Spruce Bluff Preserve – Florida Hikes - Primal Outdoor Members Portal

As soon as a thriving settlement alongside the St. Lucie River, Spruce Bluff vanished lengthy earlier than this 97-acre patch of inexperienced was hemmed in by subdivisions.

Now hidden in a maze of suburbia, Spruce Bluff protects the footprint of that 1891 group, a pioneer cemetery nonetheless standing on a scrubby ridge.

Winding white sand path between spiky shrubs

Rosemary scrub on sandy Spruce Bluff

It additionally encompasses wetlands during which an island of pines accommodates the most important identified mound left behind by the long-forgotten Ais tradition.

The Pioneer and Ais Trails radiate from a central trailhead as round-trips with loops, a mile to the north and 1.3 miles to the south.

Trailhead kiosk

Sources

Overview

Location: Port St. LucieLength: 2.3 milesTrailhead: 27.255416, −80.333265Address: 611 SE Dar Ln, Port St. LucieFees: FreeRestroom: NoneLand supervisor: St. Lucie CountyPhone: 772-462-2526

Open daybreak to nightfall. Parking is proscribed. Don’t block the highway or gates. Leashed canine welcome. Insect repellant advisable.

Instructions

From Florida’s Turnpike, drive 1.5 miles east on Port St. Lucie Blvd to Floresta Dr. Flip proper on Floresta and drive south 0.7 mile to Southbend. Flip left on Southbend, then make a left on Peru Road. After 0.5 mile, flip left on Dar Lane, and left into the doorway for the protect. Park your automotive in entrance of the kiosk on the left.

Hike

Pioneer Path

Begin this loop counterclockwise to the best of the trailhead kiosk, passing a picnic desk underneath the pines.

If the floor and straightaway appears like a highway, it’s. The developer of the encircling subdivision put in a loop earlier than the county stepped in to protect this property.

Ferns edging nubbled asphalt covered in pine needles

Entrance highway straightaway

At first there’s a tropical really feel, with wild espresso rising six ft tall and extra and large sword fern fronds cascading into the trail.

Nevertheless it doesn’t take lengthy so as to add sufficient elevation for the habitat to shift right into a xeric flatwoods.

Strolling in the direction of the pines

Younger pines develop as if planted alongside the highway’s edge. Move by a central crossover within the highway to proceed straight forward.

Proceed rising right into a sand pine scrub. A pair of posts mark the entry for an virtually indiscernable observe on the best main up into the scrub ridge.

People leaving a road to walk a trail between pines

Footpath heading into the scrub ridge

Bear proper on the path junction, because it makes a loop across the outdated village web site. Rapidly enter a wonderland of scrub.

Seafoam-green bubbles of deer moss rise from pine duff beneath a cover of sand reside oaks. Bromeliads thrive within the scrubby oaks.

Scrub ridge

Because the elevation will increase, so does the prevalence of Florida rosemary, the understory shifting to an immersive rosemary scrub.

Social trails and a scarcity of markers result in a little bit of confusion amid white sands. Look ahead to the well-worn path circling behind a series hyperlink fence.

Rosemary scrub

Make a proper at junction of pathways to go across the north finish of the fenced-in cemetery. Indicators lead off the bluff to a crossing of a neighborhood highway.

Observe this spur path into a comparatively overgrown patch of forest fronting the North Fork of the St. Lucie River. A half mile into the hike, it ends at a river touchdown.

River touchdown

Return up the spur and make a left after crossing the highway to go to the cemetery. A fence encloses its footprint on the scrub ridge.

A memorial marker is etched on a number of sides with the names of these laid to relaxation right here within the Nineties.

Memorial on the cemetery web site

Proceed south across the far finish of the fence on a footpath, passing a big gopher tortoise burrow as the trail loops again into the rosemary scrub.

Exit by means of the sand pine forest, reaching the pavement of the entry highway once more. Flip proper. Observe the highway north briefly earlier than it loops south.

West facet of asphalt loop

Enter the xeric flatwoods with its skinny pines earlier than reaching the paved crossover. Proceed right into a slight curve proper.

The parking space is now seen down the straightaway, however on this facet of the loop, a marsh adjoins on the best. Attain the trailhead to finish a mile hike.

Marsh close to the tip of the loop

Ais Path

Start this southbound hike throughout the doorway highway from the parking space. A wood walkway traverses a marshy space with willows and ferns.

Proceed alongside a footpath by means of a slender hall outlined by tall shrubs and noticed palmetto.

Three post stile with ground-level boardwalk beyond

Begin of the Ais Path

Emerge right into a sand pine scrub with a dense understory, curving into the next elevation. Clusters of ball moss are scattered on open pine duff.

Slip behind a line of homes in an adjoining neighborhood, some backyards seen by means of breaks within the bushes.

Sand pine scrub

Changing into white sand, the pathway widens right into a xeric flatwoods, the place slash pine and sand pine co-exist with jumbles of grapevine beneath them.

Enter a straightaway between partitions of grapevine mounds and noticed palmetto fronds.

Noticed palmetto passage

On the finish of it, curve east, away from a path coming in from the neighborhood on the best.

Achieve extra elevation underneath scattered pines. A palmetto-lined passage with many bracken ferns results in the beginning of a boardwalk at 0.3 miles.

Begin of the the boardwalk

It hovers nicely above an enormous marsh which extends past view in the direction of the North Fork of the St. Lucie River.

Various in depth, its shallow higher reaches present shelter for sandhill crane nesting.

Open water with grass beyond against a line of trees

Sandhill crane nesting on the far wetland edge

Cross this lengthy boardwalk to succeed in an island within the marsh, with a pleasant view throughout its decrease reaches.

Footing turns into tough because the path twists and winds by means of a tangle of noticed palmetto roots and gentle soil in a tunnel of bay bushes and holly.

Tough terrain

Attain a boardwalk to exit this island, hovering above one other arm of the huge central marsh on this a part of the protect.

Achieve elevation shortly, leaving the marsh behind to enter a sand pine scrub between partitions of scrub oaks.

Marsh edge boardwalk

Attain a well-defined loop within the sand pine scrub at a half mile. Bear proper, winding by means of the scrub.

Bear left on the subsequent junction, the place an indication confirms the path route. Enter a extra mature xeric flatwoods.

Loop junction

The loop has a number of extra well-marked junctions. Coated in vegetation, a steep slope turns into ever steeper on the left.

This footpath circles the bottom of the 180-foot-diameter Ais mound rising 20 ft tall. Warning indicators bar entry from the archaeological web site.

One of many higher views on the Ais mound

Full the loop quickly after passing the one really open view of the sandy mound at 0.8 mile. Flip proper to retrace your route again to the trailhead.

Pause on the boardwalks to observe for birds and otters within the marshes between the scrubby ridges.

Reaching the parking space at 1.3 miles, full 2.3 miles of mountain climbing on two trails.