You will find hikes around Fort Lauderdale, including hiking in Miramar, Pembroke Pines, Deerfield Beach, Hollywood, Dania, Coral Springs, Sunrise, and other urban communities in the region. These trails are, for the most part, very short nature walks given the urban nature of the area.
Colohatchee Natural Park
In what is now Wilton Manors near Fort Lauderdale, settler William C. Collier planted an orange grove in the 1890s and traded with the Seminole, who named the waterway that wove through the wilderness “Colohatchee” in his honor. A hundred years later, there isn’t much of a trace of that homestead, with Colohatchee Natural Park [...]
Crystal Lake Natural Area
Explore a patch of wilderness in a very urban setting. Winding through a diminutive scrub forest of sand live oak, tallow-wood, gopher apple, and sand pines, the brief hike offers a respite from the surrounding urban mass. Resources Overview Location: Pompano Beach Length: 0.4 mile Lat-Long: 26.271200, -80.119697 Type: paved loop Fees / Permits: none [...]
Easterlin Park
Wrapped in a cocoon of highway noise generated by nearby Interstate 95, Easterlin Park is one of the few places where I’d recommend listening to your iPod as you hike. A designated Urban Wilderness Area, this park is surrounded by highways but you can’t see any of these, thanks to the dense blanket of tropical [...]
Hugh Taylor Birch State Park – Beach Hammock Trail
Tucked away at the southern corner of Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, the Beach Hammock Trail traverses a maritime hammock dense with sea grapes, myrsine, gumbo limbo, and stopper. Hurricane Wilma peeled the canopy off like a can opener, so sunlight streams in amid branches trimmed back by nature’s fury. Still, the hammock showcases what’s [...]
Hugh Taylor Birch State Park – Exotic Trail
Running down the middle of this popular urban park, the Exotic Trail traces a path through the exotic gardens of the former estate of Hugh Taylor Birch, Terramar. These tropical plants aren’t invasive, and they’re nicely identified along the first half of the circuit. There are more than 200 species on display. The Exotic Trail [...]
Secret Woods Nature Center
Where I-95 and I-595 meet, you’d hardly believe there’s a place for green space. Port Everglades looms to the east, and jets take off and land at the Fort Lauderdale International Airport. But Secret Woods is very special. It’s hidden under such a dense canopy of mangroves that most people buzzing past have no idea [...]
Snake Warrior Island
Protecting what was once the headwaters of Snake Creek and was the oldest eastern Glades settlement of the Seminoles, Snake Warrior Island Natural Area is a small urban oasis not far from I-95 in Miramar. A paved trail loops around the recreated wetlands, where the waters are busy with moorhens, wood ducks, and herons. Interpretive [...]
Sugar Sand Park
In the highly urbanized Interstate 95 corridor through Palm Beach County, Sugar Sand Park is a local getaway that hits the spot for families with young children. A portion of the park is given over to ballfields, but most of it remains forested. Two easy interpretive trails give you a place to walk in the [...]
Woodmont Natural Area
The last patch of woodlands in suburbia, the Woodmont Natural Area in Tamarac is one of the rare islands of nature left remaining after development throughout western Broward County into the Everglades. This 22-acre site is a birder’s delight. Birdsong is constant; listen for the hooting of barred owls and the rat-a-tat-tat of the pileated [...]
