Spring has sprung and it is time to get outside and explore this great Florida Panhandle area. In neighboring Santa Rosa County, a terrific destination for a variety of outdoor activities is Blackwater River State Park. Visitors can canoe, kayak, tube, fish and swim the river. Hikers can enjoy trails through nearly 600 acres of …
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Hiking
Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail
The typical image of a state park is that of a place where visitors enter through a front gate and enjoy the wonders of nature or some historic structure. The Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail, which is run by The Florida Division of Recreation and Parks, is truly an exception to the typical model. …
Nature Tourism – Bald Point State Park
Some of the most picturesque and scenic natural areas along north Florida’s Gulf Coast are found in Bald Point State Park. The 4,065 acre park is located on Alligator Point, where Ochlockonee Bay meets Apalachee Bay. Bald Point State Park offers a variety of land and water activities. Coastal marshes, pine flatwoods, and oak thickets …
The Once Mightier Ochlockonee, Dismembered by Sea Level Rise
What do the Ochlockonee and Aucilla rivers have in common? Not much, it would seem, beyond the fact that both have headwaters in Georgia and flow through Florida to the Gulf of Mexico. These two rivers do share the distinction of being unusual, although they’re unusual in very different ways. The Aucilla is a blackwater stream …
Biking to a Healthier Community
If you told me earlier this summer that I would “accidentally” bike 18 miles one afternoon, I’d have laughed. I’ve always loved biking, but rarely have time for long distance rides. As part of the mobile workshops for an Extension professional development meeting in Burlington, Vermont, fifteen of us met up with the coordinator of …
Nature Tourism in the Panhandle – Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) – Pensacola Beach
All Photos by Molly O’Connor We began our series on Nature Tourism along the ICW at the Alabama state line on Perdido Key and discussed the ICW itself. This month we will continue in Escambia County with a visit to Pensacola Beach. BARRIER ISLANDS Pensacola Beach is on Santa Rosa Island. The longest barrier …
Florida Master Naturalist projects impact local communities
The Florida Master Naturalist Program is a 40-hour experiential learning course offered by UF IFAS Extension. While we spend time in class with presentations, by far everyone’s favorite aspects of the course are field trips and “project day.” As part of the course, each participant produces an educational tool—a display, presentation, skit, or lesson—that delves …
Panhandle Outdoors LIVE – Watershed School – Week’s Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
Mobile Bay?… part of the Florida panhandle?… Really?… Well… yes… during the colonial period “West Florida” extended west to the Biloxi area and besides, all western panhandlers know we are really “lower Alabama”; we hear it a million times a year… so YES, it’s part of the Florida panhandle! We’ll go with it. Approximately 35 …
2016 Gulf Coast Agritourism and Ecotourism Business Development Conference
In 2014, five Extension agents involved with www.naturallyescarosa.com launched the first Gulf Coast Agritourism & Ecotourism Business Development Conference. Over sixty business owners and members of the hospitality industry met to discuss marketing, sustainable tourism, and how to handle insurance and liability in an industry that involves outdoor exploration. Back by popular demand, we have …
Panhandle Outdoors LIVE! Hikes the Aucilla Sinks Trail
Hernando de Soto and his party crossed the Aucilla River sometime in October of 1539 and celebrated Christmas in what is now Tallahassee. Many things in Florida have changed since de Soto passed this way, but when the 2015 Panhandle Outdoors LIVE! tour hiked the Aucilla Sinks portion of the Florida Trail this September, many …
