Newly blazed Florida Trail through an oak hammock
You reach the Lake Hart Spur at 1.6 miles. Continue straight, following the white aster markers to the marshy edge of Lake Hart, where wild irises line the trail as it vanishes into the sparkling blue water. An earthy smell rises from the mud. Return to the Lake Loop, turning left at the T intersection. A newly formed split oak is behind a patch of soft grass. Watch for deer in the forest as the understory opens underneath the moss-draped live oaks. Where the trail veers right, go straight, walking under the open oaks at 2 miles. You reach a boardwalk over Bonnet Pond, an observation area. Blue herons wade through the spatterdock and water lilies with broad white blooms drift across the open water.
Return to the lakeshore, turning left to follow the white aster markers back to the main trail. Turn left, walking through an open forest of pines. Scattered clumps of saw palmetto add a touch of green to the earth-toned landscape. Wind whistles through the needles of the longleaf pines. At 2.4 miles, you come to the Split Oak. Before we were born, this centuries-old tree broke under the weight of its own branches, its main trunk falling in two to the ground. Over time, lateral branches grew up as tall and thick as tree trunks, creating an interesting tableau, the splayed trunks thick with resurrection fern and goldfoot fern. This is not an isolated phenomenon—in fact, there are several more nearby—but this tree is a grand one. Its fallen trunk is almost like a cavern inside, yet it clings to life.
Continue along the forest road past the tree. At the next fork, keep left, passing the LAKE LOOP/SPLIT OAK sign. At 2.7 miles, you reach the trail junction for the Swamp Trail, which leads left to Moss Park. To the right is a large oak that appears to be imprisoned by a circle of pine trees. Turn right to walk around it. A forest road comes in from the right as the trail enters the open pine flatwoods. Continue straight ahead along the grassy track. At Marker 14, you reach the junction of the North/South Trail and the Center Trail after 3.3 miles. This is a decision point. While hiking the perimeter of the South Loop provides your best opportunity to see sandhill cranes, it is another 3.1 miles through mostly open pine flatwoods. After a rain, the South Loop will flood up to your ankles in places. If you’re happy with a shorter, tamer experience, follow the Center Trail 0.9 mile back to your car. Otherwise, continue straight as the trail veers left.
Sawgrass marsh at the south end of Split Oak Forest
Wildlife is more prevalent along the South Loop. Watch for wild turkeys in the open prairies, gopher tortoises ambling down the trail, and the tall sandhill cranes. You pass Marker 16 and Marker 17. Young longleaf pines show off various shapes—some look like wiregrass, others like bottlebrushes or saguaro cactus. Bracken fern grows densely under the pines. Watch for shards of clay turpentine pots, from the era when this forest served as a turpentine plantation.
The namesake of Split Oak Forest
At Marker 18, another forest road heads right, just before the ditch. Continue straight ahead. Peer down into the waterway to look for alligators. The forest road becomes deep soft sand, difficult to traverse, as you reach Marker 19. Turn right. The curve leads back into the pine flatwoods. Signs indicate the last occurrence of a controlled burn, a critical part of managing pine flatwoods and scrub so they do not revert to oak hammocks.
The trail reaches a corner of the property boundary at 4.1 miles. Turn right at Marker 21 to follow that boundary, sticking with the grassy track until it merges into the firebreak along the fence line. This section of the trail can be wet since a bayhead swamp sometimes drains across the trail as a tannic stream at Marker 22. As the forest road meets Marker 23 at 4.4 miles, there is an observation deck overlooking the sawgrass marsh. Take a break on the bench, watching for herons and ibises. Returning to the trail, turn right.
The trail leads back into the pine flatwoods. Stay right at the fork. Green markers direct you around the loop. Marker 24 is in a nice patch of pine flatwoods. Marker 25 is at an intersection of forest roads with deep, soft sand. Continue straight ahead. The footing gets much more difficult, as the road is very sandy. The next forest road coming in from the left is the orange-blazed route of the Florida Trail coming in from the south end of this preserve. It joins your route 5 miles into the hike, next to a gnarled sand live oak. For the remainder of the hike, you’ll follow the orange blazes. The habitat transitions to sandhills, with turkey oaks dropping their brown leaves. You see a deep burned scar on a pine tree.
