Hiking South Florida and the Keys

Hiking South Florida and the Keys features thirty-nine of the finest trails the region has to offer, from wet cypress swamps to dry pinewood forests. Four sections—Short Family Hikes, Day and Overnight Hikes, Long Haulers, and Walking the Florida Keys—comprise this user-friendly guide. M. Timothy O'Keefe shares his top hikes in twenty-three prime areas, including Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Jonathan Dickenson State Park, Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, and National Key Deer Refuge. Each hike includes all the information you need to make the most of exploring South Florida and the Keys on foot. Look inside to find: • Hikes suited to every ability • Directions to the trailheads • Comprehensive trail descriptions, maps, and elevation profiles • Mile-by-mile directional cues • Difficulty ratings, average hiking times, and best hiking seasons • 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."