Collier-Seminole State Park: Royal Palm Hammock Nature Trail (Blog Hike #245)

Trail: Royal Palm Hammock Nature Trail

Hike Location: Collier-Seminole State Park

Geographic Location: southeast of Naples, FL (25.98833, -81.59405)

Length: 0.9 mile

Difficulty: 0/10 (Easy)

Dates Hiked: May 2008, October 2014

Overview: A short trail exploring the wetlands where the Everglades meet the Gulf of Mexico.

Park Information: https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/collier-seminole-state-park
Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=721654
Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: In southwest Florida, take I-75 to SR 951 (exit 101).  Exit and go south on SR 951.  Take SR 951 south 7 miles to US 41 and turn left on US 41.  Take US 41 east 8 miles to the state park entrance on the right (just past the traffic light for CR 92).  Pay the park entrance fee, then bear left at the first intersection.  The park road ends at a large parking lot featuring a canoe and boat launch.  Park here; the trail begins at an information board on the west side of this lot.

The hike: Located on the western end of the Tamiami Trail (US 41), the land now comprising Collier-Seminole State Park has an interesting human history.  Human habitation began in the early 1800’s when the Seminole Indians arrived from points north and east.  During the mid 1800’s, the US Army made several attempts to drive the Indians out, but unlike the Indians further north, these attempts failed, earning the Seminoles the name “The Unconquered.”  By the 1900’s the Indian Wars had long past, and white settlers arrived.

            In 1924, construction of the Tamiami Trail through the Everglades began, and this land was used as a base camp for construction eastward.  The road, completed in 1928, linked Tampa and Miami, hence the name.  The Collier in the park’s name comes from Barron Collier, a wealthy businessman who helped finance the construction project.  In the park you can still see the Bay City Walking Dredge that was used to build this road.

Bay City Walking Dredge

            After the road was constructed, the former base camp became a county park, and in 1947 the park was turned over to the state of Florida and inaugurated as Collier-Seminole State Park.  Today the park contains several campgrounds, 4 picnic pavilions, a boat ramp that accesses the gulf, and 3 hiking trails.  The 6.5 mile Hiking Adventure Trail provides an interesting walk through swamp forest, but some sections of the trail remain underwater much of the year.  The 3.5 mile Mountain Bike and Hiking Trail travels along the old Marco Road and provides an interesting trip through a combination of hammock, pineland, and marsh.  Though the shortest trail in the park, the 0.9 mile Royal Palm Hammock Nature Trail described here leads through an interesting combination of hammock and marsh to an observation platform overlooking the gulf.

Trailhead: Royal Palm Hammock Nature Trail

            From the information board, the dirt trail immediately plunges into the densely forested canopy, heading west.  This area is known as Royal Palm Hammock because it is a tropical hammock, a densely forested highland area, on which there are a large number of royal palms.  Royal palms are rare in the United States except for here and in some parts of Everglades National Park.  In addition to the royal palms, the forest contains a large number of gumbo limbo and Jamaican dogwood trees with many ferns in the understory.

Hiking through the hammock

            After gradually curving to the left, at 0.2 miles you will arrive at a fork that forms the loop portion of this trail.  To save the observation platform for last, I chose to turn right and use the left trail as the return route.  The trail stays in the hammock for a few hundred more feet but soon arrives at the edge of the marsh where the boardwalk begins.  This wooden boardwalk is a little shaky, but it was still structurally stable upon my visit.

            At 0.4 miles, the spur trail to the observation platform exits to the right.  Turn right and take this boardwalk trail about 200 feet through a mangrove forest, climbing a final set of steps to get to the platform.  From here, you look over a vast tract of grassy wetlands.  Boats appear in the distance, as do wetland birds such as cranes and herons.  Benches give you a comfortable place to observe the activity around you.

View from observation platform

            Retrace your steps back to the main boardwalk and turn right continue around the loop.  Large numbers of leather ferns appear below you in the swamp.  Also in large numbers are insects, which were unusually pesky on the summer evening I walked this trail.  At 0.7 miles, the boardwalk ends, and simultaneously you arrive back at the beginning of the loop.  A short 0.2 mile walk through tropical hammock is all that remains to return you to your car and complete the hike.