View of the St. Johns River from the narrows on the levee near Boardwalk 2
After you pass the campsite, boardwalk crossings become more frequent. Each bridges a gap in the riverside levee. A live oak leans low across the trail, which becomes narrow and rooty between Boardwalk 10 and Boardwalk 8, which winds through a pond where tall alligator flags wave in the breeze. Speaking of alligators, they pull themselves up on the slopes of the levee in sunny spots. If you hear a loud splash, you probably spooked one nearby. Past the flag pond, notice the cypress swamp stretching from the canal created from building this berm off into the sun-dappled distance. There are few large trees, as the cypress forests of the St. Johns River were stripped for lumber more than a century ago. Cypress trees grow very slowly, so the only giants in the forest are those left behind because their shapes were too odd to go through a sawmill.
There is an island between the trail and the river as you approach Boardwalk 7, and then you’re atop the river bluff with nice views, including one of a long river bend around Alexander Island on the far shore. At 5.1 miles, Boardwalk 6 is long and tall, offering an excellent panorama of passing boaters. Boardwalk 5 is where kayakers can access the trail. A floating platform with a ladder down to it is always at river level. Narrowing once again, the levee is swarmed by tree roots and crowded by cabbage palms. Long and straight, Boardwalk 4 offers a view of a cypress-lined flag pond. Beyond it is a dense collection of cypress knees surrounding mazy channels through the swamp. Before this berm was built, the river’s waters rose right through the cypress swamp.
Once you cross Boardwalk 3 at 5.8 miles, you’ve reached the original trail that we first explored in 2011. This was as far as you could get after crossing the boardwalk built to this river levee. Hurricane Irma took out quite a few trees along this section, which was always narrow and steep. Warning signs point out the narrows on the bluff, which affords great views across the river.
Reaching Boardwalk 2, you’ve come to the end of your walk along the St. Johns River. This is your last observation point with a river view. Turn right and take the stairs down to follow this boardwalk across the canal, where the reflections of cypress trees make mesmerizing patterns. It continues into the open along a flag pond where red-winged blackbirds flutter. Black vultures often perch on the fence of the water facility where you cross the graveled road that vanishes under the marsh.
After a slight jog, the boardwalk deposits you under the power lines at 6.2 miles, where the well-worn path leads up to the last of the levees. This one heads in a relatively straight line away from the St. Johns River, although you will see an open area with marshes. The sounds of traffic seep in briefly, as I-4 is not far beyond the distant tree line. But the floodplain forest is good at absorbing sound, so you don’t notice it for long. As the original trail in the preserve, the footpath down this levee is well-trodden, although you still have to worry about roots and some fire ant nests, especially under the big oaks and cedars. Reflections in the water on both sides are a reminder you’re still traversing a swamp. As the levee broadens, you encounter periodic benches placed along this stretch of trail as Eagle Scout projects. When you reach Boardwalk 1, it only takes a moment to seal the 7-mile loop. Continue straight ahead through the palm hammock to walk to the trailhead, concluding your 7.1-mile hike.
OTHER HIKING OPTIONS
1. River Walk. When this preserve first opened, the only trail available was along the berm straight to the St. Johns River. Take a right at the loop junction on the boardwalk to follow this direct route, which leads to Boardwalk 2 and views of the river from a small observation deck. A round-trip on this easiest part of the trail system is 2 miles.
2. Lower Wekiva River Preserve State Park (28.828370, -81.411167). Adjoining Black Bear Wilderness Area, this state park encompasses more than 18,000 acres of low-lying lands where the Wekiva River meets the St. Johns. Access to the 2.2-mile Sandhills Nature Trail along FL 46 is blocked by a construction zone, but a new connector leads to it from the Katie’s Landing trailhead (fee).
3. Gemini Springs Addition (28.840028, -81.319691). Across the St. Johns River in Volusia County and slightly downriver, access this complex of more than 5 miles of paved and natural trails through riverfront Lake Monroe Park (28.839718, -81.319855) or the small trailhead just behind that park’s campground. The trails extend to Gemini Springs Park (28.867481, -81.311248).
CAMPING AND LODGING
Lake Monroe Park, 975 S Charles Richard Beall Boulevard, DeBary, FL 32713 (386-668-3825, volusia.org)
Gemini Springs Park, 37 Dirksen Drive, DeBary, FL 32713-3707 (386-736-5953, volusia.org), tents only.
