How the Haunted Hike became a Key Biscayne institution

Key Biscayners take their Halloween seriously. Like its July 4th Parade, All Hallows’ Eve – and the preceding week, really – is a throwback when kids roamed the streets in drug store costumes going door-to-door for Bits-of-honey and Milk Duds.

Ask any resident on Glenridge Road, and they may say there is a household budget line item for Halloween candy, says Manny Rionda, founder of the beach cleanup group Fillabag and a self-proclaimed Halloween nut.

Rionda, when he was a board member of the Friends of Cape Florida , helped organize what has become a Key Biscayne Institution: the Haunted Hike at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. This year, the hike took place on Saturday, and – in what has become a tradition – no lack of creativity was spared to make the ½-mile loop as scary as pos