Best Place to Take a Hike

Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area
3365 Taylor Creek Road, Christmas, 407-568-5893, myfwc.com

Head east on Colonial Drive until the road forks, then steer right to take State Road 520 until you see the small brown sign beckoning you to turn left and discover Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area. It’s off the beaten path, but its many trails offer a rare solitude typically encountered exclusively in apocalyptic storybooks and doomsday movies. Once inside, enjoy hiking the rugged Florida landscapes – quaint ponds, open fields of wildflowers, canopies of hanging moss – populated in the early morning hours by wild turkeys, boar, deer and more birds than Audubon Park documents on its street signs. If you drive long enough, you end up deep in the wood at Lake Charlie, where eagles have been spied and sunbathing gators grunt, perhaps appreciating the varied terrain as much as (or more than) we do.

Best of Orlando 2014

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| Photos by Ashley Belanger