Wekiva Falls RV Resort, 30700 Wekiva River Road, Sorrento, FL 32776 (352-383-8055, wekivafalls.com)
Spring Hammock Preserve
Total distance: 3-mile circuit of a network of trails bisected by the paved Cross Seminole Trail. Many other configurations and options possible.
Hiking time: 1–1.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Usage: Free. Open dawn to dusk. Leashed pets welcome.
Trailhead GPS Coordinates: 28.721682, -81.306905
Contact Information: Spring Hammock Preserve, 2985 Osprey Trail, Longwood, FL 32750 (407-349-0769, seminolecountyfl.gov)
Amid a primordial swamp locals once called Devil’s Bend, fringing the edge of Lake Jesup—one of the larger lakes in the St. Johns River chain of lakes—Spring Hammock Preserve is the land of the giants. Here, bald cypresses grow to incredible heights, recalling the redwood forests of the Pacific in their sheer majesty. Yet it’s not just the cypresses that tower overhead, but sweetgums and red maples, loblolly pines and water hickory, and even basswoods and tulip poplars. More than two-thirds of the nearly 1,500 acres protected as Spring Hammock are swamps draining into the St. Johns River. The preserve is jointly managed by the Seminole County Natural Lands Program and the Seminole County School Board. Established in 1977, the Environmental Studies Center is an environmental education complex for school students, who graduate through their studies to anticipate the Mud Walk that fifth graders experience.
When we lived nearby, this was one of our favorite preserves to hike. There are so many different ways to explore the trail system on the west side of the Cross Seminole Trail, you can come back time after time and never take the same route twice. Many of the trails along the floodplain have closed since the prior edition of our guide, since the infrastructure was difficult to keep up. But you can still immerse in the swamp forest without getting your feet wet. Plans are in the works for a new boardwalk to Lake Jesup to showcase the biggest cypresses. Since the trails will be rehabbed soon, signage may change.
GETTING THERE
From I-4 exit 98, Lake Mary/Heathrow, drive east on Lake Mary Boulevard for 1.6 miles to Longwood–Lake Mary Road. Turn right and continue 2.5 miles to where it ends at Ronald Reagan Boulevard. Turn left at the light and make the first right onto General Hutchinson Parkway. The entrance to Big Tree Park is on your right. Continue down General Hutchinson Parkway through Spring Hammock Preserve to the traffic light at US 17-92. Turn left. After 0.8 mile, make a right at the light onto FL 419. Drive 0.6 miles to the preserve entrance at Osprey Trail, on the left across from the ball fields at Soldier Creek Park. Enter the gates and park in the lot along the road just past the Environmental Studies Center parking area. Gates close at dusk.
THE HIKE
At the east end of the parking area is a small sign that says PINE PAVILLION. It’s the first of many small routed wood signs throughout the preserve, especially in the uplands closest to the Environmental Studies Center. While you might encounter students here during the week, the preserve is entirely the domain of hikers and cyclists on the weekends. Follow this short corridor down a pine-needle-strewn path under the oaks and pines. Turn right at the AZALEA TRAIL sign, following the arrow. At the next intersection, turn left. Reaching the CINNAMON FERN TRAIL sign, turn right. The understory is quite dense down this corridor through the uplands, bu
t the trail leads you to the first of the natural wonders of this preserve: a grove of tulip poplars, also known as the tulip tree or yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera). An interpretive sign points out the first one. Look up to see the distinct tulip-shaped leaves—except in winter, when they are only on the forest floor.
As you step out of the woods and into the sunlight, past an old FLORIDA TRAIL sign, notice the paved Cross Seminole Trail bisecting the preserve. Look down the paved path to your right: the tallest trees along the corridor are also tulip poplars. They can grow to 100 feet tall. A common tree in the Appalachians, they are at the southern extent of their range here, where they only thrive in the rich soil of hardwood hammocks. We know of very few places in Florida where they grow; this is one of the best.
Turn left and walk up the paved path, passing the trail map kiosk. At the roundabout, turn right and enter the woods to start your walk down the Osprey Trail. It’s as broad as a road, but almost entirely canopied, making for a pleasant walk into an ancient hammock. At 0.4 mile, you come to an intersection with the Robin Trail. Stay left to remain on the Osprey Trail. Look to the right and up to make out the shape of a very tall old cypress tree.
