Sawgrass meets scrub and marshes on the open prairie east of Lake Walk-in-Water.

The prairies of Central Florida are fascinating places, rich with wildlife. Here, you’ll see flocks of wild turkeys and sandhill cranes, and that unusual looking falcon, the caracara. Protecting more than 4,000 acres of this habitat and purchased in 1997 as part of the Polk County Environmental Lands Program, SUMICA opened just a few years ago after a nice trailhead was built along SR 60 east of Hesperides. Why the name in capital letters? It stands for Societe Universelle Mining Industrie, Commerce et Agriculture, a French that had timber rights to the land. The town of SUMICA, established in 1917, thrived on lumbering and turpentine. After the pines were harvested, the town vanished in 1927, with remnants forming a ghost town today. The hiking trail follows an old railroad bed raised above the surrounding wet prairies.  I was fortunate to meet up with Marian Ryan, from Polk County Friends of the Parks, to take a hike on this trail. It was not yet open when I worked on my last hiking book that covered this area, Hikers Guide to the Sunshine State.

Starting at the trailhead kiosk, walk down the entrance trail through a lush saw palmetto prairie to the T intersection where trails diverge. The multi-use trail system (6.2 mile round trip with a loop at the end that connects to the hiking trail) heads towards the right to Lake Walk-in-Water. Hikers should turn left and follow the old railroad bed east.