Yamato Scrub Natural Area – Florida Hikes - Primal Outdoor Members Portal

Topping the Atlantic Coastal Ridge, this 217-acre protect is the southernmost outpost for a large chunk of scrub habitat.

Divided in two by Clint Moore Rd, the protect is at its most interesting for mountain climbing on its north facet, with 5 distinct habitats to discover.

Wetlands alongside the Cicada Nature Path

A great thing about a hike, the yellow-blazed North Loop meanders via a xeric oak hammock into an expanse of sand pine scrub.

A round-trip on the accessible Cicada Nature Path plus a trek alongside the natural-surface North Loop nets a 2 mile hike.

Mounded wildflowers under small ridge with sand pines

Sand pine scrub on the North Loop

Sources

Overview

Location: Boca RatonLength: 2 milesTrailhead: 26.408889, -80.096954Address: 701 Clint Moore Street, Boca RatonFees: FreeRestroom: NoneLand Supervisor: Palm Seaside CountyPhone: 561-233-2400

Open dawn to sundown. No pets or bicycles permitted. Plan for full solar.

Instructions

From Interstate 95 exit 50 southbound, head south on Congress Avenue for 1.1 miles to Clint Moore Rd. Flip left and drive a half mile, passing the doorway to Yamato Scrub to make a U-turn at a turnout in entrance of the Boca Raton Shrine Membership. The trailhead parking space is simply previous it on the best, at 601 Clint Moore Rd, Boca Raton. Northbound on I-95, use the Yamato Street exit to drive a half mile west to Yamato Rd, 1 mile north on Congress Avenue to Clint Moore Rd.

Hike

From the trailhead kiosk, the Cicada Nature Path supplies the accessible entrance to this protect.

Meander the curving sidewalk beneath the shade of ficus, oaks, and cabbage palms.

Beneath the trailhead kiosk

A picket bridge spans a ditch slicing via the protect that’s adjoined by an influence line.

Enter an oak hammock with gnarled sand reside oaks laden with Spanish moss. A broad patch of noticed palmetto half in shadow sports activities silvery hues.

Central ditch

At 0.2 miles, a put up with a yellow dot marks the beginning of the North Loop, edged by showy clumps of noticed palmetto beneath the oak and palm cover.

The footpath is inside dappled shade. Stroll beneath a row of oaks on a comfortable leaf-and-needle path. In a segue to a sand pine cover, patches of open sky seem.

Begin of the North Loop

Thoughts the path markers at junctions with firebreaks as some turns are complicated. Needles yield to a worn sandy monitor on an immersion into this sand pine scrub.

Diminutive scrub oaks stand in small clusters; grapevines swarm beds of sand pine needles.

Diverging paths under pines, one with a marker post

Markers are important at junctions like these

Cross a remarkably massive sand pine. Maturity for these bushes is roughly 70 years earlier than they succumb to age.

Prickly pear cactus sprouts amongst grapevines. Look ahead to yellow dot markers fastidiously the place the panorama opens up.

A line of cabbage palms

One part of the forest has numerous pines with blackened trunks resulting from a prescribed burn. Scrub palmetto rises amongst squat Chapman and myrtle oaks.

A bench adjoins a firebreak at a half mile, the footpath crossing into the forest north of it. A lot of this understory could be very open beneath the pines.

Bench

Enter a stand of tall sand pines, all with a pronounced lean from prevailing winds. Clusters of false rosemary rise from the sand.

By 0.7 miles, clumps of wiregrass edge the footpath. Inside a tenth of a mile, take care crossing an open space on the firebreak on the swing south.

Xeric flatwoods

Hunt down the blaze put up for a less-defined pine needle path into xeric flatwoods with slash pines.

Patches of shade turn into extra prevalent as mature sand reside oaks return. Exit the North Loop after 1.1 miles.

Finish of the North Loop

Flip left onto the sidewalk to renew the Cicada Nature Path, winding alongside the sting of the forest

Emerge into the open inside a tenth of a mile at a bark-chip path on the left with a bench within the shade overlooking a marsh.

Basin marsh

Becoming a member of a causeway, straddle the middle of the basin marsh. This moist habitat inside the scrub is a birder’s delight.

East of the basin, climb a sand ridge with blinding white sand patches between the palmetto the place prickly pear cactus grows.

Sand ridge

Grasses and pine needles carpet the sand on the method to a bench within the shade. Sand pines turn into distinguished previous Marker 6 and the worn monitor behind it.

Because the pathway curves, face a wall of white, a warehouse in opposition to the protect boundary. The sound of Interstate 95 site visitors will increase on the swing previous it.

White sidewalk and immense white building looming above treeline

Wall of warehouse at protect boundary

The sidewalk splits in two. Bear left at to circle via the pines and palmettos. At 1.4 mile, a yellow dot put up marks the beginning of the South Loop.

Take into account it an optionally available addition. Largely winding via open scrub between small islands of pines, it almost doubles the gap of what you’ve hiked to this point.