Nineteen miles of berms separate a series of wetland cells that filter water—at a variety of depths—through different natural collections of aquatic plants. Nearly all of these levees are open to hiking, so there are dozens of routes to follow. Ours provides a walk through the natural habitats on the east side of the park before following the most popular loop through the central marshes and to the southwestern corner, where wildlife sightings are at their best. Be sure to use sunscreen and insect repellent, and wear a hat. Most of the hike is out in the open.
Stop by the main pavilion to sign in before your hike and to pick up a trail map. On Fridays and Saturdays from 9-3, the Education Center is staffed by Friends of Orlando Wetlands Park. Inside, you’ll find wildlife exhibits and interpretive information. Tram tours are offered when the center is open.
GETTING THERE
From I-4 in Orlando, follow FL 408 (toll road) east for 12.6 miles to FL 50 at Union Park. Continue east for 11.3 miles on FL 50 to Fort Christmas Road in Christmas—note the Christmas display on the corner. Alternatively, from I-95 in Titusville, drive west on FL 50 for 10.3 miles through the town of Christmas to the same corner. Turn north on Fort Christmas Road. Continue 2.3 miles, passing Fort Christmas Park, before turning right onto Wheeler Road just before a sharp left curve. Drive 1.5 miles down Wheeler Road to the parking area on the left. If the parking area is full, use the Seminole Ranch parking area across the street.
THE HIKE
After you stop at the main pavilion by the restrooms to sign in, walk across the grassy area between picnic pavilions, passing the bat house, to the big trailhead sign in the distance along the tree line. This is the South Woods Branch Trail, which guides you into a lush hardwood hammock typical of the natural habitats that fringe the man-made wetlands. As this forest lies in the St. Johns River floodplain, it can occasionally get soggy underfoot, which is why sweetgum and red maple thrive here among the cabbage palms and live oaks. Numbered signs call attention to the flora; an interpretive brochure can be picked up at the Education Center to follow along. At 0.25 mile, a SEMINOLE CAMPSITE sign points left down a side trail. There is no camping in Orlando Wetlands Park anymore, but there was when this footpath was part of the statewide Florida Trail. Continue straight ahead, following the white blazes past marsh ferns and showy royal ferns as the landscape gets wetter. Past a bench, notice the dark waters of a swamp, which is why a Carolina willow is thriving behind Marker 24.
Roseate spoonbills in the wetlands at the junction of Osprey Boulevard and Wetlands Boulevard
Reaching a small boardwalk and bridge at 0.5 mile, the trail makes a sharp left to emerge onto the levee at Lake Searcy. Turn left to climb the stairs to the observation deck, which provides a sweeping view of both wetlands and open water. As with all of the water bodies along the levees of this park, Lake Searcy is man-made. Fill for the levee system came from this particular part of the park. Once part of a cattle ranch, this land was purchased by the City of Orlando in the early 1980s to develop a new method of treating wastewater. With the exception of the swamps and streams along the footpaths on this side of the park, all of the other water bodies were created for treatment purposes. It takes 40 days for wastewater to flow through the wetlands until it reaches a quality where it can be discharged to the St. Johns River through a canal. You’ll encounter that canal farther along the hike.
From the observation deck, you start walking around the east end of Lake Searcy by following Osprey Boulevard. All of the levee roads are open to hiking, biking, and equestrian use, and you may encounter equipment working in the wetland cells on weekdays, as they occasionally have to be “mucked out” and rebuilt. The farther you get from the observation deck, the more open the water is. Coots like this end of the lake, and you will see alligators swimming through the open water. You may have noticed the warning signs already: alligators are extremely common here. If you leave the levee to look at blooming wildflowers or waterfowl near the water’s edge, be very careful. A rule of thumb is to never get within 20 feet of an alligator. Once in a while, they’ll rest on the levee because the limestone is warm.
Enjoy the panoramic views across Lake Searcy as the trail curves around it for the next mile. Notice the dense forest on the opposite side of the levee. Pass by a gate at a property boundary, and an unmarked trail. Soon after, you see the roof of a chickee hut at the base of the levee, around 1.5 miles. It’s almost hidden by the forest canopy. Walk down to it to find a sign indicating the start of the North Woods Branch Trail. This is your second opportunity on this hike to enjoy some deep shade. Originally built as part of the statewide Florida Trail several decades ago, the footpath leads you into the forest, starting with a few boardwalks in a spot that’s seasonally wet. This trail shows off the natural habitats that surround the man-made wetlands as it slips through uplands with oaks and pines before touching the edge of a swamp forest.
