THE FOOTPATH NEWSLETTER | | |
The Florida Trail Association develops, maintains, protects, and promotes a network of hiking trails throughout the state, including the unique Florida National Scenic Trail.
Together with our partners we provide opportunities for the public to hike, engage in outdoor recreation, participate in environmental education, and contribute to meaningful volunteer work.
| | Central Florida Chapter Update | | |
Hello again, Trail Family!

We’re so excited to gather again this Thursday for our August chapter meeting—and we hope you’ll join us! Not only will we be sharing stories from summer travels, but we’ll also be voting on our 2025–2026 chapter leadership slate and proposed budget. This is your chance to help shape the future of our chapter—and we’d love to have your voice in the room.
As the days (slowly) begin to shorten and cooler mornings whisper that fall is on the way, we’re already planning a full calendar of hikes, events, and trail work for the upcoming season. We know many of you have missed our Hike of the Month outings—don’t worry, they’re coming back soon!
Recently, Chris and I had the chance to attend a special event at Wild Space Gallery in St. Pete, where we met Mason Gravely of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation during a live taping of his podcast, Florida Uncut. It was an inspiring night focused on this year’s Southwest Florida expedition and the behind-the-scenes work that goes into raising awareness for the wild spaces we all love. A photo from the event is featured in this newsletter, and you’ll find a link to the episode further down—we highly recommend giving it a listen!
I also want to take a moment to thank our Executive Director, Tisha McCombs, for her ongoing leadership and recent updates shared with chapter leaders across the state. Some highlights worth celebrating:
- âś… USFS funding is in, allowing the FTA to fully resume trail operations and staffing ahead of the season.
- 🏡 The FTA staff will soon transition to a remote model, reducing administrative costs and allowing more funding to directly support volunteers and the trail itself.
- 👥 Tisha remains committed to visiting chapters in person, and we’re hoping to welcome her to one of our upcoming meetings—stay tuned!
Thank you all for the energy and passion you bring to this chapter. Whether you're hiking, leading, volunteering, or simply showing up—you’re the reason our trail community thrives.
See you Thursday night!
See you on the trail,
Chelsey Stevens
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August Chapter Meeting
We Want to Hear from YOU!
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đź“… Thursday, August 21
🕡 6:30 PM – Social Time | 7:00 PM – Meeting & Presentations Begin
📍 Leu Gardens – Magnolia Room

Bring a snack to share and join us for an evening of community, stories, and planning for the trail year ahead!
🧠Members Share Their Summer Adventures
This month, our program is all about our group summer travels. A lineup of members and guests will be sharing highlights from their adventures—from backcountry treks to overseas explorations. It’s a chance to connect, be inspired, and enjoy a variety of perspectives before we kick off the trail season this fall.
🗳️ Chapter Leadership Vote: 2025–2026
We’ll also be voting on our new leadership team for the upcoming term. Interested in stepping up? We’d love to have you on board!
We are still looking for a Chapter Secretary, so please reach out if you’re detail-oriented and want to help guide the future of our chapter.
Proposed Leadership Slate:
- Chelsey Stevens – Chapter Chair
- Jerry Rogers – Trail Coordinator
- David Magness – Membership Coordinator
- Kelley Galvin – Treasurer
- Doug Kucklick – Outreach Coordinator
- Chris Stevens – Media Coordinator
- Bill Turman – Activity Coordinator
- Mary-Slater Linn – Program Coordinator
- Vacant – Secretary (that could be you!)

