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• Thursday Hike at Wekiwa Springs State Park

  • Start
    08/28/2025
  •  
  • End
    12/18/2025
  •  
  • Schedule
    17 sessions
  • Location
    Wekiwa Springs State Park

  Register

  Every Thursday at 9am

  Come and join park staff on a weekly hike of Wekiwa Springs State Park. Learn about Wekiwa Spring fascinating history, wildlife, native plants and foraging, prescribed burning, and more with a park ranger.

  Paid admission into the park is required at ranger station.

  Meet at the end of Park Drive at the Sand Lake parking lot no later than 9am. Great opportunity for school groups and home school learning for all ages.

  See you there!

  
  

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• Giveback Event for Wekiva Wilderness Trust | Kendra Scott, Mall at Millenia

  • When
    08/29/2025
  •  
    5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
  • Location
    Kendra Scott Orlando | Mall at Millenia 4200 Conroy Road, Suite M-221, Orlando, FL

  Shine Bright, Do Good
  Come shop August 29 and support Wekiva Wilderness Trust at Kendra Scott Orlando Mall at Millenia.
  When you mention Wekiva Wilderness Trust at checkout, Kendra Scott will donate 20% of your purchase back to the organization.
  Our team will be at the store to share our favorite Kendra Scott nature-inspired jewelry pieces, discuss the mission of WWT, and talk about our events, programs, volunteer opportunities, and more.
  Shop online with the code "GIVEBACK-JODJX" FROM August 29th at 12:00am to August 30th at 11:59pm. You can also phone in an order at 321-251-3309.

  Register online at MeetUp.

  
  

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• Junior Ranger Club | September

  • When
    09/05/2025
  •  
    5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
  • Location
    Wekiva Springs State Park, 1800 Wekiwa Cir · Apopka, FL

  Let’s plant seeds for the future!
  Earn: Natural Resources stamp

  Give back: Short Community trash Cleanup

  Participants under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
  Bring refillable water bottle and mosquito repellent.

  Register at MeetUp.

  

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• Survival 101 at REI Winter Park

  • When
    09/07/2025
  •  
    11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    REI Winter Park, 430 North Orlando Avenue, Winter Park, FL 32789

  Survival 101 is a basic class that could save your life. It covers the two essentials of survival - staying warm and staying dry and how to do this in the harshest of environments. You will learn about finding food and water, building shelters, how to build and start fires, navigating without a compass and much more. The class is run by Don Philpott, who has taught survival techniques for more than 50 years. He has expeditioned, backpacked, climbed, canoed and ridden through Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, the Artic, Australia and New Zealand. He has written several books on the survival, security and safety.

  Register on MeetUp.

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• Florida Orienteering Season Opener

  • When
    09/13/2025
  •  
    10:00 AM
  • Location
    Rock Springs Run State Reserve, 31515 Wekiva River Road Sorrento FL 32776

  Florida Orienteering (FLO) has scheduled its regular open to the public orienteering event at Rock Springs Run for Sept 13th. Everyone is welcome. You can find out more at www.floridaorienteering.org.

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• The Amazing History of Wekiwa Springs and Rock Springs

  • When
    09/14/2025
  •  
    11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    REI Winter Park, 430 North Orlando Avenue, Winter Park, FL 32789

  Did you know that Florida's first tourist attraction was at Wekiwa Springs almost 150 years ago and that there was a three story, 100 room hotel catering for guests from New York and other northern cities? Did you know that after the Civil War, there was a bustling township called Ethel at what is now Rock Springs Run State Park?

  Come and learn about the fascinating story of these two parks from Don Philpott who has spent over 15 years researching their histories and gathering hundreds of rare photos and documents.

  Register at MeetUp.

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• Survival Boot Camp

  • When
    09/20/2025
  •  
    9:30 AM - 3:30 PM
  • Location
    Rock Springs Run State Reserve, 31515 Wekiva River Road Sorrento FL 32776

  The Wekiva Wilderness Trust is holding its next basic Survival Boot Camp on Saturday, September 20, from 9:30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. at Rock Springs Run State Reserve in Sorrento, off State Road 46.

  The course has been designed so that everyone knows what to do in case of an emergency. All the techniques are vital skills to use in the great outdoors. The boot camp will cover survival techniques, field first aid, foraging for food and water, hands-on building a shelter, plus rope, and basket weaving from natural materials, fire lighting techniques, and navigation.

  Apart from water, bug spray, sunscreen, and lunch, each participant is asked to bring a knife, about 20 feet of strong string, cord, or similar, and two large black garbage bags.

  The cost for the workshop is $10 a person (a donation to WWT) which will be collected on the day — cash only.

  Register at MeetUp.
  