Make the sharp right turn at Marker 28 with the double orange blazes. The habitat transitions to pine flatwoods, the understory dense with saw palmetto. Continue straight ahead at the next junction of forest roads, entering an oak hammock. Past Marker 29, the trail is carpeted with pine needles. You enter a long, shadowy corridor under the moss-draped oaks at 5.8 miles. The trail curves left and then right, popping out into an open prairie. Walk softly, watching for sandhill cranes. Consider yourself fortunate to come across sandhill cranes in the throes of their mating dance, as the males leap and prance with wings outspread, bowing and cackling to attract the attention of a mate. Sandhill cranes mate for life, returning to the same nesting site every year. Tall grassy savannas and prairies on the edge of marshes provide their perfect habitat.
From the open space at Marker 31, the parking area is visible. Passing the back of Marker 1, you’ve returned to the trailhead, completing a 6.4-mile hike.
OTHER HIKING OPTIONS
1. Swamp Trail. The Swamp Trail makes a 1.4-mile round-trip to the perimeter trail around Split Oak Forest. Using it to start your hike extends the perimeter hike to 7.8 miles. It starts at Moss Park, a full-service county park with boating and canoe access, picnic pavilions, playgrounds, and a nice roomy campground in an oak hammock. To get to Moss Park, take exit 13 on FL 528 (Beachline Expressway), just east of the Orlando International Airport. Turn south on CR 15 (Narcoossee Road). Drive 2.8 miles to Moss Park Road. Turn left, and follow Moss Park Road 4.5 miles until it ends at the park entrance. A $5 entry fee applies. Inside Moss Park, make the first right and follow the signs for Pavilions 5 & 6, at the far end of the park near the campground. Parking for the trail is across from the tent camping area. Look for the arched entrance and kiosk (28.370524, -81.188611). The Swamp Trail is a long causeway through a marsh, giving you an up-close look at cattails, duck potato, and pickerelweed. After 0.7 mile, it ends at the North/South Trail. Turn left to start hiking the 6.4-mile perimeter loop as outlined above.
2. Swamp Trail/Lake Loop. Most visitors are interested in hiking the Lake Loop, the most scenic corner of the preserve. Using the Swamp Trail described above, turn right where it connects to the North/South Trail, visiting the Split Oak along the way. Where the Lake Loop connects at Markers 8 and 9, stay on the North/South Trail until you reach the Lake Loop again. Turn right and follow the hike narrative for the Lake Loop. Return to Moss Park via the way you came in, past the Split Oak and along the Swamp Trail for a 3.5-mile hike with some excellent birding spots and scenery.
3. Bear Island Trail (28.3783, -81.1912). At Moss Park, enjoy this 1.2-mile round-trip nature trail along Lake Mary Jane. It’s an Eagle Scout project that shows off the ancient saw palmetto and views of the lake.
CAMPING AND LODGING
Moss Park, 12901 Moss Park Road, Orlando, FL 32832 (407-254-6840, orangecountyfl.net)
Orlando SE/Lake Whipoorwill KOA, 12345 Narcoossee Road, Orlando, FL 32832 (407-277-5075, koa.com)
Courtyard by Marriott Orlando Lake Nona, 6955 Lake Nona Boulevard, Orlando, FL 32827 (407-856-9165, marriott.com)
Tibet-Butler Preserve
Total distance: 3.5 miles along a network of short trails
Hiking time: 1.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy to moderate
Usage: Free. Open daily, 8 AM–6 PM. No pets or bicycles permitted.
Trailhead GPS Coordinates: 28.4428, -81.5418
Contact Information: Tibet-Butler Preserve, 8777 CR 535 (Winter Garden–Vineland Road), Orlando, FL 32836 (407-254-1940, orangecountyfl.net)
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p; Hiding just beyond the tourist amenities of Lake Buena Vista, within earshot of the toot of the train whistle at Disney’s Magic Kingdom, Tibet-Butler Preserve protects a precious 440 acres of the region’s original habitats along the shore of Lake Tibet. A network of well-maintained, family-friendly interpretive hiking trails winds through its forests. Combining a variety of trails, ramble up to 3.5 miles on this loop.
GETTING THERE
From I-4, take exit 68, Lake Buena Vista. Drive north on FL 535. Pass the entrance to Walt Disney World/Disney Springs at the first light, turning left at the second light to follow CR 535. The park entrance is 5.3 miles ahead on the right. The entrance road loops around to parking in front of the environmental center, where the trails begin.
THE HIKE
The Vera Carter Environmental Center dominates the entrance to the preserve. Stop and take a look at the displays and pick up an interpretive trail guide, which corresponds to numbers posted along the trails. Restrooms and picnic tables invite you to linger.