Once you cross a bridge over an ephemeral waterway, the trail enters a beauty spot, a palm hammock where the trunks of the palm trees rise like tall columns to the sky. Beyond the next bridge, you pass the ORANGE MOUND sign, pointing out the former location of another campsite. Continuing through the dense palm hammock, the trail emerges at a bridge with a sign adjoining it. This clearing is the junction with the Wilderness Trail, and the bridge crosses the outflow canal of the wetlands to connect with the current route of the Florida Trail. Don’t cross the bridge, but turn left before it. Walk down the shady tunnel of vegetation to pass a water control structure. The trail emerges back into the sun. It’s in this area, fittingly perched in a series of dead trees, that black vultures have always gathered. The Wilderness Trail ends here at the junction with Bald Eagle Boulevard and Vulture View, 2.5 miles in, at the next bridge and water structure. Continue straight ahead.
Palm hammock along the North Woods Branch Trail
For the remainder of your hike, you will be walking along the wetland cells out in the open. Each junction is well marked and has a YOU ARE HERE map. If you need to cut this route short at any point, simply check the map for the most direct route back to the parking area. Along this forested edge of the park, we watched a colony of wood storks gathering sticks to make nests nearby. When you reach the junction of Bald Eagle Boulevard and Wetlands Boulevard, a sheltered picnic bench sits in the shade. After enjoying a break, follow Wetlands Boulevard into the heart of the marshes. The distant tree line marks the edge of the park. The wetlands in the foreground are Wading Bird Marsh, an excellent location to spy herons, bitterns, and egrets, especially along the next portion of the route, Alligator Alley. Make a right off Wetlands Boulevard to follow this curving levee. It’s aptly named, as you’re quite likely to see big alligators along this route. As the levee curves, it offers beautiful views across islands of cabbage palms out in the marsh.
A cove in the wetlands along Night Heron Lake
Reaching a palm hammock, you come to the junction of Alligator Alley and Otter Boulevard at 3.8 miles. Turn right. A culvert directs water flow beneath the levee here, with the hammock offering shelter for the white-tailed deer sometimes seen in the park. Make a left at the next levee, the aptly named Deer Drive. Marsh grasses are taller here, and water lettuce floats on the surface. You meet Bittern Boulevard at a T. Make a left, and then the next right to walk down Snowy Egret Way. This levee makes a beeline for the southwest corner of the park, where the impoundments are thick with tall cattails and the open water is mainly around the culverts. The reason for going to this corner is the nice observation deck built at the junction of Snowy Egret Way with Black Bear Boulevard and Hawk Highway, at 4.6 miles. You’ll find it a gathering place for visitors to the park because of the wildlife spotted here. We saw three different snakes—a ribbon snake, a banded water snake, and a red rat snake—and it’s not uncommon to find otters in this area. A young alligator surprised us by lounging in the oak hammock behind the deck. If the water looks more scum-covered at this end of the park, that’s because the whole process of wastewater
treatment starts right here.
Leaving the observation deck, walk along the perimeter levee on Hawk Highway. A screen of trees shields Wheeler Road. Make the next left onto Blue Heron Boulevard, and turn right on Dragonfly Drive. These impoundments tend to be dense with grasses. Make a left on Bittern Boulevard, and a quick right on Warbler Way. It takes you to a T intersection with Otter Boulevard, reached at 5.6 miles. Make a right. At the junction with Night Heron Lane, make a left. The small stretch of woods edges a deeper pool. A bench overlooks a small patch of open water. Cabbage palms rise in the background. By the scuffles in the dirt along the shoreline, it’s obvious that alligators enjoy sunning here and crossing the levee to the other impoundment. Be cautious.
When you reach Wetlands Boulevard again, make a right. This takes you past one last open wetland area, where it’s not uncommon to see flocks of roseate spoonbills or white ibis pecking away in the shallows. You come to a T intersection with Osprey Boulevard coming in from the left from Lake Searcy. Turn right and walk down past the picnic pavilion and restrooms to the parking area, completing a 6.2-mile hike.
