Get up close to red-cockaded woodpecker nests on this easy hike

This short loop in the Florida Trail provides a prime place to see red-cockaded woodpeckers around their nest holes in ancient longleaf pines. It also is a firm natural surface suitable for motorized wheelchairs and for regular wheelchairs with assistance.

Start your hike at the kiosk, crossing a short boardwalk to follow orange and white blazes towards the forest to your left. The fire tower and Olustee Battlefield Visitor Center are off to your right. You pass a historic cemetery.

After the trail passes through a gate, it leaves the road to start down a footpath into the longleaf pine forest. The understory is very open with only scattered patches of saw palmetto. After 0.3 mile, the trees become denser. Listen closely, and you can hear the tap of woodpeckers on the wood. At 0.4 mile, you reach an intersection with a jeep road, and Loop A follows blue blazes to the right. Continue straight. The white-banded trees are where the red-cockaded woodpeckers live. This endangered species only nests in old-growth longleaf pines, at least 100 years old, and is best seen early in the morning.