✨ See you there—and bring your hiking spirit!
Let’s make this trail season our best one yet.
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Highlighted Hike of the Month
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Spring Hammock Preserve
Home to the Central Florida famous “Mud Walk”, a rite of passage for fifth grade students in Seminole County, Spring Hammock Preserve is an exceptionally beautiful dive into primordial floodplain forests alongside Lake Jesup. The preserve once had a long boardwalk leading out to the shore of the lake, until a trio of hurricanes in 2004 caused considerable damage to the end of the wooden walkway. It eventually fell into disrepair and was closed off around 2012. Rumors of the boardwalk being replaced someday would pop up from time to time for over a decade until Seminole County announced major improvements and a groundbreaking in October 2024.
And improve they did! The park now features an accessible asphalt path that leads down the shady Osprey Trail for nearly a mile, passing a side boardwalk to a massive cypress tree and a cloudy blue spring along the way. At the end of the pathway, a robust boardwalk with built in benches extends out over the floodplain, weaving through tall palms, sweetgum, and more stately cypress trees surrounded by huge knees. The boardwalk continues for a quarter mile before opening to a wide vista overlooking Lake Jesup and possible sightings of its notorious alligators. On the way back, new bridges across the canal paralleling the Osprey Trail allow access to the Mud Walk trails, a set of unmarked, rugged paths through a soggy subtropical jungle that progressively get wetter the further you venture in.
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On August 2nd, Rob Rogers' first book, Finding My Way Home: Fighting Depression Backpacking in Central Florida, won the Bronze Medal for Memoir/Autobiography at the 2025 Florida Authors & Publishers President's Book Awards. Many of you may remember that Rob presented his book and did his first book signing at our January meeting. He has also written articles for our newsletter since joining the FTA last year. Rob is also a member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA), and he writes a blog called the Central Florida Backpacking Desk Jockey.
Rob has also been busy since January writing creative nonfiction essays, many about his adventures hiking and backpacking here in Central Florida. Three of his essays have been published this year on FloridaHikes.com, and two other essays about backpacking adventures were published this spring in Still Point Arts Quarterly and Wilderness House Literary Review. He has also had essays about mental health published in The Florida Writer and Four Tulips, including "Coining Out," which won Honorable Mention in Four Tulips' New Beginnings Writing Contest. In addition, a travel article he wrote about backpacking in Sweden was published in June in Go World Travel, and will be republished this fall in Outdoors Unlimited.
More about Rob and his essays and articles can be found on his website, https://RobRogersWriter.com.
Join us for the Hike of the Mont
| | Guided Jay Walk at Blue Spring State Park | |
The kind of jaywalking that won't get you a ticket!
This is a guided hiking tour where we will trek through about 0.25 miles of scrub to look for our iconic Florida Scrub Jay. Visitors should be prepared with water, sunscreen, bug spray, and closed-toe shoes. Most of the hike is on soft sand. No pets are allowed on the tour for the safety of the birds.
Please arrive by 8:15 am and let the Ranger at the entrance know you are here for the Jay Walk when you pay the entrance fee. The meeting location is at the Ranger Station. Binoculars are not required, but highly recommended.
August 20th and 25th, 8:30 - 9:30. Free after general park admission: $6 per vehicle. The meeting location is at the Ranger Station.
Blue Spring State Park 2100 W French Ave, Orange City FL 32763
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September Chapter Meeting | |
đź“… Thursday, September 18, 2025
🕡 6:30 PM – Social Time | 7:00 PM – Presentation Begins
📍 Leu Gardens – Magnolia Room

