Certainly one of 4 publicly accessible properties managed by the CREW Land & Water Belief, Flint Pen Strand gives a set of trails suited to mountain climbing, bike driving, and equestrian use.
Brief for Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed, this expansive conservation land is vital for flood management, groundwater recharge, and wildlife habitat.
Along with sustaining trails and restoring habitats with prescribed fires, CREW Belief supplies academic applications, guided hikes, and moist walks throughout the cooler half of the yr.
Trailside benchThe path system inside Flint Pen Strand could be accessed from three separate entry factors, and all routes are properly marked with colours equivalent to an in depth path map.
Separate from the interwoven yellow and purple trails accessible from the Most important Trailhead, the Lakes Trailhead presents a string of linked trails.
They type a giant loop stretching to adjoining Fowl Rookery Swamp and again.
Along with these day mountain climbing explorations, a scenic primitive campsite alongside the Kehl Canal is accessible for an in a single day keep.
Kehl Oaks CampsiteAssets
Overview
Location: Bonita SpringsLength: 7.7 milesTrailhead: 26.332694, -81.680667Address: 14934 Bonita Seaside Rd SE, Bonita SpringsFees: Free, donations acceptedRestrooms: Moveable restroom on the trailhead.Land supervisor: South Florida Water Administration DistrictPhone: 239-657-2253
Open one hour earlier than dawn and one hour after sundown. Canines are allowed on a leash.
The Kehl Oaks Campsite should be reserved on-line and could be pushed to.
Seasonal looking happens on a number of the northern parts of the property. Test the protect web site for dates.
Instructions
Hike
Beginning at Lakes Parking Space, take a second to look over the data kiosk and choose up a paper path map.
Flip left onto the Orange Path, following a well-worn pathway throughout a small clearing earlier than coming into a thicket of slash pines.
Trailhead signageIn 1 / 4 mile, the path climbs over a berm earlier than reaching a fork. Keep to the left to start the loop in a clockwise path.
Wind throughout grassy pine savannas dotted with noticed palmettos, cocoplum, and cabbage palms.
At 1.2 miles, orange blazes lead throughout a mud highway, coming into an space the place seasonal looking might happen.
Pine savannaThe route heads northward, passing a quiet picnic spot earlier than taking a pointy flip to comply with alongside the Kuhl Canal.
Glimpses of this linear waterway seem by way of gaps in dense vegetation, the place herons and cormorants mingle amongst a scattering of spatterdock.
Earlier than reaching the Pinewoods Parking Space at 1.8 miles, flip left to affix the White Path, then comply with blue blazes alongside a brief aspect path to the Kehl Oaks Campsite.
Picnic spotWhite and purple blazed posts paved the way eastward in 0.1 mile, tracing the perimeter of grassy wetland.
At 2.6 miles, keep on the purple path because it branches off the white loop to comply with an entry highway right into a forest of cypress and pine.
In a half mile, proceed straight at a junction the place the purple blazes change into darker, and a blue connector path heads southward.
Directional path markersTurning northward onto the Bromeliad Loop at 3.6 miles, the path crosses over a small pine island earlier than taking a noticeable drop right into a cypress strand that’s usually flooded within the wet season.
The path follows a large lower within the forest for 0.4 mile, then delves into the woods on a slim path connecting a sequence of upland communities with the swamps between them.
Cypress strandAscending onto the Fowl Rookery Swamp Loop close to the five-mile mark, head south alongside the tram highway.
Comply with the raised causeway flanked by primordial wetlands for rather less than a half mile, then flip proper onto the southern half of the Bromeliad Loop.
Fowl Rookery bermThe path lives as much as its identify right here because it weaves westward by way of stands of cypress coated in showy epiphytes of all sizes.
Distinct waterlines on flared tree trunks present proof of the often-wet situations on this dynamic ecosystem.
BromeliadsClose to the six mile mark, cross a highway between the Bromeliad to Cypress Loops, the place alligator flag prospers in a close-by low spot.
Cypress bushes outnumber the pines at first, however this ratio progressively flips whereas heading westbound, passing a couple of well-placed benches alongside the best way.
Blended pine and cypressRising from the forest at 7.1 miles, flip left onto the White Path to comply with a large doubletrack round a borrow lake with an island within the center.
Though this physique of water shouldn’t be a pure characteristic, it attracts a shocking variety of aquatic birds and alligators.
The final little bit of path follows an fringe of the property for 0.4 mile earlier than returning to the trailhead.
Island on the lakePath Map
Discover Extra!
Be taught extra about CREW Flint Pen Strand
CREW Flint Pen Strand Simply 4 miles east of Interstate 75, get your ft moist in a single nook of the huge the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed on the paths of Flint Pen Strand.Video
Climbing the CREW Flint Pen Strand Huge Loop
Close by Adventures
Path Map (PDF) Official Web site
