WATER & COAST
Bear Creek Educational Forest
Gadsden County · Panhandle & Emerald Coast
A 492-acre teaching forest south of Quincy with a paved trail where recorded voices tell you about the trees.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
Bear Creek Educational Forest lies just south of Quincy at 8125 Pat Thomas Parkway, off State Road 267, about half an hour from Tallahassee. It covers 492 acres inside the Lake Talquin State Forest and exists to teach rather than simply to be walked, with free guided programs run by the Florida Forest Service. The feature people remember is the talking tree trail, a paved path with audio stations along it where recorded storytelling explains the forest as you go, which works for children and for anyone who cannot manage rough ground. Two other nature trails run harder over the same land. The ground itself is varied: wetland, sandhill and steephead ravine within one property. Mountain laurel and rhododendron grow here alongside several pines, oaks, buckeye, yaupon and one ancient American holly. Gopher tortoises live on the dry ground, and songbirds, warblers and swallow-tailed kites pass through. There is an air-conditioned indoor classroom and an outdoor amphitheater classroom that seats 60, plus a picnic area and restrooms. School groups are the main users during the week
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