As Polk County continues to add to its array of natural lands, hiking opportunities are on the increase throughout the region for both day hikers and backpackers. Lakeland is a hub for hiking along the central Lake Wales Ridge and into the Green Swamp as well as the Alafia River valley.
Alderman’s Ford Preserve
Part of an extensive corridor of natural lands – more than 10,000 acres worth east of Tampa – protecting the flow of the Alafia River, Alderman’s Ford Nature Preserve offers a surprising treat for a Central Florida hike– whitewater. The Alafia River flows over limestone boulders as it winds through a deeply eroded channel, forming… [Continue Reading]
Alderman’s Ford Park
An easy loop at this popular county park, the Lithia Nature Trail slips behind the nature center for a walk in deeply shaded woods. Along the river’s floodplain corridor, you are in hammocks where massive cypresses and oaks rise above clear sand-bottomed streams in eroded gullies. Resources Overview Location: Lithia Length: 0.3 mile Lat-Lon: 27.867496,-82.137076… [Continue Reading]
Catfish Creek Preserve State Park
Hang on for one wild walk! Allan David Broussard Catfish Creek Preserve State Park isn’t just “a perfect example of Lake Wales Ridge Scrub,” it’s a landscape unlike any other you’ll find in Florida. The Lake Wales Ridge is a long, slender ridge of ancient sand that stretches from around Clermont most of the way… [Continue Reading]
Circle B Bar Reserve
Sitting along Lake Hancock between Lakeland and Auburndale, Circle B Bar Reserve is a success story that Aldo Leopold would be proud of. Formerly a cattle ranch, the reserve encompasses more than 1,200 acres being successfully restored to its original wetlands habitats feeding the Peace River basin. An extensive network of trails with an outer… [Continue Reading]
Crooked Lake Prairie
In a region where development has started to spread, Crooked Lake Prairie is a refreshing excursion into habitats found on the high hills of the Lake Wales Ridge. The network of interlinking loop trails includes the orange-blazed 1.3 mile Scrub Trail, the 0.3-mile purple blazed Lookout Trail, the 1.5 mile blue blazed Pine Woods Trail,… [Continue Reading]
Crooked River Preserve
At the northernmost end of the Lake Wales Ridge, a significant landform that stretches from Minneola down towards Lake Okeechobee, creating the “spine” of the Florida peninsula, Crooked River Preserve showcases a wide variety of habitats in a short hike. The high, well-drained sandy soils of the Lake Wales Ridge were prized by citrus growers,… [Continue Reading]
Eureka Springs
In 1938, amateur botanist and world traveler Albert Greenburg established a botanical garden with tropical plants around springs that fed a lush floodplain forest along Six Mile Creek. Years later, he started the first tropical fish farm in Florida in the springs, and in 1967 donated the 31-acre site to the county. Construction of the… [Continue Reading]
Gator Creek Preserve
As the headwaters of four of Central Florida’s largest rivers, – the Hillsborough, the Withlacoochee, the Ocklawaha, and the Peace – the Green Swamp is one of Central Florida’s most crucial natural resources. Despite the name, however, most of it is not underwater. Instead, it’s a mosaic of cypress domes amid pine flatwoods, sandhills, and… [Continue Reading]
Hickory Lake Scrub
Nestled along the eastern shore of Hickory Lake, this 57-acre preserve showcases some of the unusual plants you can only find on the Lake Wales Ridge. When the rest of Florida was under a few feet of water, long, thin dune-capped islands stood well above the waves. As a result, the ridge has one of… [Continue Reading]
Lake Kissimmee State Park – Buster Island Loop
Comprised of wet prairies, pine flatwoods, oak hammocks, and scrub, Buster Island in Lake Kissimmee State Park is indeed an island, surrounded by three lakes and waterways that flow into them. The trail loops through a succession of varied habitats along the Lake Wales Ridge, making this a particularly interesting hike. The beauty of Buster… [Continue Reading]
Lake Kissimmee State Park – North Loop & Gobbler Ridge
Most visitors to Lake Kissimmee State Park never see the lake. Certainly, they see the marina, and the Zipprer Canal that connects Lake Rosalie and Lake Kissimmee. Alligators sun on the canal banks, and you can hear airboats buzzing in the distance. But even from the very top of the observation tower, Lake Kissimmee is… [Continue Reading]
Lake Louisa State Park
In the rolling hills of the Lake Wales Ridge south of Clermont, Lake Louisa is the southernmost lake in the Palatlakaha River chain of lakes, its waters flowing northward to feed Lake Susan, Lake Minehaha, and Lake Minneola. Extending between the park entrance and the recreation area along Lake Louisa, the hiking trails showcase the… [Continue Reading]
Lakeland Highlands Scrub
It’s an unexpected find, this quiet preserve down a dirt road not far from the waves of suburban sprawl pushing south from the Polk Parkway, letting Lakeland flow towards Bartow. One of the first acquisitions for Polk County’s Environmental Lands Program and undoubtedly one of the more heavily used, the Lakeland Highlands Scrub protects 160… [Continue Reading]
Little Manatee River Hiking Trail
Resources Overview Location: Wimauma Length: 2.9 miles or 6.5 miles Lat-Long: 27.675111, -82.349814 Type: loop Fees / Permits: state park entrance fee Difficulty: moderate Bug factor: moderate Restroom: No You must visit the Little Manatee River State Park entrance first and get the gate combination (and map) from the ranger before heading up here to… [Continue Reading]
Mosaic Peace River Park
The site of an open-pit phosphate mine until the early 1980s, this reclamation project borders the Peace River floodplain, where the boardwalk winds through the floodplain forest out to the river. Interpretive signs give background information on the 1,800-square-mile Peace River basin. Resources Overview Location: Fort Meade Length: 0.5-mile Lat-Long: 27.821817, -81.804433 Type: round-trip Fees… [Continue Reading]
Saddle Creek Park Nature Trail
An urban park just on the fringe of the industrial area east of downtown Lakeland, Saddle Creek Park draws a lot of attention for its primary attraction—fishing. Like those at nearby Tenoroc Fish Management Area, the oddly shaped lakes are remnants of phosphate mine pits, filled with water and stocked with game fish like largemouth… [Continue Reading]
