The Hike

There are benches for resting, and occasional stands of moss-draped live oaks providing shade, but it is mostly an open hike, with prairie, pine flatwoods, and cypress domes off to your right and prairie and marshes to your left. Watch for small patches of open water where wading birds and alligators may make an appearance. Cool breezes glance off the water.

After 1.1 miles, you reach a sign pointing to an unexpected find: a boardwalk with a covered shelter at the end. It’s an observation platform overlooking a broad prairie edged with sawgrass marsh, and a large lake that recedes from view in times of drought. It sits right at the end of the cypress strand you paralleled along your walk here. Bring your binoculars, as it’s a fine place for birding—the sounds of warblers fill the air, and herons pick through the prairie shallows.

The observation shelter is a highlight of this natural area, so an easy walk is to turn around here for a 2.2-mile round-trip. But the hiking trail does continue onward another 1.5 miles, where it makes a loop through a seasonally damp area near Lake Walk-in-Water and connects with the multiuse trail. You can hike out to the loop for a round-trip of 5.25 miles back to the parking area. It appears from the map that you can connect the two trails for a big loop of 5.75 miles, but I didn’t try it myself … if you do, let me know if it works!