At some point in life, the world’s beauty becomes enough.

— Toni Morrison

With the closing of the year, also comes the end of another hiking challenge!

As usual, it feels nice to complete something, especially in 2020, the year full of canceled plans. But like many things in the past 9 months, the thrill of ending the challenge feels a little “meh.”

Don’t get me wrong, nature is never dull but this year, hiking became my go-to activity so there was very little challenge to be had! In fact, it wasn’t challenging at all, it was easy! You might say, it came quite naturally.

One thing I did appreciate this year was the growing number of local friends and acquaintances that reached out to me asking where they should go hiking! When out on the trail, I liked thinking about other friends and strangers walking along the same path and wondering what caught their eye.

Was it the purple blooms brightening the trail’s edge or did they get a visit from the same family of deer? Clearly, I was lacking in human connection, but I think these walks through nature connected me to Mother Nature herself, instead.

In hopes of inspiring more hikers, here is the list of Florida hikes I took this year.

Alachua County –

Look for the small things while on nature hikes. Photo by Chelsea Collison.

And Beyond –

girl with binoculars*Pro-tip get yourself a Florida State Parks Annual Entrance Pass to visit all these parks (and more) with ease! Also, make sure to check out our partnership program, Museum in the Parks!

See you on the trail!

This originally appeared in Wonder & Grow, a blog by Chelsea Collison, one of our former Museum educators.