THE HIKE
South Loop/Peggy Park Nature Trail
Named after a wildlife officer killed in the line of duty, the Peggy Park Nature Trail introduces you to the floodplain forest along Lake Tarpon and the banks of Brooker Creek. Starting off in a lush pine flatwoods, the trail winds through stands of stately slash pine and cinnamon ferns. It then rises onto a boardwalk through the floodplain forest of cypresses. One stately cypress towers well above the rest. Tannic water—stained the color of tea by the leaves of oaks, red maples, loblolly bays and sweetgums—flows sluggishly below the boardwalk, feeding clusters of giant leather fern. You feel as if you are walking through a prehistoric forest. Elephant ears and royal ferns cluster between the bases of the cypresses.
The boardwalk swings left along the edge of Lake Tarpon, providing your first glimpse of the dark, undulating surface of the lake. Reeds protect the curving shoreline. Soft splashes fill the air as the lake gently laps against the cypress trees. Watch out for mooching gray squirrels along this section of the boardwalk: they will follow you along the railing, begging for a handout. Veering away from the lake, the boardwalk curves through the darkness of the floodplain forest. Both pond cypresses and bald cypresses grow in this part of the swamp. Notice the difference between their needles. Those of the pond cypress sweep upward from the stem, creating a wispy effect. Bald cypress needles spread flat like a hawk’s feather. The boardwalk meets Brooker Creek near its discharge into Lake Tarpon. When the boardwalk ends, a trail continues along the placid creek, with many benches along its shore. Crushed white shells create a crunchy footpath under the cabbage palms, slash pines, and live oaks. Look for giant air plants overhead.
After 0.5 mile, you meet a trail junction with a SHORT WAY PARKING AREA sign pointing left. Turn right to follow Brooker Creek through the cypresses, slash pines, and gnarled oaks. As the road noise increases, the trail turns away from the creek, then left again to loop back toward the trailhead, entering a forest with a tall canopy of laurel oaks and slash pines. Joining up with the shortcut trail, turn right along the shell path, passing several picnic tables as you stroll through the narrow band of oak hammock. At 0.8 mile, you reach the trailhead. Return your interpretive guide to the box.
Continue your hike by walking to the Lookout Tower Trail. Walk away from the Peggy Park trailhead north until you come to a break in the woods, an unmarked trail. Follow this path through the oak hammock past Pavilion 1, curving towards the boat ramp. Walk across the top of the boat ramp to reach the other side and turn left. At 1 mile, the boardwalk starts. Go straight at the trail junction, following the edge of the channel. Benches sit along the channel, and several short boardwalks lead into the cypresses to picnic tables.
Where the channel meets the lake, look down. Although the water of Lake Tarpon looks jet black from a distance, it’s clear when you see it in the shallows, cast with a yellow hue. The boardwalk turns to follow the lake, meeting the 40-foot-tall observation tower and its five levels of decks. Take in the view and the stiff, refreshing breeze. Following the lakeshore, the boardwalk sticks to the edge of the floodplain forest. Crimson leaves from red maples flutter into the water. Short boardwalks lead to lakeside picnic tables, a great place to sit and watch for wildlife. The third turnoff is the best, as it overlooks a small cove protected from the main portion of the lake by cattails and reeds.
At the trail junction, continue straight. The boardwalk leads to more platforms along the lake before it hits a dead-end after 1.2 miles. Return the way you came. You pass the boardwalk to the left; it leads to the north parking lot and dog park. Enjoy the dappled textures of the shadows from the cypress overhead as you walk back past the tower and turn to follow the boat ramp channel to shore. Retrace your route past Pavilion 1 to return to the south parking lot, completing your 1.8-mile hike.
Boardwalk along the North Loop
North Loop
The northern boardwalk in John Chesnut Sr. Park has no specific name, but it starts within sight of Lake Tarpon at a spot that was once the park’s beach. From the marina, follow the park road north 0.7 mile past the dog park and playground. After you cross the bridge, keep left at the fork. Look for the large parking area (28.0950, -82.7098) with the boardwalk to Pavilions 7, 8, and 9. Park near the boardwalk and use it to cross over to the lakefront, which is well-shaded by the forest. To the left is a set of restrooms that is open daily. Turn right and follow the path up to the lakeshore, where it meets a lakefront boardwalk. This short stretch of boardwalk looks out across the cypress-lined shore of the lake.
