Walton Outdoors looks back at another extraordinary year of exploring the outdoors
Wow, what an incredible year it has been for exploring beautiful places and meeting new people with wonderful and interesting pastimes. We have ventured on quite a few journeys in and around Walton County.
Not surprising, some of the most interesting stories are about the folks that live in our area and their passion for living in the Northwest Florida Panhandle. With the wonderful people, beautiful waterways, trails and diverse ecosystems, it’s no wonder we all love living here.
Here is a peek at our top ten most popular stories:
The Places:
1) Exploring nature along Holmes Creek continues to be a favorite place for our readers to explore and one of our most popular stories. Click here to read story
2) Ponce De Leon Springs is another favorite place our readers enjoyed learning about. No better family oriented place for a picnic and a dip in a cool spring. Click here to read story
3) Exploring Bruce Creek is a great hike along a winding path that leads to the Choctawhatchee River. Step back in time along this quiet nature trail. Click here to read story
4) Deer Lake State Park is a special place for those looking to explore ancient sand dunes along with an uncrowded beach. Many folks don’t know there is a beautiful nature trail on the north side of Scenic Hwy. 30A which is park of the State Park. Click here to read story
The People:
5) Who knew that right here in Walton County the fine art of tying flies is alive and well. Local Jason Stacy keeps up a great old tradition at Old Florida Outfitters. Click here to read story
6) Outdoorsman Mark McDuffie has been fishing the waterways of the Choctawhatchee River since he was five-years-old. After being seriously injured in Iraq, getting back to fishing served Mark well in his healing process. He now shares his passion with others. Click here to read story
7) The Marlow family are world class archery champions who enjoy living the outdoor life in Northwest Florida. Learn about this family that enjoys their favorite sport, archery. Click here to read story
Education:
8 ) Anyone that has lived in the Florida Panhandle near a creek or wetlands knows what a yellow fly is and how those pesky critters can wreak havoc. Here is a popular story about how to deal with those pests and lots of comments from our readers on how the deal with ‘em. Click here to read story
9) Living in the natural world you are going to encounter a snake or two. Some folks get quite frightened by snakes and not sure how to deal with them. Here is a popular story about living around snakes in Florida. Click here to read story
The Experience:
10) Walton Outdoors is dedicated to sharing the wonders of the outdoor experience by providing interesting stories to our readers and educating our youth on the wonders of getting outdoors. In October we hosted the Explore Grayton Beach State Park event at the Back To Nature Festival. It was a great success and a joy to watch hundreds of children exploring fishing, kayaking and stand up paddle boarding for the first time.
“When I heard a young boy holler out ‘I caught a fish, my very first one,’ I knew I had accomplished what I set out to do that day,” said Lori Ceier, publisher of Walton Outdoors. Click here to read story