Hernando County is a county located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 194,515. Its county seat is Brooksville, and its largest community is Spring Hill.
Pasco County is located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. According to the 2020 census, the population was 561,691. Its county seat is Dade City, and its largest city is Zephyrhills. The county is named after Samuel Pasco.
Holiday is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 24,939 as of the 2020 census.
New Port Richey is a city in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburban city included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was counted at 16,728 in the 2020 census.
Central Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, including the Tampa Bay area and the Greater Orlando area, though in recent times the Tampa Bay area has often been described as its own region, with "central Florida" becoming more synonymous with the Orlando area.
The Nature Coast is an informal, unofficial region of the U.S. state of Florida. The broadest definition of the Nature Coast includes the eight counties that abut the Gulf of Mexico along the Big Bend Coast defined by geologists: from west to east, Wakulla, Jefferson, Taylor, Dixie, Levy, Citrus, Hernando, and Pasco counties. The name "Nature Coast" was originally devised as part of a marketing campaign to promote tourism in Levy, Citrus, Hernando, and parts of Marion and Pasco counties.
Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground is a themed camping resort located in the Magic Kingdom Resort Area at the Walt Disney World Resort in the U.S. state of Florida. It officially opened on November 19, 1971. The resort is situated adjacent to Bay Lake, near Disney's Wilderness Lodge. It also formerly contained Disney's River Country, a water park which closed on November 2, 2001.
Withlacoochee State Trail is a 46-mile (74 km) long paved, multi-use, non-motorized rail trail in Florida located in Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties. It follows along the Withlacoochee River and passes through the Withlacoochee State Forest. It is the longest paved rail trail in Florida.
The Withlacoochee River or Crooked River is a river in central Florida, in the United States. It originates in the Green Swamp, east of Polk City, flowing west, then north, then northwest and finally west again before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico near Yankeetown. The river is 141 miles (227 km) long and has a drainage basin of 1,170 square miles (3,000 km2).
The Upper Tampa Bay Trail is a 7.25-mile long (11.67 km) paved multi-use, non-motorized, rail trail located in northwest Hillsborough County, Florida.
The Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail is a rail trail in Pinellas County, Florida. It stretches from Tarpon Springs in the north to St. Petersburg in the south, passing through the towns of Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Belleair, Clearwater, Largo, Seminole, South Pasadena, and Gulfport. It is utilized for walking, jogging, and cycling. Some trail users are able to commute to work using the Pinellas Trail instead of a motor vehicle.
Mount Carleton Provincial Park, established in 1970, is the largest provincial park in the Province of New Brunswick, Canada. It encompasses 174 square kilometres (67 sq mi) in the remote highlands of north-central New Brunswick. The park is a lesser-known gem of the Atlantic Canadian wilderness. Some outdoor enthusiasts refer to it as the "Algonquin of New Brunswick."
West Central Florida Council was the former Boy Scouts of America Council serving Pinellas County and west Pasco County in Florida, between 1917–2016. It merged with Gulf Ridge Council to form the Greater Tampa Bay Area Council on May 1, 2016.
Eagle Point Park encompasses 15 acres (61,000 m2) of a 600-acre (2.4 km2) coastal nature preserve in Pasco County, Florida west of US 19 and includes trails, a canoe and kayak launch dock, playground equipment, three fishing piers, and picnic shelters. It opened in 2010 after six years in planning and construction following the property's being purchased in order to forestall development. Pasco Palms Preserve is adjacent to the park.
Trilacoochee is an unincorporated community in the northeast corner of Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is at the northern terminus of the US 301 and US 98 multiplex. It has a non-profit "Greater Trilby Community Association" which exists to improve the life and quality of residents of the Trilby, Trilacoochee and Lacoochee area. The ZIP Code for this community is 33523, which it shares with Dade City.
Starkey Wilderness Preserve is a public recreation and nature conservation area located in Pasco County, Florida. The park includes a system of hiking, bicycling, and equestrian trails, cabins and primitive camping sites, and picnic areas. It is named after Jay B. Starkey, a cattle rancher who bought the property in 1937 and later donated hundreds of acres. The Preserve consists of three tracts: the Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park, managed by Pasco County, and Serenova Tract and the Anclote River Ranch Tract, managed by Southwest Florida Water Management District. The area includes sections of pine flatwoods, cypress domes, freshwater marshes, stream and lake swamps, sandhill and scrub over a combined 8,500-acre (34 km2) "wetland ecosystem spread throughout approximately 18,000 acres of conservation lands". The park is located in Western Pasco County east of New Port Richey. The park includes the Starkey Trail, an approximately 6.7 mile paved multi-use trail that links up with the Suncoast Trail at its eastern terminus. There are also unimproved trails in the park. An 8-mile mountain bike trail was approved and being developed as of 2013.
Conner Preserve is a natural area in central Pasco County, Florida, preserved for water management since 2003. The landscape includes steep sandhill ridges, marshes, cypress sloughs and pine flatwoods and is "part of a wildlife habitat corridor envisioned by Pasco County and the Southwest Florida Water Management District that will eventually connect the Starkey Wilderness Preserve to the Cypress Creek Preserve, making a continuous corridor of several thousands of acres in this region." It is used recreationally for bicycling, horseback riding, hiking, camping, and model airplane flying. The park is located at 22500 on State Road 52 in Land o' Lakes, Florida. It is 2,980 acres (12.1 km2) and open from sunrise to sunset.
Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve is a 110,000 acre preserve in the four-corner area of Lake County, Pasco County, Polk County and Sumter County, east of Dade City, Florida. It includes a 36-mile section of the Withlacoochee River and offers hiking trails. It is managed by the Southwest Florida Water Management District. It includes various habitats and is home to a wide array of wildlife. The preserve is divided into five areas: 5,067 acre Colt Creek State Park, the 51,149 acre East Tract; the 11,052 acre Hampton Tract; the 4,446 acre Little Withlacoochee Tract; and the 37,350 acre West Tract.
Pasco Palms Preserve is an area of protected lands in the Beacon Square section of New Port Richey in Pasco County, Florida. It is located adjacent to Eagle Point Park to the west of U.S. Highway 19 North at 4466 Strauber Memorial Highway. The 116-acre preserve offers hiking and is open from sunup to sundown. It was acquired in 2009 and includes habitat for bird species, including the white ibis and snowy egret. It fronts on the Gulf of Mexico and includes nature trail with "wetlands, salt marshes, mixed hardwood pine forests, mangrove swamps and tidal flats," according to the Pasco County website Pasco County Environmental Lands Department holds events there, as does Pasco's EcoFest.
Greater Tampa Bay Area Council serves Scouts in West-Central Florida with the council headquarters in Tampa, Florida. Youth are served in the following nine counties: Citrus, Hardee, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sumter. Greater Tampa Bay Area Council was formed on May 1, 2016, by the merger of Gulf Ridge Council with West Central Florida Council.
