As you see rusty lyonia and sand pines once again, you know that the trail is headed into the scrub. It pops out within view of power lines on Rima Ridge Road, joining a forest road coming in from the left at a T with a hiker symbol on a green marker at 1.5 miles. It’s here that we found the trail ground into a firebreak, which is not the easiest thing to walk on. At Marker 14, it curves past a turkey oak. Just a little farther along, Marker 15 calls attention to the rounded galls that form on young sand pines, caused by a fungus called Eastern gall rust.
Passing an intersection of firebreaks soon after, the trail continues a gradual curve into the scrub forest, emerging along the entrance road to Indian Lake Recreation Area. Turn right and walk past the trailhead kiosk down to the lake. A lengthy pier leads past a picnic pavilion to a panorama of the lake’s pristine far shore. Loop back through the picnic area to the parking near the pay station, where a portable toilet sits near the picnic grove under the oaks, to complete this 2.1-mile hike. This is one of the trails in the statewide Florida State Forest Trailwalker Program, so send in your postcard after the hike and add this one to your log.
OTHER HIKING OPTIONS
1. Rima Ridge North Trails (29.253178, -81.194532). Just south of FL 40 on Rima Ridge Road, a trailhead provides access to a stacked set of equestrian trails. A hike on the Yellow Trail covers 4.8 miles. Add on the Blue Trail for a total of 6.6 miles. Or drive south on Rima Ridge Road to the Tram Road Equestrian Area (29.228662, -81.183033) to complete a shorter loop of 2.1 miles using the Yellow and Blue Trails. Hikers should yield to equestrians, and keep in mind that it can be tough going in soft sand shared with horses.
2. Bennett Field Trails (29.187879, -81.168067). The Bennett Field Campground also provides equestrian trail access, with a 2.4-mile loop on the White Trail. It connects to the North Trails via a 3-mile linear connector, so it’s possible to do up to 15 miles along the equestrian trails of Rima Ridge.
3. Rattlesnake Pond Hiking Trail (29.085403, -81.169581). At the end of Dukes Island Road, the 0.5-mile Rattlesnake Pond Hiking Trail circles a man-made pond popular with anglers.
CAMPING AND LODGING
Bennett Field Campground, Rima Ridge Road, Tiger Bay State Forest, FL (1-877-879-3859, floridastateforests.reserveamerica.com)
International RV Park Campground, 3175 W International Speedway Boulevard, Daytona Beach, FL 32124 (386-239-0249, internationalrvdaytona.com)
Woodspring Suites Daytona Speedway, 2910 W International Speedway Boulevard, Daytona Beach, FL 32124 (386-333-6512, woodspring.com)
Ponce Preserve
Total distance: 1.6 miles
Hiking time: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy to moderate
Usage: Free. Sunrise to sunset. Leashed dogs permitted.
Trailhead GPS Coordinates: 29.1139, -80.9494
Contact Information: Town of Ponce Inlet, 4300 S Atlantic Avenue, Ponce Inlet, FL 32127 (386-236-2150, ponce-inlet.org)
Stretching between the Atlantic Ocean and the Halifax River south of Daytona Beach, Ponce Preserve is a community park that protects a 40-acre cross section of barrier island habitats. It’s one of nature’s last stands on the barrier island where auto racing was born. But the primary reason this preserve exists is ancient history. It protects a significant archaeological site: the Green Mound.
Once one of the largest middens on the Atlantic Coast, standing more than 50 feet high, the Green Mound is thought to have been originally built during the late St. Johns culture and was occupied between 500 BC and 1565 AD. It was greatly disturbed prior to 1948 by removal of its materials for road fill. Middens are ancient trash heaps, providing archaeologists clues as to the lives of the people who once lived along Florida’s coastlines and rivers. Excavations in this midden uncovered evidence of a village, including fire pits and postholes marking the corners of raised houses
GETTING THERE
From I-95, take exit 256 for Port Orange/Daytona Beach Shores. Drive east on FL 421 (Taylor Avenue), crossing the Intracoastal Waterway onto the barrier island. When you reach A1A (Atlantic Avenue), turn right. Continue 2.5 miles to Wilbur-by-the-Sea. Turn right at Old Carriage Road and drive down to Peninsula Drive, which parallels the Intracoastal Waterway. Turn left. Continue 0.4 mile to the preserve entrance on the left. A new alternative parking area is on Atlantic Avenue (29.1166, -80.9489), but as it provides direct ocean access it tends to stay packed with beachgoers.