At the end of the boardwalk, a sidewalk resumes. Walk past a cypress tree surrounded by its knobby knees, and you see Pavilion 10, probably the nicest of the pavilions in the park thanks to its location along this cove. A crushed-shell path takes off into the woods behind restrooms that are closed on weekdays. Turn left to follow the path. It quickly reaches a low boardwalk in the floodplain, which zigzags to the cove. The pathway turns to dirt briefly as it rounds the bend.
You reach an observation platform after 0.4 mile. Take a moment to savor the view of the cypress-lined lakeshore. Returning to the boardwalk, turn left and follow it as it turns sharply. The cypress swamp here was likely logged out more than 50 years ago, since the cypresses and their knees are small in comparison to the ones seen near Brooker Creek. Highly prized because of their resistance to rot, old-growth cypresses were felled and dragged out of forests along lakes and in swamps throughout Florida to be transported to the nearest sawmill. Carved into boards, the giant cypresses became packing crates for the shipment of citrus fruit, supporting this region’s primary industry through the 1970s.
Well-shaded by the forest canopy, the boardwalk is long and narrow. Cabbage palms and cinnamon ferns grow throughout the understory. The boardwalk ends, becoming a crushed-shell path. A park road sits to the right. The trail continues along the ecotone between cypress swamp and pine flatwoods. At 0.2 mile, the next segment of boardwalk begins. It wiggles through a mix of pines and cypresses fighting for control of the forest. A bench overlooks a willow marsh with deeper water, where you might see a young alligator drifting across the open water.
Shoreline of Lake Tarpon along the boardwalk
When the boardwalk ends, the trail is a crunchy crushed-shell path as you pass a STAY ON TRAIL sign within sight of a neighborhood behind the trees. Another trail comes in from the left. On the right is a marsh. The next boardwalk begins soon after, leading through palms to a bayhead, where frogs kick up a fuss. Older cypress knees rise from the shallows, including one that looks very much like a planter covered in colorful bromeliads.
After 0.9 mile, the boardwalk ends within sight of a linear man-made waterway. Cross the path and take the footbridge over the small canal. This is one of the many islands providing picnic spots in this part of the park. Turn right to walk along the canal. Turn right again and cross the canal on the wooden park road bridge. Turn left near the PAVILION 13 sign and start following the waterway along the pine duff on the edge of the shoreline, beneath a stand of extremely tall longleaf pines. Note the BEWARE OF ALLIGATORS sign! Continue around this man-made pond, following the shoreline, until an obvious path veers to the right past a picnic spot and you cross the park road towards Pavilion 10. Backtrack along the lakefront boardwalk to Pavilion 9, and the sidewalk and boardwalk back to the parking area. You’ve completed a 1.5-mile hike.
OTHER HIKING OPTIONS
1. Peggy Park Nature Trail. On a quick visit to the park, pick the easiest trailhead for an out-and-back hike to where the Peggy Park Nature Trail ends, about a 0.5-mile round-trip.
2. A. L. Anderson Park (28.132223, -82.737629). On the opposite shore of Lake Tarpon, this county park off US 19 also features boardwalks and footpaths that ramble about 0.5 mile along the lake.
3. Wall Springs Park (28.106719, -82.771789). Along the marshy shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico in Palm Harbor, Wall Springs Park features more than a mile of paved paths to scenic views, including its name
sake spring.
CAMPING AND LODGING
Clearwater Lake Tarpon KOA, 37061 US 19 N, Palm Harbor, FL 34684 (727-937-8412, koa.com)
Innisbrook Resort, 36750 US 19 N, Palm Harbor, FL 34684 (1-888-794-8627, innisbrookgolfresort.com)
Vista Hotel on Lake Tarpon, 37611 US 19 N, Palm Harbor, FL 34684 (727-942-0358, vistainnlaketarpon.com)
Honeymoon Island State Park
Total distance: 2.5-mile loop, 3-mile route during eagle nesting season.
Hiking time: 1–1.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy to difficult
Usage: $4–8 per vehicle. Open 8 AM to sunset. Leashed dogs permitted but not allowed on any beaches except the designated dog beach.
