Published May 13, 2015 09:30PM
Orlando's Best Local Hikes
There's plenty of wilderness to be found after work, in a day, or for a weekend on Orlando's top close-to-home trails.
'Photo by Sandra Friend'
If the hike from Disney World’s Tomorrowland to Adventureland didn’t quite quench your nature craving, don’t worry. It doesn’t matter if you’ve only got a couple hours, a full day, or a week—Orlando’s got a trail for you and your family. Here are our favorites.
After Work
Red and Yellow Blaze Loop, Econlockhatchee Sandhills Conservation Area
Disney wishes it had something like this flower-dappled vale. The 3.2-mile lollipop-loop tours the 706-acre conservation area, busting with blazing star and yellow aster in early to late fall. Large oak hammocks, saw palmetto, pine flat woods, and grand cypresses abound. Check with rangers about seasonal flooding before you go.
Trailhead Kiosk on Lake Pickett Road, 28.5876,-81.1559 Drive time 20 mins. Info floridahikes.com
Dayhike
White Loop, Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area
Florida can feel relentlessly new in a lot of places. Come here to see what the state used to look like. This 12-mile lollipop loop off the Florida Trail takes you under ancient live oaks into the state’s oldest slash pine forests, where the high canopy encloses a sparsely vegetated ground. Follow the FT’s orange blazes south into a forest fringed with wild iris to the White Loop. Travel north to the Yellow Loop and follow it back to the junction with the FT and then your car.
Trailhead In the William Beardall Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area: 28.498500,-80.996750 Drive time 30 mins. Info myfwc.com
ADVERTISEMENT
Overnight
Florida Trail, Bull Creek Wildlife Management Area
Narrow trail bridges, pine savannas, and open plains dominate this 13.8-mile loop on the Florida Trail. Start at the Levee 73 gate off FL 192 East and hike south to cross Crabgrass Creek on a footbridge. Scan the shoreline for carnivorous pitcher plants. Keep heading south, following the abandoned Union Cypress Railroad along Bull Creek to Little Spruce campground (mile 7.4). Next day, follow white blazes west then north for 6.4 miles before rejoining the Florida Trail at Cemetery Road.
Trailhead Herky Huffman/Bull Creek Trailhead: 28.116389, -80.932889 Drive time 55 mins. Info floridahikes.com