THE HIKE
An inviting sign guides the way into Ponce Preserve from the parking area, leading you through a unique wilderness playground where wooden effigy carvings evoke the spirit of the ancient peoples who once lived on this site. Leaving the playground, you come to a T intersection in a tunnel created by the windswept limbs of sand live oaks in this maritime hammock. Turn right and follow the trail uphill. You see the first of a series of colorful signs at the next junction. These trail maps’ key intersections guide visitors to the hot spots inside the preserve. Our hike follows the outer loop counterclockwise, so turn right.
Marked with yellow blazes, the trail is a roller coaster over the midden and ancient dunes beneath a canopy of coastal scrub, with silvery-blue-tinged saw palmetto dominating the understory. Red bay trees and sand live oaks cast corridors of shade, but you do pop in and out of the sunlight while clambering up and down the steep slopes. Despite its short length, this is a rugged little trail. Some fitness stations are installed along it, but don’t let those distract you from the beauty of this coastal habitat shaped by salt spray and sea winds.
After serious scrambling on a steep graveled slope, you top out at a sun-drenched high point amid the saw palmetto, where sweet, light scents emanate from the forest below. Power lines betray the presence of the nearby road, Atlantic Avenue (A1A), and while you can’t see the cars, you hear them rushing past. From this high point, the trail drops steeply into a sandy bowl, the corridor tightly defined by the saw palmetto. It’s a fun scramble, up and down, up and down, over sand ridges. Spikes of goldenrod create a colorful counterpoint to green surroundings. A variety of wildflowers grow along this portion of the footpath, including coreopsis, Florida’s state flower. The pounding surf of the Atlantic Ocean echoes over the dunes.
Reaching a crest, you see an observation tower. Take this short detour to survey the terrain. The tower provides enough height to let you spy a horizon of blue off to the east. Trails leave the tower in several directions but return to the route you were on. Scrambling up and down across the vegetation-covered dunes, you reach a T intersection after 0.25 mile. Rustic signs point the way: make a right, and you’ll soon come across another trail map. There is a crossover on Atlantic Avenue leading to an access point to the ocean, with bright yellow flags provided for you to flag motorists to stop. A reality of walking in Florida: although it is state law to stop for pedestrians at crosswalks, few motorists do.
Entrance to Ponce Preserve
On the other side of the road, a parking area has been added since the last edition of this guidebook, as has an accessible boardwalk to the beach. Follow the boardwalk over the dunes and down to the shoreline. This is a rare stretch of oceanfront that isn’t crowded with condos or homes. This setting makes it a popular beach, especially with the new parking area. Turn around and head back to Atlantic Avenue, crossing carefully back to the trail. You pass the trail you came in on at 0.5 mile. Continue straight ahead. The trail becomes more linear and flat, with softer sand underfoot. Prickly pear cactus sports big yellow blossoms. You enter a long corridor, shaded by red bay. To the left is high ground, part of the midden hidden in the forest. This tunnel trail was the original access point for visitors to the Green Mound.
As you near the light at the end of the tunnel—Peninsula Drive—a historic marker explains the significance of this site. The next set of wooden signs directs you left. The trail snakes its way between large oaks at the base of Green Mound. First noted in accounts of travels in Florida in 1871 as “a pile of oyster shells 30 or more feet high,” the mou
nd contains layers of ash, sand, and clay. Between 1914 and 1948, landowners used the mound as a shell pit for fill, not understanding its value in teaching us about ancient peoples. Living in such a bountiful landscape, the people of the Green Mound harvested oysters and clams in the nearby estuary. Mosquitoes breed in the estuary, flocking to this well-shaded portion of the preserve.
The habitat transitions from the cedars and red bay of the maritime hammock to include more tropical vegetation, with wild coffee and acacia growing in the understory. The trail zigzags between the trees, crossing undulating terrain and big roots. On a slope covered in spills of oyster shells from the edges of what remains of the mound, you pass a massive live oak with a sign, DESIGNATED HISTORIC TREE. In 1948, the mound was purchased by local residents to preserve what remained; more than three-quarters of the original mound had already been removed by then. It became a Florida State Park, enabling archeologists to study the structure more fully. Postholes, floors, and pottery shards were discovered during a 1958 dig, with the thickness of deposits convincing the team that this was a heavily occupied site during winter seasons.
