OUTDOORS VisitSPC.com/Outdoors WEEDON ISLAND NATURE PRESERVE FORT DE SOTO PARK Unbridled nature and county park amenities give you the best of both worlds at Fort De Soto. St. Pete/Clearwater’s largest park stretches across 7 miles of five interconnected islands (keys). Two fishing piers accommodate sportsmen with their own food-and-bait concession, but you don’t have to fish to enjoy the pier’s Gulf views and appear-ances by dolphins and manatees. Along with the park’s award-winning beaches, there’s, of course, the historic fort. Bring your furry one along to the dog beach or take to a 6.5-mile paved trail for biking, jogging, walking and skating. If you wish to tread the waterways, head to Topwater Kayak Outpost . BOCA CIEGA MILLENNIUM PARK Encounter the jagged beauty of coastal wilderness from the safety of an elevated boardwalk at this scenic Largo/Seminole area park. Boca Ciega Millen-nium Park gets high marks from birders and has earned a “Great Florida Birding Trail” designation. More than 175 species of our feathered friends have descended on its shores and branches. Some of the rarer sightings include the olive-sided flycatcher and Connecticut warbler. FORT DE SOTO PARK BOYD HILL NATURE PARK & LAKE MAGGIORE ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER A variety of terrains — hardwood hammocks, sand pine scrub, pine flatwoods, a willow marsh and the Lake Maggiore shoreline — reel along Boyd Hill’s winding trail. Hundreds of bird species and the experienced birders who stalk them flock here. An environmental center delves into the park’s history. A pioneer settlement serves as a living history museum of 19th-century life in west-central Florida. The park was named after Boyd Hill, a city worker in the 1930s who sought a balance between nature and St. Pete’s urban landscape. Leave the dog at home. The park doesn’t allow pets. variety of landscapes. Enter by the Gulfport Marina, where you’ll encounter hilly mounds, overlooks and a canoe/kayak launch. Rentals available at Kayak Nature Adventures . EGMONT KEY & SHELL KEY Both are wildly gorgeous. Egmont Key was once home to Fort Dade and spreads out across the ghost town of its settlement, which burned down nearly a century ago. Cannons and old brick roads predate its nature trails. In the late 1850s, the island served as a camp for captured Seminoles at the end of the Third Seminole War. The Union Navy during the Civil War later occupied it. The uninhabited Shell CLAM BAYOU NATURE PRESERVE A lush and lovely waterfront preserve with long bike trails, Clam Bayou is a testament to the hard work of environmentalists and civic leaders who planted native vegetation, installed a system of boardwalks and preserved Clam Bayou back to its undisturbed glory. Long landscaped trails traverse a 50 AMERICA’S BEST BEACHES
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