OTHER HIKING OPTIONS
With such an extensive network of trails across the levees, there are dozens of possible ways to explore Orlando Wetlands Park. Check the park map for details. Here are some of our favorites.
1. South Woods Loop. For a 1-mile loop, follow the South Woods Branch Trail to the observation deck on Lake Searcy. Loop back to the trailhead using Osprey Boulevard.
2. Lake Searcy Loop. Follow the levee system around Lake Searcy on a 3.7-mile loop, with a stop at the Oyler Overlook.
3. Birding Loop. Start as in #2 but take the left fork. This marked 2-mile loop focuses on the central marshes with some of the best bird watching.
4. South Pools. Cross Wheeler Road to access a 2.7-mile loop around the southernmost wetland cells in the park, which sit off by themselves.
5. Seminole Ranch Loop. Using the South Woods Branch, North Woods Branch, and Perimeter Trail, connect to the east of the Florida Trail, adjoining the Seminole Ranch Conservation Area, then hike south and use the blue-blazed trail to the Wheeler Road trailhead to make a 6-mile loop that’s mostly in the woods.
CAMPING AND LODGING
Christmas RV Park, 25525 E Colonial Drive, Christmas, FL 32709 (407-568-5207, christmasrvpark.com), no tents.
Lake Mills Park, 1301 Tropical Avenue, Chuluota, FL 32766 (407-665-2001, seminolecountyfl.gov)
Fairfield Inn & Suites, 4735 Helen Hauser Boulevard, Titusville, FL 32780 (321-385-1818, marriott.com)
Sunset along the Prairie Lakes Loop
IV.
ORLANDO
METRO
Lake Proctor Wilderness Area
Total distance: 4 miles in three loops, with shorter and longer options
Hiking time: 2 hours
Difficulty: Easy to moderate
Usage: Free. Open dawn to dusk. Leashed pets welcome.
Trailhead GPS Coordinates: 28.7266, -81.0991
Contact Information: Lake Proctor Wilderness Area, 920 SR 46, Geneva, FL 32732 (407-349-0769, seminolecountyfl.gov)
You hear them before you see them, as the cries of sandhill cranes rattle across the open marshes and through the forests surrounding Lake Proctor, a meandering, shallow wet prairie where sandhill cranes gather to eat, mate, and raise their young. Protecting 475 acres near the historic rural enclave of Geneva—where their Fourth of July Parade is a slice of Americana you shouldn’t miss—Lake Proctor Wilderness Area is one of the best places in Central Florida to watch these graceful birds from the shaded shore of the lake.
GETTING THERE
From I-4 exit 101, Sanford, drive east on FL 46 for 4 miles to downtown Sanford. Turn right, following FL 46 along US 17/92 (South French Avenue) for 1.7 miles. FL 46 then turns left. Continue another 12.1 miles, driving past the Orlando-Sanford Airport and across the St. Johns River into rural countryside. The trailhead entrance is on the left not far past the traffic light for Geneva at FL 426.
THE HIKE
Grab a trail map from the kiosk near the parking lot entrance. Several large loops and many small loops are possible along this trail system; this hike follows the most scenic option. Each loop is blazed using colored markers with arrows. Starting on the Red Trail, it’s a pleasant walk down a broad corridor flanked by saw palmetto and shaded by a hammock of sand live oaks with colorful gardens of lichens growing on their trunks and limbs. You very quickly come to a fork with the Orange Trail and a large white sign that says LP-01. This is the first of many such signs you’ll find throughout the wilderness areas of Seminole County, installed in recent years to help hikers avoid getting lost. Keep right to follow the red blazes. Sphagnum moss carpets the jagged trunks of saw palmetto that protrude from the footpath.
Making a slight left turn, the trail passes under tall longleaf pines within a sea of saw palmetto. One live oak shows off a bounty of resurrection fern, plump and green after the prior evening’s rain. This is a narrow corridor of oak scrub, transitioning into sand pine scrub with tall sand pines. At a junction with the Orange Trail after 0.25 mile, continue straight ahead on the red trail. The habitat is now firmly sand pine scrub, with myrtle oak and Chapman oak in the understory. At the junction with the Blue Trail, continue straight as the trail loses its shady canopy to the open nature of the scrub. The trail heads down a very long corridor with lots of crunchy myrtle oak leaves underfoot. As it narrows, it’s surrounded by young sand pine, soft and fluffy but not tall enough to cast much shade. Walking into a stand of longleaf pines, you face a very old sand live oak with limbs reaching out in all directions.