Walking down a stately corridor of cabbage palms, you reach a T intersection with Peninsula Drive on the right. Turn left. At the next T intersection, make a left at the GREEN MOUND LIVE OAK sign. It leads you to a bench along the Green Mound, overlooking an ancient live oak, half-fallen and sprawling off the mound, its thick-as-trunks limbs reaching out toward the Halifax River. Photographed by botanist John Kunkel Small in 1924, he described it then as an “old sprawling live-oak (Quercus virginiana) growing at the basal edge of Green Mound.”
Turn around and follow the pathway in the direction of the PLAY AREA sign. You pass the next signpost at a shortcut trail that leads to the observation tower. Keep going straight ahead to pass a picnic area under a canopy of tropical trees. Once off the mound, the trail winds through a dense forest of wild coffee and yaupon holly, passing another bench and picnic table. It becomes a more substantial path, bolstered by crushed shells underfoot. Passing several more picnic tables, the trail emerges at the parking area as you complete this 0.75 mile circuit on the ancient dunes and midden. Pass the restrooms on the way to the second part of this trek, to the Halifax River. Once again, yellow flags are provided to add visibility when you cross Peninsula Drive to the boardwalk.
The boardwalk is a delightful walk, especially to watch the birds flock in from afar as the sun sets over the river. Winding through a salt prairie, it passes many tidal inlets. When the tide is down, fiddler crabs scurry about, and oysters are uncovered by the receding tide. Look down as well as ahead, so you don’t miss the teeming life in the marsh. Two observation platforms provide shady birding spots and offer launch points for canoes and kayaks. The farther you progress toward the river, the thicker the mangroves grow together until they create a dense forest along the river’s shore. In July, sweet-scented tiny white blossoms cover the black mangroves. Looking down, you see their finger-like pneumatophores, breathing tubes rising from the tidal muck.
Boardwalk to the Halifax River
Arriving at the final observation deck along the Halifax River after 1.2 miles, you may spot an angler or two. This is a popular place to drop a line, the bounty of the estuary still in fashion after many centuries. Local seafood plays a major role on the menus of local restaurants around Ponce Inlet. Stand here long enough, and you might see a dolphin chasing the wake of a powerboat, or a manatee poking its snout out of the water close to shore.
To finish your hike, walk back along the boardwalk to Peninsula Drive. Pay attention to the rustling of feathers in the mangroves: it’s not uncommon to see wading birds like glossy ibis or snowy egrets perched amid this sea of green. Enjoy the sweeping panorama of marsh between the gazebos before you get back to the crosswalk. Once you’ve returned to the parking area, you’ve completed a 1.6-mile circuit of Ponce Preserve.
OTHER HIKING OPTIONS
1. Ponce De Leon Inlet Lighthouse (29.080657, -80.928782). Climb the second tallest masonry lighthouse on the Atlantic Coast to savor the views. Nature trails wind through the hammock, and history buffs will appreciate the in-depth details on both local history and lighthouse operations. $7 admission. 386-761-1821, ponceinlet.org
2. Lighthouse Point Park (29.080740, -80.923527). At the tip of the peninsula, this oceanfront park sits between the historic lighthouse and the sea. Extensive boardwalks crisscross the dunes. Put together a route back and forth across the boardwalks combined with some beach walking. A dog beach is provided.
3. Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens (29.140788,-81.006202). It’s been a working plantation, a roadside attraction called Bongoland, and a botanical garden. Now a 10-acre park, Sugar Mill Gardens offers nods to its past along with 0.5 mile or more of walking among ancient trees and cultivated woodland gardens. dunlawtonsugarmillgardens.org
CAMPING AND LODGING
Nova Family Campground, 4199, 1190 Herbert Street, Port Orange, FL 32129 (386-767-0095, novacamp.com)
Perry’s Ocean Edge Resort, 2209 S Atlantic Avenue, Daytona Beach, FL 32118 (1-800-447-0002, perrysoceanedge.com)
Sun Viking Lodge, 2411 S Atlantic Avenue, Daytona Beach, FL 32118 (386-252-6252, sunviking.com)
Doris Leeper Spruce Creek Preserve
Total distance: 8.2 miles along two separate loops. Longer and shorter options possible.
Hiking time: 4–4.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy to moderate
Usage: Free. Open sunrise to sunset.