Trailhead GPS Coordinates: 28.0681, -82.8304
Contact Information: Honeymoon Island State Park, #1 Causeway Boulevard, Dunedin, FL 34698 (727-469-5942, floridastateparks.org/park/Honeymoon-Island)
Protected by a sand spit called Pelican Point, Honeymoon Island, a barrier island north of Clearwater, guards 80 precious acres of virgin slash pine, a rare sight in Central Florida. Because of the age and the size of the pines, an osprey rookery—another rarity—is going strong in this forest. Also known as a fish hawk, the osprey is a large black-and-white raptor with a 6-foot wingspan. You’ll see them hovering and diving into both fresh and salt water to seize fish.
Once known as Hog Island—until a 1940s contest in Life magazine offered a week in paradise here—Honeymoon Island was only accessible by boat until the 1960s. When the city of Dunedin donated its beaches to the state in 1982, the island became Honeymoon Island State Park. It’s a bustling place for beachgoers, especially on weekends, so arrive early to enjoy the hike. Insect repellent is strongly recommended for this hike.
GETTING THERE
Drive north from downtown Dunedin along US 19A. Turn left onto Causeway Boulevard (FL 589), and follow it 2.8 miles to the park entrance. After paying your entrance fee, follow the park road to its very end, beyond North Beach. Turn right into the picnic area. Follow the NATURE TRAIL signs to park at the extreme northern end of the picnic area, just after you drive past the trailhead.
THE HIKE
Walk up from the parking area to the OSPREY TRAIL sign. After looking at the map, take the right fork. This is a broad, grassy trail, an easy walking route. Sea grapes cluster under the massive pines, many of which have strange twists and turns to their trunks. Daisies and yarrow nudge up to the trail’s edge. As you hike, take the time to look for osprey nests in the tall bare pine snags. Constructed of loose sticks, the nests look like inverted wigs, and can be up to 5 feet in diameter and several feet thick. Although ospreys will build nests in live pines, they prefer the dead trees because of the ease of landing without dropping a fish.
Osprey Trail
This is an interpretive trail, with lots of benches, signs, and kiosks along the way. Stay right past the next kiosk. A necklace pod tree catches your attention with its bright-yellow blossoms and seed cases that look like strings of beads. A salt-tolerant species, the blooms of the necklace pod tree provide the fuel for flocks of Florida’s ruby-throated hummingbirds, who fill up on nectar before migrating for the winter across the Gulf of Mexico to the Yucatan peninsula.
At the 0.5 mile marker, keep right. A cluster of saw palmettos lifts their strong trunks skyward. If you want to see osprey tending their young, the best time to hike is between December and April. Ospreys mate for life, returning to the same nest every season. The eggs take five weeks to hatch. Although the female sits on the eggs, the male will take over to give her a break to go fishing. After the chicks hatch, the male cares for the family’s needs for the next six weeks. Once the chicks are large enough to be left alone, both parents feed them until they are old enough to be taught to fly—and fish.
In addition to the many osprey nests, a pair of eagles returns here year after year. During the winter, when the eagles are nesting, a portion of the Osprey Trail is blocked off. If you find that to be the case, return to the last cross-trail and take it over to the Pelican Trail on the western shore of the peninsula. Or try the unmarked central trail—we found it too wet and mucky to follow to the tip of the peninsula, but it may dry out.
After a mile on the Osprey Trail, you reach a kiosk explaining the osprey’s fishing behavior. They circle 50 feet or more above the water, scanning for prey, and hover in place as they watch. When an osprey sees its target, it drops from the sky like a rock, hitting the water feet-first. Specially adapted toes allow it to grasp a squirming fish and hold it firmly as it lifts off.
Osprey with a freshly caught fish
The junction with the Pelican Trail is just after the kiosk. To walk along breezy Pelican Cove, keep right. The narrow trail drops into the mangroves, crossing an old track before it emerges on a windswept beach. The island in the distance is Anclote Key, also a state park. Following the shoreline, the trail continues through the sea oats along the sparkling blue shallows of the cove. Looking left, you see more osprey nests in the trees. You would think the leaping mullet would be a great target for the osprey, but not so. According to John James Audubon’s observations in Birds of America, the osprey “never attempts to secure its prey in the air,” preferring to pluck fish out of the water.
