This expansive cover of reside oaks above a tropical hammock on an historical tree island was as soon as surrounded by the Everglades.
It’s the excessive level, fairly actually, of this 243 acre county park with a tower into the tree cover.
Cover towerThis former dairy farm was platted to turn into a golf group earlier than Broward County protected it for its residents in 1980.
Now surrounded by the subdivisions of Davie, its wild facet features a boardwalk throughout a river of grass of its personal.
Everglades marshThis suburban park encompasses a nature middle, an equestrian path, and paddling, and serves because the walk-in gateway to adjoining Pine Island Ridge Pure Space.
There are quite a few picnic groves and shelters, an open-air health facility, volleyball courts, and a Security City for youngsters to discover.
Health machines below a coverAssets
Overview
Location: DavieLength: 1.3 milesTrailhead: 26.074396, -80.275177Address: 3900 SW a centesimal Ave, DavieFees: Gate payment on weekends and holidaysRestroom: On the trailheadLand Supervisor: Broward CountyPhone: 954-357-5130
Open 8 AM. Closing time varies seasonally. Use insect repellent. Fishing is permitted (FWC license required) besides the place posted.
Canoe leases can be found close to the park entrance to ply the waterways.
Leashed canine welcome in Tree Tops Park however not on Pine Island Ridge. Choose up after your pet.
Instructions
Hike
Fronting the character middle is a singular put up explaining the importance of this park and adjoining protect as a Broward Cultural Heritage Landmark.
Each are a part of Pine Island Ridge, on the highest pure elevations in Broward County, and had been the location of a thriving indigenous tradition for greater than 5,000 years.
Landmark designationThis island was one in every of a sequence of seven working east to west within the Everglades, the westernmost of which can be protected as Lengthy Key Pure Space.
Stroll by the character middle to choose up a map and to examine interpretive panels on the encircling panorama and its historical past.
Abiaka sculptureExit by a again door, assembly a paved path at a life-sized sculpture depicting Sam Jones, recognized to his folks as Abiaka. Flip left.
A call level arises instantly on the Nature Path signal on the left. It marks the beginning of our 1.3 mile circuit of Tree Tops Park on a maze of largely pure floor paths.
Begin of the Nature PathTo increase the hike to three.2 miles, proceed straight forward to discover Pine Island Ridge on its paved paths. Because it’s largely within the solar, it’s finest to deal with first.
Pine Island Ridge Pure Space As soon as a part of a sequence of islands within the Everglades, Pine Island Ridge is the very best pure elevation in Broward County, a house to indigenous cultures for over 5,000 years.To remain on the paths of Tree Tops Park, flip left on the Nature Path signal. Slip previous the broad trunk of a reside oak on a slim leafy footpath.
Stroll by the tropical understory of this hardwood hammock, dense with wild espresso and marlberry. The cover of reside oaks blots out the sky.
Underneath the reside oak coverBroadening, the trail meets a T. Flip left. At a cut up, take the left fork, crossing a driveway to a Nature Trails signal.
Stick to the broad hall at one other cut up, assembly the primary of a number of Marsh indicators, a significant vacation spot alongside this loop. Observe these indicators.
Observe the Marsh indicatorsCabbage palms and pointy beds of snake vegetation adjoin the path. Oak limbs arch overhead, permitting splashes of solar the place branches have been pruned by hurricanes.
At a T, flip left. A touch of the marsh peeps by the bushes on the suitable, the forest briefly youthful and fewer shady. The grand cover of oaks and thicket of tropical understory resumes.
Footpath close to the marshMeet a Marsh signal at a paved path at 0.3 miles. Flip proper, becoming a member of the paved path previous interpretive indicators in regards to the marsh to the doorway to its boardwalk.
Edged by willows, the straightaway meets a T at a tree island. Make a proper, strolling across the tree island throughout a grassy expanse of remnant Everglades to a lined commentary deck.
Marsh boardwalkOn the finish of the boardwalk, overlooking open water dotted with water lilies, it faces the same deck in the other way and the doorway station to the park.
Observe the boardwalk to the second deck. On the finish of a brief spur, it sits between tree islands. This protected spot appears to draw extra wading birds alongside its shallows.
Purple gallinulePinwheels of spider lily blooms draw consideration to the grassy fringe of the pond. Proceed alongside the boardwalk past the second deck.
Attain its finish below the oak cover at 0.6 miles close to a picnic shelter. Leafy paths ramble in a number of instructions.
Picnic shelterProceed straight forward at first, bearing left in the direction of an indication within the distance marking the beginning of the Tower Loop.
Flip proper, strolling beneath tall reside oaks laden in large air vegetation. In late winter, the scent of citrus blossoms infuses this hammock.
Tower LoopThe sparse understory is dotted with orange and grapefruit bushes. An odd form fills a niche up forward, resolving into an unlimited cut up oak
Its trunk is splayed each alongside the bottom in each instructions and rising straight up.
Break up oakCurving proper, proceed below youthful oaks and citrus bushes previous an previous concrete cistern from the farm.
Across the subsequent nook, a second unbelievable tree rises. It’s an enormous banyan, a cascade of prop roots forming a picket curtain in entrance of the trunk.
Banyan with a good friend for dimensionCurve previous it to a T with a paved path. A Marsh signal factors in the direction of the place you emerged. Flip left to see the banyan’s full glory up a zigzag ramp at its base to a tower reaching into the tree cover.
At 0.8 mile, climb to the very high to see why this park known as Tree Tops, the encircling cover on the high stage lush with resurrection fern, clusters of orchids, and bromeliads.
Tower within the bushesContemplating the bounty of the pond and this hammock, its no marvel this excessive floor was lengthy a house to indigenous peoples.
They lived in concord with their panorama, utilizing lengthy canoes to journey from island to island within the Everglades.
Wanting down from the towerOn the base of the tower, observe the paved path past it to the place it circles by a clearing below the traditional reside oaks. At a pointy curve, flip off it onto a leafy path at a mile.
This broad path meets a narrower one at an indication. Observe the Exit signal. Leaves cowl sandy soil amid one other stretch of hammock with citrus bushes below the oaks.
Footpath below the oaksAn archway of oak limbs leads the trail to a junction with a Tower Loop / Marsh signal close by of a picnic space alongside the park entrance street.
Take the slim footpath within the woods parallel to the park street, assembly a paved path. Flip proper and observe it briefly in the direction of a lined pavilion with health gear.
Fringe of the picnic spaceBear left onto one other slim leafy path simply contained in the woods. Prickly clusters of sharply pointed snake vegetation hem the footpath, with spiky white blossoms in late winter.
Winding by the woods below the reside oaks, emerge close by of one of many Marsh / Exit indicators and switch proper, exiting to the character middle parking space.
Full 1.3 miles by Tree Tops Park, or 3.2 miles in case you additionally hiked Pine Island Ridge.
Path to Nature HeartPath Map
Discover Extra!
Video
Climbing Tree Tops Park
Slideshow
See our photographs from Tree Tops Park
Close by Adventures
Official Web site
Writer of 45 books, Sandra Pal established FloridaHikes.com in 2006 to increase on the sphere analysis she’d accomplished for her first six mountaineering guides. She has been honored with lifetime achievement awards from the Florida Path Affiliation and the Florida Outside Writers Affiliation.