🍎 Bring a snack to share and join us for an evening of community, conservation, and storytelling.
🌊 Featured Speaker
Doug Alderson – New Dawn on the Kissimmee River
Between 1960 and 1971, the Army Corps of Engineers straightened and diverted the Kissimmee River to control flooding. These drastic alterations shortened its length, devastated wildlife populations, and fueled a real estate boom that further threatened native species. By 1992, Congress approved one of the most ambitious restoration projects in history to return the river to its natural flow.
In the spring of 2007, Doug Alderson joined an expedition down the Kissimmee chain of lakes and the newly restored river. Over twelve days of paddling, his group encountered recovering bird populations, otters, turtles, alligators, and the quiet wild beauty of a reborn river.
In his book, New Dawn on the Kissimmee River, Alderson weaves this journey together with the history and ecology of the region, celebrating what has become the world’s most successful river restoration project—and the model for Everglades restoration.
đź“– About the Author:
Doug Alderson is the former associate editor of Florida Wildlife magazine and retired as the Florida Paddling Trails Coordinator for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. He has written numerous books on Florida’s natural and cultural heritage, inspiring readers to connect more deeply with the state’s wild places.
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Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens
Bromeliads, cacti, and dinosaurs, oh my! Step back in time venturing verdant Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens, with a historic sugar mill and a natural hammock edged by lush gardens.
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As cooler temperatures roll in and we gear up for another unforgettable trail season, we want to extend a warm invitation to those of you who feel ready to take the next step: becoming a Certified Activity Leader with the Central Florida Chapter.
Whether you’ve led groups before, or just found yourself wishing you could, now is the perfect time to step forward.
🥾 The process is simple:
To become certified, all you need to do is co-lead two hikes with two different certified leaders. From there, we’ll get you connected with the training, resources, and support you need to lead with confidence.
đź“Ś Your first step:
Reach out to one of our current leaders below and ask to co-lead one of their upcoming events. Many already have hikes in the works and would love to have you join them!
đź“ž Prefer a little help getting started?
Contact our Activity Leader Coordinator, Bill Turman, at 407-413-2950 or email him at HokieBill@bellsouth.net. He’ll help you find the right opportunity to get your boots on the ground.
âś… Our Current Certified Activity Leaders:
- Rachael Augspurg
- Ron Aube
- Stuart Dropkin
- Kristen Gilbert
- Steve Grieger
- Kelley Galvin
- Erica Johnson
- Joan Jarvis
- Ned James
- Jim Krell
- Russ Klette
- Elda Larche
- Mary-Slater Linn
- David Magness
- Judy Minter
- Tom Regan
- Jerry Rogers
- Chelsey Stevens
- Chris Stevens
- Bill Turman
- Jackie Warren
Thank you for stepping up—you’re already making a huge difference.
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Florida Uncut: Live at the Wild Space Gallery
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In this special episode of Florida Uncut, we’re bringing you our first-ever live recording, captured this past weekend at the Wild Space Gallery in St. Pete.
The conversation centers around the behind-the-scenes efforts that brought the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation’s 2024 expedition film to life. Every two years, the Foundation leads a week-long journey, on foot, bike, and water, through a region of the Corridor that needs greater public awareness and protection.
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10% off all regularly priced clothing, footwear, and gear
Offer limited & some exclusions apply
Travel Country Outfitters supports Florida Trail Members Simply show proof of membership at the register
www.travelcountry.com 407-831-0777
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Chelsey Stevens - Chapter Chair
Jerry Rogers - Trail Coordinator
David Magness - Membership Coordinator
Kelley Galvin - Treasurer
Doug Kucklick - Outreach Coordinator
Chris Stevens - Media Coordinator
Vacant - Secretary
Bill Turman - Activity Coordinator
Mary-Slater Linn - Program Coordinator
Media Committee
Rob Rogers
Outreach Committee
Rue Nilson
Stuart Dropkin
Roxane Abelow
Hospitality
Rue Nilson
Jean Williamson
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Join Our Committees!
Interested in getting more involved without the commitment of a leadership position? We're excited to announce the formation of committees to support our leadership roles, and we're seeking enthusiastic volunteers. Initially, we're focusing on the following committees, with plans to expand to additional roles in the future:
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Media Committee: This team will manage social media, share photos, write articles, and coordinate contributions from others.
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Outreach Committee: Members will help set up and staff tables at various outreach events.
If you're interested in joining one of these committees, please don't hesitate to reach out to us!
We hope everyone enjoys a cool and safe summer. Thank you for your dedication to our community and for taking the time to connect with your leadership team. Have a wonderful season!
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📬 Note on Newsletter Distribution
We’re excited to share that our chapter membership is growing — and that’s a great thing! To ensure we’re able to continue sharing updates with our active members, we’ve begun the process of removing individuals from our email list who are not current members of the Florida Trail Association.
Due to the limitations of our current email platform, we’re capped at 500 subscribers. As much as we’d love to send the newsletter to everyone, the cost and platform restrictions make it unsustainable.
If your membership has lapsed, this newsletter may no longer arrive in your inbox — but you can still access it anytime on our website and social media pages.

Want to keep receiving updates by email? Simply renew your membership and we’ll gladly add you back to the list!
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