Your hike starts behind the building. Sign in at the trail register, then turn right onto Pine Circle. The trail is a low indentation into the pine flatwoods, meandering through tall slash pines, loblolly bay, and saw palmetto. Sphagnum moss creeps along its edges. After passing the Screech Owl Trail, you skirt a damp area with swamp lilies growing under dahoon holly and red bay. The trail rises and becomes sandy underfoot as you approach the intersection with the Palmetto Passage Trail, at 0.2 mile. Turn right to stay on Pine Circle.
As the trail rises, the habitat becomes scrubby flatwoods, and the pine canopy thins out. Gallberry, winged sumac, and grasses compete for the understory. Small stands of scrub live oak provide cover. You see the roof of the Environmental Center through the trees as you wind down the sandy, narrow passage. Cross the entry road on the crosswalk, making sure to check for cars. The trail enters an oak hammock of gnarled scrub live oaks draped in moss. Like Christmas tinsel, fallen pine needles decorate the branches of the oaks. As the trail circles, you pass an opening filled with royal ferns. The forest opens along the ecotone between the pine flatwoods and bayheads, where slash pines are scattered amid an unbroken understory of saw palmetto. Watch for the palm warbler and the yellow-throated vireo as they flutter between the palmettos. Dense loblolly bay indicates the dampness of the area. You see the roof of the Environmental Center again, now off to the right.
Along the boardwalk of Fallen Log Crossing
At 0.8 mile, Pine Circle intersects with the Fallen Log Crossing. If you turn right, you’ll end up back at the Environmental Center. To enjoy the rest of the preserve, turn left, following Fallen Log Crossing into a bayhead. This marshy forest was once a common sight in Central Florida, where water from the surrounding pine flatwoods drains down into a permanent depression, feeding the roots of damp-loving trees like bay magnolia, sweet bay, red bay, dahoon holly, and loblolly bay. As you walk along the boardwalk, notice the tannic water collecting in the bottom of the bayhead. You’ll pass the Screech Owl Trail again, a hummocky, shady connector trail through the bayhead. Use it only if you want to return to the Environmental Center; otherwise, continue straight along the boardwalk. It ends in the pine flatwoods. Wild iris grows in damp spots.
You reach another junction with Palmetto Passage at 1.2 miles. Continue straight, meandering through the pine flatwoods. Blueberries dominate the open understory beneath the slash pines. After passing a canopied bench, the trail rises into an oak scrub. At the OSPREY OVERLOOK sign, turn right. This spur trail follows the edge of the pine flatwoods along the oak scrub, entering a dense, shadowy forest of oaks and pines. Along the boardwalk to the observation deck, notice the marsh ferns and small pond cypresses with their fern-like needle clusters. The covered deck overlooks a marsh along the edge of Lake Tibet. Watch for purple gallinules picking their way through the duck potatoes, and osprey swooping down from the cypresses to the open waters of the lake in search of fish.
View from Osprey Overlook
Return to the trail junction, turning right. You are now on the Tarflower Loop, a walk through the preserve’s small corner of oak scrub. Head straight at the loop junction. The footpath becomes sugar-white sand, blindingly bright; the oaks are heavy with ball moss and old man’s beard, a crispy, grayish-green fungal coating on the oak that can burst into any of several varieties—long, hair-like strands, wiry masses, or tangled fruiting clumps with small plates at the ends of their strands. The last bit of this trail tunnels through a corridor of sand live oaks and rusty lyonia before reaching the end of the loop at 2.1 miles. Turn right and retrace your steps past the Osprey Overlook trail to the Palmetto Passage.
The Palmetto Passage is the most adventuresome trail in this preserve and is often closed due to flooding. If it’s closed, continue back along the Fallen Log Crossing to complete a 2.7-mile hike. If it’s not too soggy, it is a lot of fun to hike—twisting and turning, ducking and scrambling through a maze of trees. As it starts, it’s as well-groomed as the other trails in the preserve. But as it drops into the bayhead swamp that the Fallen Log Crossing crosses on the boardwalk, it can get damp underfoot. Crossing a bridge, you see how one bayhead swamp—a spot where groundwater collects and loblolly bay trees thrive—spills into the next one. Watch for clues as to where the trail goes through this area. Pass a patch of ancient saw palmetto, notable for their long trunks. Roots rise up through the footpath, and you must duck beneath the canopy of trees in several spots. After the trail crosses a forest road, the canopy opens, allowing the sounds of traffic to seep in.
