[almost retired Scotty]

Hello Everyone, I hope you can help us out.
My wife and I are avid hikers. We hike once or twice a week from 6-12 miles.
We've lived in San Antonio for 4 years and we are very happy to have
good 2 hiking/wilderness areas 5-10 minutes away and another larger area about 30 minutes away.
It looks on the map that TV is very close to Ocalla National Forest. Has anyone hiked there? The visitor centers seem to be a little far.
We've also been told about Rainbow Springs State Park but again it's a little far away(45 minutes or so)
Are there hikes in the Ocalla NF that are close? Any other places to go?
Thank you all for your help.

Scotty

[swrinfla]

I suspect a lot of what you're looking for depends on what type of hiking you mean.

The golf cart paths (which are, in TV speak, "Multi-modal transportation paths," or words to that effect) appear to provide you with plenty of walking venues away from automobiles.

Almost any morning when I travel in my cart on the Buena Vista path, I see a really dedicated walker, whether I'm near Lake Miona Rec Center or further north. I'm guessing he walks as many as 10 miles a day.

But, I'm not sure what you mean by "hiking." If you're looking for a woodland trail or some such, then you seem to have located where they might be - not all that close to TV.

Good luck on your search.

SWR

[Regor]

The Cross Florida Greenway is just a few miles to the north, around Belleview. This is the trail that crosses I-75 on the land bridge. There are miles and miles of trails in the ONF (Ocala National Forest) including the Florida trail. A quick search with Google will help you.

The ONF is mainly pine forest and the Greenway is mostly through oak forests.

Lots of hiking and if you are a geocacher, lots of finds to find.

[almost retired Scotty]

Thank you so much for the information.
I looked up the cross florida greenway and it's great. It's close to the villages and it looks beautiful.

Scotty

[Bernie]

There are a lot of good trails within 20 minutes of TV. A few that I have hiked are Fire Island, Emeralda Island, Sunny Hill Restoration Area, Half Moon Wildlife Restoration, Ocala NF, and Santos Trail. I found that most any of the FL Bird Trails are worth exploring. Nothing in FL quite comapres to mountian hiking but it is unique. Mosquitoes and ticks can be a problems at times. My son and I did 10 day backpack in and out of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and that was probably one of my best memory hikes as it was also right before he got married and started a family ending our yearly camping trips since he was about 3 years old. Might want to consider joining The Villages Hiking Club --- they always know lots of good trails. I don't particulary like hiking in a crowd as it seems to defeat the serentiy of a quiet hike in the woods.

[jgrob]

Subscribe to groups.yahoo.com/thevillageshikingclub
This is a network of Villagers who like to hike.

[golfnut]

are there any bears out there....gn

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by almost retired Scotty

Hello Everyone, I hope you can help us out.
My wife and I are avid hikers. We hike once or twice a week from 6-12 miles.
We've lived in San Antonio for 4 years and we are very happy to have
good 2 hiking/wilderness areas 5-10 minutes away and another larger area about 30 minutes away.
It looks on the map that TV is very close to Ocalla National Forest. Has anyone hiked there? The visitor centers seem to be a little far.
We've also been told about Rainbow Springs State Park but again it's a little far away(45 minutes or so)
Are there hikes in the Ocalla NF that are close? Any other places to go?
Thank you all for your help.

Scotty

You could hike up to Sumter Landing for an ice cream.

I know that there is a large lake with a park in Leesburg. Very close.

You will love it here.