Clear Creek Nature Trail

Clear Creek pitcher plants

Imagine a wonderland of bright red blossoms and lacy white-veined trumpets reflected against reflections of the sky, where everywhere you turn, beauty surrounds you. This was my experience on a trail I’d never visited or written about before, when I arrived at the peak of pitcher plant blooming season: the Clear Creek Nature Trail. On the boardwalk across the bog, I'd felt like I'd stepped into an 18th century painting of a fairyland. Clear Creek is a crystal clear waterway with a sepia-toned bottom; fish float through it as if on wings. But the magic came from the pitcher plants. First clusters of them on hummocky islands, their blooms and trumpets reflected in the crystalline waters. Then armies of them swarming down the banks of this steep-sided ravine. Then constellations of them scattered throughout the bog grasses in every direction. I was mesmerized. Enchanted. I could stay there for days. I stayed there for hours, until sunset chased me back to my car.

The trail itself starts out with no foreshadowing of the wonders that lie ahead. It begins at a kiosk surrounded by a picnic area, and ambles off on a broad path into an upland forest, where numerous interpretive displays identify habitats, trees, and other flora. After a quarter mile, it drops down an obvious steep slope, winding its way down to an observation point above a storm drain into the creek. At 0.6 mile, you reach the Clear Creek Bog loop sign. Turn left. In a few moments, you reach the boardwalk and the magical realm of Sarracenia leucophylla, the showy white-topped pitcher plant. After rounding an open stretch of crystalline water, the boardwalk follows the narrow passage of the stream up the valley, flanked by thousands of pitcher plants. At the end of the boardwalk, Florida anise shows bright red blooms in spring. The trail rises back above the creek to complete the loop; you can follow the loop as it is marked, or walk back along the boardwalk and stare some more at the beautiful sprays of these carnivorous beauties. No other trail in Florida is as enchanting as when these pitcher plants are in bloom, late March through mid April.