Wall Springs Coastal Addition – Florida Hikes - Primal Outdoor Members Portal

Including a shocking quantity of acreage to Wall Springs Park, the Coastal Addition has two separate trails, prolonged as land was acquired in 4 phases.

It fronts Woman Scout Camp Wai Lani and seems to have as soon as been part of it.

Its pathways are previous roads

A trio of loops follows what appears like previous camp roads via native habitats for a 1.2 mile perimeter hike.

A 1.4 mile paved linear path runs previous the parking space. Main 0.8 mile south to Wall Springs Park, it connects to the Pinellas Path.

The paved path

Northbound, comply with it for a 1.2 mile round-trip to commentary decks and a tower on Kloisterman Bayou with an excellent view.

With restrooms, water station, and a big picnic pavilion, the Coastal Addition trailhead supplies direct entry to each trails for as much as 4 miles on foot or by bike.

Statement decks on the bayou

Sources

Overview

Location: Palm HarborLength: As much as 4 milesTrailhead: 28.114344, -82.772517Address: 621 Wai Lani Street, Palm HarborFees: FreeRestroom: On the trailheadLand Supervisor: Pinellas CountyPhone: 727-582-2100

Open 7 AM to sundown each day besides the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas. Bicycles and leashed canines welcome besides on boardwalks.

Instructions

From the intersection of US 19 and Tarpon Ave in Tarpon Springs, drive south on US 19 for 1.7 miles to E Klosterman Rd. Flip proper and proceed 1.3 miles to Palm Harbor Blvd (Alt US 19). Flip left and drive south 0.8 miles to Wai Lani Rd. Flip proper and proceed 0.3 miles to the trailhead on the best.

Hike

Starting on the path map signal close to the restrooms, take the graveled path on their west aspect.

Curve right into a scrubby flatwoods with tall sand pines and moss-draped sand stay oaks above a dense thicket of understory.

Parking area with pavilion and restrooms

Trailhead

After a tenth of a mile, flip left at a T intersection. The panorama opens up, revealing hurricane injury.

Past a skinny display of oak limbs and cabbage palms is a basin of salt marsh with tall pines on its far shore.

Salt marsh

Curve previous sprays of needlerush and a tangle of mangroves. The curve is a continuing, scrubby coastal flatwoods on the within of the loop.

Enter a ghostly stand of pines killed by salt spray, a neighborhood seen past them. Go one other glimpse of needlerush marsh.

Salt-damaged pines

Turning south, a unique broad marsh is revealed, this one with greener edges. At 0.4 miles, make a left on a forest highway paralleling that marsh.

Slowly ascending, it escapes the salt spray injury zone right into a coastal flatwoods with noticed palmetto beneath the pines. Gnarled sand stay oaks and cabbage palms be part of the combo.

Edging the internal marsh

Turning away from the marsh, glimpse one other fringe of the bordering neighborhood at a half mile.

Though wind-damaged, the cover of sand stay oaks lastly closes in. Gnarled, wind-swept branches add visible curiosity.

Among the many sand stay oaks

Turkey oaks sign a shift to sandhills within the northeast nook of the protect. Wiregrass seems in clearings beneath groupings of pines.

Mature sand pines tower over giant turkey oaks the place the understory is smothered in grapevines.

Sandhills

One other shift happens as sand pines infiltrate the sandhills, the path coming into a sand pine scrub.

At 0.7 miles, a T intersection allows a direct return to the trailhead to the best. Flip left as a substitute to stick with the perimeter hike.

Path junction

This ultimate part enters a forest with older sand stay oaks, reaching a Y junction in a tenth of a mile.

Bear left. Scrub plum and prickly pear cactus rise from a patch of wiregrass amid sand pines.

Wiregrass patch

The curious mixture of sandhills and scrub continues across the loop, with sand pines of serious dimension above a narrows within the path.

Making a pointy curve, the path begins west once more, coming into a forest of mature oaks and pines.

Taller pines

The archway of sand stay oaks alerts the tip of this loop. Bear left on the Y to the higher loop and proceed straight forward.

Emerge on the east fringe of the trailhead, reaching your start line at 1.2 miles.

Trailhead as seen from opposite side than start

Return to the trailhead

So as to add a round-trip to Kloisterman Bayou, proceed straight forward to the paved path and switch proper.

A set of stanchions retains automobiles off the path. Past them, curve into the pine flatwoods.

Paved path to the bayou

The western rim of the huge needlerush marsh seen on the primary loop lies past them to the east.

Inside the pines, skim its edge earlier than crossing a highway offering the Woman Scout camp entry to the water.

Paralleling the water

Curving west, draw within reach of a broad waterway, a line of condos on its the far aspect.

A view of Kloisterman Bayou opens up, with a fishing pier boardwalk and mangrove islands on the horizon.

boardwalk foreground and islands on horizon

Waterfront

The paved path reaches the purpose, the place boardwalks join roofed commentary decks with benches, main ever increased.

Climb to its excessive level for a view throughout the islands the place birds collect en masse to roost and nest.

Mangrove islands

Return the identical approach alongside the paved path, a 1.2 mile round-trip again to the Coastal Addition trailhead.

For added miles, proceed to Wall Springs Park via the coastal flatwoods on the paved path. It’s a 1.6 mile round-trip to its parking space.

Wall Springs Park trailhead

Up to now, that’s 4 miles. Add extra by tackling the accessible path system inside that park, as much as one other 1.2 miles.

It begins on the far aspect of the parking space, previous the restrooms and playground, as a boardwalk round Wall Springs itself.

Boardwalk over a natural teal pool of water

Wall Springs Park Uncover the fantastic thing about a historic spring feeding Boggy Bayou and a tremendous panorama from an excellent commentary tower on this largely accessible 1.2 mile coastal circuit.