Lake-Jackson-mounds-archaeological-state-park
Millhopper Geological State Park, the
5 MISSION SAN LUIS: wetlands environment at Cedar Key and
missionsanluis.org
wooded upland habitats in state and
national forests.

116 2020 TRAVEL GUIDE TO FLORIDA