John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park: Wild Tamarind and Mangrove Trails (Blog Hike #237)

Trails: Wild Tamarind and Mangrove Trails

Hike Location: John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

Geographic Location: Key Largo, FL (25.12528, -80.40654)

Length: 1 mile

Difficulty: 0/10 (Easy)

Dates Hiked: May 2008, October 2014

Overview: A pair of short interpretive trails featuring two very different habitats.

Park Information: https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/john-pennekamp-coral-reef-state-park
Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=940592
Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: The park is located on the gulf (south) side of US 1 at mile marker 102.5.  Enter the park, pay the park entrance fee, and park in the large parking lot in front of the Visitor Center.

The hike: Most visitors to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park will end up on a boat at some point during their visit, heading for the coral reef located some 6 miles offshore.  Indeed, largely due to the advocacy of John Pennekamp, an assistant editor of the Miami Herald, and Dr. Gilbert Voss, a researcher at the Marine Institute of Miami, the park was formed in 1960 in order to protect this reef.  While this park is a great place to view this reef, the reef actually stretches for over 150 miles from Biscayne in the northeast to beyond Key West, making it the third largest coral reef in the world.

            The reef is accessible only by boat, but there are several options to see the reef.  In addition to ramps for private boats, the park offers snorkeling tours and features a glass-bottom boat from which one can see the reef and the fish that inhabit it.  My trip on the glass-bottomed boat was a memorable experience, as I saw first-hand interesting forms of life on the ocean floor I would never have been able to see otherwise.

            In addition to the reef, the park also features several picnic areas and a pair of man-made beaches.  Unlike other parts of Florida, the beaches here are man-made because the reef disrupts waves that would otherwise wash sand ashore.  The park also features a pair of nature trails.  The trails would not make a destination by themselves, but they provide a nice side excursion to the main attraction.  Perhaps the best idea is to arrive early for the boat tour to avoid the long lines and use the intervening time to grab a snack or explore the nature trails in the park.

Trailhead: Wild Tamarind Trail

            The first nature trail, the Wild Tamarind Trail, begins across the main park road from the Visitor Center at a large information board.  This 0.5 mile loop trail explores a tropical hammock, an area of high ground (relatively speaking) covered with dense tropical forest.  A large number of interpretive signs give information about the plants and animals found around you.  Hammocks such as this one used to be very common in the Florida Keys, but development has caused their number to dwindle, and this hammock is one of the few undisturbed remnants we have left.

Wild Tamarind Trail

            Where the trail forks to form the loop, I chose to turn right and hike the loop counterclockwise.  The entire trail is paved with gravel and lined with interesting rocks.  You will see a few wild tamarind trees for which this trail is named, but the largest trees in the forest are gumbo limbo trees, easily recognized by their red peely bark.  On my hike, every 6 or 7 steps sent a brown lizard scurrying before me into the forest along the trail.  All too soon, you will close the loop and return to the trailhead.

Brown lizard on log

            To get to the Mangrove Trail, follow signs for the boat tours to arrive at the main park road, turn left, cross a wooden vehicle bridge using the sidewalk, and walk another 300 feet to a large blacktop parking area.  Turn right and proceed to the far (south) end of the parking lot where the boardwalk Mangrove Trail begins.

            This boardwalk has definitely seen its better days, as many of the planks are visibly loose and many others creak under your feet.  While the boardwalk forms a loop with a wooden observation tower at the far end, on my visit the outer section of the boardwalk was closed for (much needed) repairs, so I was only able to walk part of the boardwalk. 

Boardwalk through mangrove tunnel

            As the name suggests, this boardwalk takes you through a mangrove forest, a short tree with broad leaves that lives near where saltwater meets freshwater.  Very few plants can live in this harsh transition environment, so the mangroves form a green wall around the trail as they do many of the boating channels leading out of the park.  Interpretive signs tell about the differences between red and white mangroves and give some information about how mangroves survive in the transition zone where other plants cannot.

Walk as much of the boardwalk as you can.  Near the trailhead the water is shallow and the mangroves grow taller making for some nice shade, but the outer section of the boardwalk passes through deeper water and shorter (above water) mangroves, making for a warm sunny hike.  Enjoy this unique trip through a dense mangrove forest and then retrace your steps to the visitor center and complete the hike in time for your boat to depart.