Down a tunnel shaded by loblolly bay trees and cypresses, the trail gains a little elevation and the habitat changes to slash pines and oaks. This well-worn portion of the pathway is near the preserve boundary with the road, so the traffic noise picks up. The Palmetto Passage ends at a T intersection with the Pine Circle. Turn right to continue back past the Screech Owl Trail, ending your hike at the Environmental Center after 3.5 miles. Sign out of the trail register before you leave.
OTHER HIKING OPTIONS
1. Pine Circle. The driest of the trails at Tibet-Butler, Pine Circle essentially circles the parking area, staying close to the edge of the bayhead swamps in several places. It’s a 0.8-mile loop and the easiest one to jump on and off of from the Environmental Center.
2. Lake Tibet Stroll. By far the most popular route in the preserve for families is to follow the Fallen Log Crossing to Osprey Overlook for a look out over the marshes along Lake Tibet. It’s a 1.5-mile trip out and back.
CAMPING AND LODGING
Bill Frederick Turkey Creek Park, 3401 S Hiawassee Road, Orlando, FL 32835 (407-246-4486, cityoforlando.net)
Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort, 4510 N Fort Wilderness Trail, Orlando, FL 32836 (407-824-2837, disneyworld.disney.go.com)
Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, 1 Grand Cypress Boulevard, Orlando, FL 32836 (407-239-1234, hyatt.com)
Palm Lakefront Resort & Hostel, 4840 W Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway, Kissimmee, FL 34746 (407-480-1321, hostelinorlando.com)
Disney Wilderness Preserve
Total distance: A 2.5-mile loop and spur. Shorter and longer options are possible.
Hiking time: 1.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy to moderate
Usage: Free, donations appreciated. Open 9 AM–4:30 PM daily, including weekends, November through March. Open 9 AM–4:30 PM on Monday to Friday only, April through October. Closed major holidays. No pets or bicycles permitted.
Trailhead GPS Coordinates: 28.129015, -81.430470
Contact Information: The Nature Conservancy, 2700 Scrub Jay Trail, Poinciana, FL 34759 (407-935-0002, nature.org)
In the early morning stillness, there are no sounds but the drone of cicadas, the cry of a red-shouldered hawk, the flapping wings of a flock of white ibis overhead. Preserved as mitigation (lands preserved in place of lands destroyed for development) for the construction of Walt Disney World on similar habitats, the 12,000 acres of forests and wetlands at the Disney Wilderness Preserve provide r
oom for creatures to roam, and protect one of Florida’s rare treasures—a cypress-lined lake.
GETTING THERE
Take I-4 west from Orlando to exit 27, Lake Buena Vista, heading south on FL 535. After 2.9 miles, turn right on Poinciana Boulevard. This southbound road crosses both US 192 and US 17/92. If you are coming from the west on I-4, use exit 24 and head south toward Kissimmee; turn left on US 17/92, then right on Poinciana Boulevard. Make a right at the traffic light at Pleasant Hill Road, immediately getting into the left lane. Make the first left onto Old Pleasant Hill Road, using the left turn lane 0.5 mile down the road. Follow this road for 0.6 mile, turning left onto Scrub Jay Trail, the entrance road for the preserve. It’s a slow 1.6-mile drive through the preserve back to the Conservancy Learning Center, where the hiking trails start.
THE HIKE
At the Conservancy Learning Center, look for the hiker check-in and maps before heading out on the trail system. They’re along the breezeway near the restrooms. Continue along the concrete path past the butterfly garden to reach the pond. A small sign declares this the HARDEN TRAIL. A line of wax myrtle screens the back of the buildings from the paved path, which offers a sweeping view of the pond. American lotuses float on the surface. Surrounded by smooth cordgrass, the viewing platform provides a place for early-morning birding.
After you enter the vast open longleaf pine flatwoods—which are indeed wet, as are most in Central Florida—the Harden Trail peels off to the right to circle the cypress dome near the pond. Continue straight ahead to meet a T intersection. Turn right to start down a forest road. Wild bachelor’s button peeps up along the trail’s edge. The trail climbs a slight rise, and a red trail marker confirms you are on the red-blazed Wilderness Trail. Reaching an intersection with a trail to the right, the Small Red Loop, pass it by. Keep walking straight ahead through the flatwoods, and notice the line of cypresses off in the distance to your left. They’re getting closer.
50 Hikes in Central Florida Page 19