As you walk deeper into the woods on the Osprey Trail, ferns swarm along the edges of a paralleling waterway. There is a boardwalk on the other side of the waterway and a picnic shelter. The boardwalk is part of the Magnolia Trail, once a pleasant loop through the floodplain forest but now not easy to follow. It’s worth crossing the bridge to the boardwalk and following the trail for a little ways for an immersion in this fern-rich and soggy alluvial forest, where braided streams appear from nowhere and rush across the dark, rich earth under the cabbage palms. Needle palm grows in the shadows; netted chain fern sprouts along a fallen log. Unless the trail has been blazed recently, don’t wander too deeply in, as the trail branches in numerous directions without a clear path.
Tulip poplar at Spring Hammock
Back on the Osprey Trail, walk past a staircase leading down into the ditch—Mud Walk participants use it to wash off their shoes—and by the picnic shelter. The next two bridges formerly led to the Hydric Hammock Loop, which has been abandoned. If you cross either one, you come face to face with a sign that says TRAIL and points into deep mud. This is the core area for the Mud Walk, and as it is not blazed, it’s best to leave the adventuring here for the school groups. Look off to your right after the second bridge with the HYDRIC HAMMOCK LOOP sign. Another enormous cypress is mostly hidden by the dense forest. A boardwalk used to lead back to it, and plans are to restore a portion of that walk in the future.
At times, the answer to Question Pond is obvious: it’s a spring. When water levels in the swamp are low, the spring spills aqua blue waters into a run. At other times, it’s a brownish pond. You’ve entered a hydric hammock, a swamp dense with cabbage palms and cypresses. Sweetgum and red maple thrive here, their leaves turning shades of crimson and purple in the fall. The canopy of trees presses closer from both sides. When you reach Marker OT-01, you’ve walked 1.2 miles. You’re now at the location where a new boardwalk to Lake Jesup will be built through the mixed hardwood swamp straight ahead. The former boardwalk led to an impressive stand of towering ancient cypress, and we hope the new one will too. Meanwhile, it’s up to you whether to continue down the Osprey Trail to try and see those cypresses.
Question Pond
The water level of Lake Jesup dictates if the trail is passable. There are times when the trail simply vanishes beneath the swamp. There are other times when it’s perfectly dry. You should turn around if you run into water. Near the end of the Osprey Trail, you’ll pass the blocked-off old boardwalk before emerging in a clearing near Soldier’s Creek. Look left to see the cypresses that tower over the tree canopy nearest Lake Jesup. This spot was where the Limpkin Trail once followed the creek west, but it’s been washed out with no plans for rebuilding. Turn around and walk back along the Osprey Trail, passing the curve and Question Pond before you take a break at the picnic shelter.
When you reach the Robin Trail intersection, you’ve hiked 2.2 miles. Turn left. A narrow tunnel with the fronds of bluestem palm and cabbage palm swinging across the footpath, the Robin Trail gains a little elevation as it leaves the swamps of the Osprey Trail behind. The canopy opens, revealing blue skies above the oaks and pines. The trail comes to a sudden end at a bench adjoining Soldier’s Creek. Turn right and scramble up to the Cross Seminole Trail. Cross it and continue straight ahead on what was once a segment of the statewide Florida Trail, and still retains that name on some maps. The trees are especially tall here, where the footpath twists and winds to follow the bluffs along Soldier’s Creek, sometimes dipping into deep basins to climb right back out again. Watch for tangles of roots underfoot. Pause at a clearing on a bluff to enjoy a curve in the creek. The sand on some of the trail’s curves is tossed up here whenever Soldier’s Creek overflows its banks. At 2.6 miles, a bench sits on the bluff above the creek.
Along the Osprey Trail
Loblolly bay trees tower above the forest as you follow the narrow footpath upstream. The habitat transitions to uplands, with oaks and pines dominant again. Passing a trail junction, you continue along the narrowing path on the bluffs until it draws within sight of a railroad trestle. Turn right at this junction, joining the Primary Trail. The path that goes straight ahead under the trestle and highway was built by cyclists, and floods easily after a rain, as it sticks close to the creek. It connects up with Soldier’s Creek Loop (see Other Hiking Options).