All along the waterfront are benches set as memorials, providing places to perch and watch birds along the shoreline. It’s here that the footing gets quite difficult, as it is soft sugar sand underfoot. Black and red mangroves take over the waterfront, forcing the trail several feet back away from the cove. The sand ends as you reach muck. Once you’ve hiked 1.6 miles, you reach a side trail that allows you to retreat to the Osprey Trail in the drier pine flatwoods, if you choose—a good way out if the trail ahead is flooded.
Continuing along the Pelican Trail, watch for sand fiddler crabs that scuttle out of harm’s way as they sense your footfalls. They’re responsible for thousands of tiny holes on and around the trail. Grasses and flowers adapted to salty environments thrive here, like the red-tipped glasswort, bristly bulrushes, and thick-leaved sea purslane.
At 1.9 miles, the footpath climbs away from the salt marsh, rejoining the western side of the Osprey Trail. Turn right, following the wide forest road as it becomes a sandy track through the pine flatwoods. At the next trail junction is a PICNIC AREA sign. Keep left. Your trail emerges at the rear of the picnic area, conveniently behind the restrooms. Cross the boardwalk back to the parking area, completing a 2.5-mile loop.
OTHER HIKING OPTIONS
1. Wild Beach Walk. Continue along the dirt road that the Pelican Trail followed up to the back side of the picnic area and restrooms. After 0.25 mile, it reaches the beach. Walk north to enjoy the wild shoreline. Or drive directly to the northernmost beach parking area (28.0647, -82.8327) and walk north along the beach from there.
Overlook on Pelican Cove
2. Rotary Centennial Nature Center Trail (28.0601, -82.8228). Park at the Center to access this 0.25-mile loop.
3. Dog Beach (28.0578, -82.8212) has an easy 1-mile walk to the tip of the peninsula and back. Extend it by walking farther along the shoreline.
4. Pinellas Trail Connector (28.0598, -82.8180). Starting outside the park gates, a 2.5-mile paved path parallels Causeway Boulevard, offering scenic views across Clearwater Harbor and St. Joseph Sound. Because shade is limited, it’s better for cyclists than walkers. Park at the ferryboat dock to access the path.
5. Caladesi Island (28.0598, -82.8180). Featured in previous editions of this guidebook, Caladesi Island State Park lies immediately north of Honeymoon Island. To get there, you must take a ferryboat, 20 minutes each way (adults $14, children $7 for a round-trip ticket). There are miles of beach to roam and 3 miles of marked hiking trails in the interior of the island.
CAMPING AND LODGING
Caladesi RV Park, 205 Dempsey Road, Palm Harbor, FL 34683 (727-784-3622, caladesirvparkpalmharbor.com)
The Blue Moon Inn, 2920 Alt US 19, Dunedin, FL 34698 (727-784-2611, thebluemoo
ninn.com)
The 1910 Inn, 32 W Tarpon Avenue, Tarpon Springs, FL 3468 (727-424-4091, the1910inn.com)
Eagle Lake Park
Total distance: 3-mile circuit of a network of trails. Other configurations and lengths possible.
Hiking time: 1.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Usage: Free. Open 7:30 AM to sunset. Leashed dogs and bicycles welcome except in certain posted areas.
Trailhead GPS Coordinates: 27.9305, -82.7633
Contact Information: Eagle Lake Park, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771 (727-582-2100, pinellascounty.org/park)
In the mid-1800s, settlers came to this pine-forested peninsula along Tampa Bay and staked out homesteads for ranching and citrus groves. Pinellas County became known for its citrus. Largo’s original nickname was Citrus City, and it was in large part due to the Taylor family. Born in March 1871, John Stansel Taylor is known as the Father of Pinellas County. He was a substantial landowner and citrus grower, the president of the Florida Citrus Exchange, and the first state senator to serve from this county. The Taylor groves and packing plant sustained the local economy for many decades, particularly through the Great Depression. The industry faded after World War II, when servicemen stationed in the region poured in to purchase affordable housing in this tropical setting—housing that was built atop the groves that had sustained the county for so long.
50 Hikes in Central Florida Page 25