At what looks like a junction, a marker urges you left. Farther down a scrub corridor, the trail makes a sharp left and reaches a T intersection after 0.9 mile, the junction of the Blue Trail and Red Trail at an interpretive marker. Turn right. Under a power line, follow the red marker down this utility easement. At 1 mile, the trail turns left and goes into an oak scrub. Crossing an unmarked trail, continue along the path outlined by the red markers. Entering a pretty patch of hardwood hammock, you notice the air cool down almost immediately. As you exit into the scrub, you hear the peeps and chirps of frogs as the trail works its way toward a depression marsh at 1.3 miles. It’s a beauty spot, edged by saw palmetto.
Scrambling up a slight bluff, the broad trail emerges back into the scrub. To the left, there is a corner of a fence line. The trail continues to the right. This section of the Red Trail may be a little tricky to follow. Keep watching for the red markers, especially at intersections. A seafoam-colored lichen, old man’s beard, dangles from the crooked limbs of a rusty lyonia. You reach a covered rain shelter at 1.5 miles. Catch your bearings here. Continue along the Red Trail, which follows the forest road away from the shelter. The Red Trail reaches a fork along the road; stay left to enter the forest.
Marshes along Eastbrook Wetlands
At the next junction, the yellow-blazed Scrub Loop heads left toward a bayhead, a marshy area with loblolly bay trees. This trail is an optional add-on for a perimeter hike. While it immerses you into more scrub habitat, a large portion of it is spent following the property line along a fence. Continuing along the red blazes, you enter scrubby flatwoods. At the second junction of red and yellow blazes, turn right. Winding through the diminutive scrub, the trail crosses an access road. Continuing uphill over the next access road, there’s a nice view of a wet prairie, where sandhill cranes may be wading. A bench provides a place to rest.
Junction of trails at a rain shelter at the north end of the loop
Paralleling the power line, the Red Trail meanders beneath it to a marker that ushers you left towards the parking area. However, the highlight of this trail system is the walk along Lake Proctor, and it’s in the opposite direction. Turn right and walk up the power line, passing the Red Trail again to reach the junction. You return to the main trail junction at 2.6 miles. Continue straight past the shelter, following the Blue Trail as the trail drops toward th
e lake through the pine forest. At the next rain shelter, follow the blue markers left.
You have your first glimpse of Lake Proctor through the trees as the trail gently descends to the edge of this large, shallow wetland, more wet prairie than lake. A side trail leads to the edge, where leopard frogs sing in the shallows. This is just one little arm of the lake, which the trail now rambles along, beneath the longleaf pines and Southern magnolia. At 2.9 miles, the trail swings right to work its way around a tall wall of saw palmetto, and you have the lake in your sights again. Lily pads drift across the placid surface. Past a depression marsh, the trail makes its way back to the lakeshore at a spot with an interpretive sign and bench.
After another short jaunt along the lakeshore, the trail emerges on another marshy arm of the lake. A pair of sandhill cranes works its way through the grasses. You see a bundle of yellow move with them—a colt scarcely a month old, herded carefully by its doting parents, who pluck choice morsels for their baby while staying close enough to protect the bundle of fussing feathers. Mating for life, sandhill cranes raise only one or two chicks per year.
Leaving the lakeshore past an ephemeral pond, the Blue Trail meets the Red Trail at 3.3 miles. Turn right. At the picturesque oak just a little ways down the trail, bear right to walk along the Orange Trail, the shortest of the loops. It makes its way down to the marsh edge, where a sign marked EASTBROOK WETLANDS claims the spot for a local school. A tall slash pine has a deep gash in its trunk, a catface speaking to the turpentine industry that was once an important part of the local economy. At 3.7 miles, a bench provides a beautiful view of the wetlands. The trail makes a sharp left. The sound of traffic increases and the forest grows denser as you draw closer to the trailhead, walking uphill through an oak hammock. Keep to the right as you return to the Red Trail, and you emerge at the trailhead after 4 miles.
50 Hikes in Central Florida Page 16