In the upland forest, the Primary Trail quickly comes to a four-way junction. To the left is a direct route to the Environmental Studies Center. Keep a respectful distance from outdoor classroom activities. Continue straight ahead, passing signs for the SMILAX TRAIL and the BASSWOOD TRAIL. As you meet the AZALEA TRAIL sign, you’ve come full circle. Go straight up the Azalea Trail to the next junction. Turn right to walk around the picnic pavilion. Keep left to follow the PINEWOODS TRAIL, walking down a narrow corridor of saw palmetto with pines rising high above the oak canopy. Stay left at the next junction to pop out at the paved road you drove in on. Turn left and walk to the parking area to complete a 3-mile loop.
OTHER HIKING OPTIONS
1. Lake Jesup Trek. Step over to the paved Cross Seminole Trail from the parking area. Follow it down to the roundabout and junction with the Osprey Trail. Continue down the Osprey Trail, passing the next Y junction and the Mud Walk pavilion and its bridges. Stop at spring-fed Question Pond. Continue past it to the curve in the trail at Marker OT-01. If the boardwalk to Lake Jesup has been built, it will extend through the cypress swamp to the lakeshore from here, a 2.4-mile round-trip between the trailhead and the lake.
Lady Liberty at Big Tree Park
2. Soldier’s Creek Loop. Follow the paved Cross Seminole Trail north and carefully cross FL 419 at the crosswalk. Traffic rarely stops for you, despite state law. When you reach the bridge across Soldier’s Creek, take the trail to the left. The sign says SOLDIERS CREEK MOUNTAIN BIKE TRAIL, although in the 1990s it was built and maintained as part of the statewide Florida Trail. The probability of encountering cyclists is high on weekends, but the beauty of this loop is worth the walk. Keeping close to the creek, it stays in deep shade and follows the old orange blazes on the oaks and palms. When it leaves the creek, it emerges at the far side of Soldier Creek Park near the ballfields. Walk across the park to rejoin the Cross Seminole Trail to use the crosswalk. It’s a 1.5-mile hike, which can be cut to a 1.1-mile loop by driving across the street and parking at Soldier’s Creek Park.
3. Big Tree Park (28.720644, -81.331767). At the north end of Spring Hammock Preserve, accessible either by a 4-mile round-trip walk up the paved Cross Seminole Trail or by car, Big Tree Park is home to some incredibly tall trees, including Lady Liberty, a bald cypress thought to be 3,000 years old. The boardwalk to the trees is a 0.25-mile round-trip. Interpretive exhibits pay homage to the remains of The Senator, once Florida’s biggest cypress b
ut destroyed in 2012 by an arsonist.
CAMPING AND LODGING
Best Western Plus Sanford Airport, 3401 S Orlando Drive, Sanford, FL 32773 (407-320-0845, bestwestern.com)
Higgins House B&B, 420 S Oak Avenue, Sanford, FL 32771 (407-324-9238, higginshouse.com)
Orlando Wetlands Park
Total distance: 6.2 miles along a route inside a vast network of interconnected trails
Hiking time: 3–4 hours, depending on stops for wildlife watching
Difficulty: Easy
Usage: Free. Open sunrise to sunset. No pets. Bicycles are permitted on the levees but not on the wooded trails.
Trailhead GPS Coordinates: 28.5696, -80.9964
Contact Information: Orlando Wetlands Park, 25155 Wheeler Road, Christmas, FL 32709 (407-568-1706, cityoforlando.net/wetlands)
Across a chain of wetlands covering more than a thousand acres, wood storks gather sticks for their nests. A flock of roseate spoonbills noses through the mud flats, while moorhens squawk behind a screen of marsh grasses. Limpkins flip over apple snails. In all, more than 150 species of birds have been spotted at Orlando Wetlands Park, from flocks of black-bellied whistling ducks to rare sightings of merlins and indigo buntings. That’s why the parking lot is packed on weekends, and why visitors flock here from around the world. This is Florida’s original purpose-built wetlands park, the first to prove that wastewater treatment and wildlife habitat could work hand-in-hand. Now more than 30 years old, it’s one of the best wildlife-watching sites along the St. Johns River floodplain.
50 Hikes in Central Florida Page 15