Trailhead GPS Coordinates: 29.0671, -81.0013 (Spruce Creek Bluffs), 29.0945, -80.9723 (Spruce Creek Park)
Contact Information: Doris Leeper Spruce Creek Preserve, 1755 Martin Dairy Road, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168 (386-423-3300 or 386-736-5953); Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Avenue, Port Orange, FL 32127 (386-322-5133, volusia.org)
With seven separate access points across more than 2,500 acres between Port Orange and New Smyrna Beach, Doris Leeper Spruce Creek Preserve is one of the more extensive landscape-level conservation efforts on this coast. It’s not by accident that a drive along US 1 from Port Orange to New Smyrna Beach winds through scenic panoramas: if not preserved, they would have been topped with subdivisions and apartments. From an extensive complex of mounds and middens, it is known that a village sat along this creek as early as 800 AD. In 1768, Andrew Turnbull brought a shipload of indentured servants up the creek to establish the New Smyrna Colony, the first major colonial settlement in the Americas. While mostly abandoned by 1777, it planted the seeds of settlement. It would take more than a century after Turnbull’s initial attempt for New Smyrna to grow into a city of commerce.
Selected to contrast two different sides of Doris Leeper Spruce Creek Preserve, both hikes—while not physically connected—share something in common on this sweep of public land: outstanding views of Spruce Creek, which empties into the Halifax River just north of Ponce Inlet. A farsighted effort, started by equestrian Reid Hughes in the 1980s and championed by local artist Doris Leeper in the 1990s, leveraged the national significance of archaeological sites along the creek basin, most importantly the Spruce Creek Mound Complex, to enlist the support of organizations like the Trust for Public Land, the Sierra Club, and the Audubon Society in acquiring lands along the creek. Recreational users now enjoy miles of paddling trails, shorelines for fishing and ramp access for boating, equestrian and mountain bike trails, and of course plenty of hiking.
GETTING THERE
From I-95 take exit 249, New Smyrna Beach, and drive east on FL 44 for 0.5 mile to Sugar Mill Drive. Turn left and drive 1.3 miles to Pioneer Trail. Turn left and continue 1.7 miles to Turnbull Bay Road. Make a right followed by an almost immediate left onto Martin Dairy Road. The road becomes dirt and can be quite bumpy in places. Follow it for 1.3 miles to where it ends at the preserve. Use care where you park, as portions of the parking area have soft sand.
Spruce Creek Park is along the west side of US 1 in the middle of the marshes, 4.5 miles north of Turnbull Bay Road
and just north of the New Smyrna Beach airport. From the entrance road, turn right into the first parking lot, and park near the picnic pavilion.
View of the Spruce Creek bluffs from Oxbow Overlook
THE HIKES
Spruce Creek Bluffs
One of the more outstanding hikes along the Atlantic Coast for scenic beauty, this loop showcases the bluffs above Spruce Creek, rising up to 38 feet above the placid meanders of the waterway. Central to this part of the preserve is a 52-acre complex centered around the Spruce Creek Mound, a massive earthen mound built atop the bluffs. According to an 1885 description of the mound by Andrew E. Douglass, “the mound itself rose to the height of 22 feet above the plain, and the summit plateau was 40 feet in diameter . . . Adjacent to this plateau descended the dug way, and beyond that, the steep bank rose to the summit level of the cliff.” The trail system leads you to several overlooks, including one that surveys the mound complex.
Start your hike at the trailhead kiosk, where maps are available. The trail system here was built and is well maintained by the Spruce Creek Mountain Bike Association, so you’ll find plenty of cyclists here on weekends. All trails, including the equestrian loops, are open to hikers. Our route roughly follows the perimeter trails. Turn left at the kiosk and follow the singletrack up the fence line. A junction provides a side route marked WEST to an entirely different loop; stay with the EAST side. Built for speed and beauty more so than physical challenge, this path meanders gently through a dense bottomland forest, gaining elevation above a blackwater creek drainage below. You reach the BAILOUT A sign after 0.4 mile. This is the first of several crossovers to the park’s main path—the Bluff Trail—enabling a more direct loop back to the trailhead. The oaks are tall in the palm hammock that follows. Sword fern covers the forest floor. Sunlight filters through ribbons of Spanish moss as the trail continues its ascent.
50 Hikes in Central Florida Page 29