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• Discover the historic township of Ethel at Rock Springs Run State Park

  • When
    09/21/2025
  •  
    9:30 AM - 11:30 AM

  Join us for another gentle fun, two-hour hike at Rock Springs Run State Park and learn about the long-forgotten township of Ethel that once thrived here, Major William Delk, who owned the largest pre-Civil War plantation in the area, and the amazing Anthony Frazier, the freed slave who became an Orange County Commissioner.
  Along the way, we will come across a number of wild plants that are edible or have medicinal uses and we will discuss bushcraft skills that could prove invaluable in an emergency.

  Register on MeetUp.

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• Junior Ranger Club | October

  • When
    10/10/2025
  •  
    5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
  • Location
    Wekiva Springs State Park, 1800 Wekiwa Cir · Apopka, FL

  Painting for Ethel with Volunteer Kelly!
  Bring your painting clothes. We will have the painting supplies for you.
  Earn: Natural Resources stamp

  Give back: Short Community trash Cleanup

  Participants under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
  Bring refillable water bottle and mosquito repellent.

  Register at MeetUp.

  

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• Haunted Historic Ethel | 2025

  • Start
    10/18/2025
  •  
  • End
    10/19/2025
  •  
  • Schedule
    2 sessions
  • Location
    31515 Wekiva River Road Sorrento FL 32776

  Register

  Step into the mysterious and haunting history of Ethel township, established in the late 1800s. 

  Tickets | $20 per vehicle (Prices include park entry and support for our Community Support Organization’s programs.) Event tickets sold at WWT-CSO.com. Discount available for a (minimum) 4-item donation to Cans Over Candy benefiting Second Harvest Food Bank. Enter code CANS for $10 price. Present non-perishable donation at the event.

  Pumpkin Pavilion | Bring your costumed (or not) cutie to the prettiest pumpkin patch for a ‘Gram-worthy shot. Additional Snap-worthy Sites will be set up around the park for all your paparazzi proclivities.

  Haunted History Hike | Guided nature hikes depart on the hour and take you to the Ethel Cemetery where you can see the 3 remaining original tombstones plus recreations representing the souls buried there. Wear appropriate shoes. Wheelchair accessible; path is ADA approved. Note: Please be respectful of the cemetery grounds.

  Spooky Stories | In the late-1800s there was a 1-room schoolhouse on the property. Our bewitching bookworm has thrilling tales to tell.

  Skeleton Cemetery | Enter through the giant cemetery archway at your own risk and walk among headstones, ghouls, and skeletons.

  Creepy Crafts | For the young, and young at heart: Make macabre masterpieces (and help judge the Dead Doll contest).

  
  

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• Fall EggFest at Wekiva Island

  • When
    11/01/2025
  •  
    9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
  • Location
    Wekiwa Island, 1014 Miami Springs Dr, Longwood, FL 32779

  Come and support the 11th Annual Central Florida Fall EggFest at Wekiva Island. This all-day event benefits the Wekiva Wilderness Trust and Keep Seminole Beautiful.

  Big Green Egg enthusiasts showcase their culinary talents and members of the public get to taste them.

  For more information and to buy tickets, go to centralfloridafalleggfest.com.

  
  

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• Wekiva Paint Out | 2026

  • Start
    02/22/2026
  • End
    02/28/2026
  • Location
    Wekiva Island, 1014 Miami Springs Dr, Longwood, FL 32779

  Celebrate the 29th Annual Wekiva Paint Out,  a celebration of Plein Air artists that helps benefit charities such as Keep Seminole Beautiful and Wekiva Wilderness Trust.

  All week long guests can visit Wekiva Island free of charge and witness world-class artists painting along the boardwalk, in kayaks, canoes, at the bar and at various locations along the Wekiva River.

  Throughout the week, there will be plenty of opportunities to view the work, purchase their pieces, support our artists and charities, enjoy live music, indulge in great food and celebrate art in our community!

  Visit the Wekiva Paint Out Facebook page here.
  

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• Real Florida 5K/10K Cross Country Run 2026

  • When
    08/21/2026
  •  
    7:00 AM
  • Location
    Wekiwa Springs State Park

  The 39th Real Florida 5K-10K

  Celebrating its 39th Anniversary this year, the Real Florida 5K/10K Cross Country Run is the only race in the area that is run entirely off-road within a state park and along beautiful scenic trails.

  Every finisher gets a medal and commemorative t-shirt and there are prizes for the overall 5K and 10 K races (male and female) as well as prizes for every age group winner. 

  All proceeds from the race go to support the Wekiva Wilderness Trust.

  Use the free ItsYourRace mobile app to track, measure, and time your walk/run.  The app will notify you when you have completed your distance and prompt you to add your time to the online results.  It will even let you upload a selfie/photo from your phone which will be included with your online results.

  Start time: 7:30am.

  Check back for registration information.

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