Wright Lake Loop Trail
Posted By auntie on January 7, 2018
4.87 miles; Sumatra, FL
My first actual hike in Florida, and in 2018, was in the Apalachicola National Forest. Kind of monotonous and very very flat. Compared to the weather in Southern Connecticut, it’s just nice to see green instead of snow!
Wildflower
Wildflower
Wildflower
Wildflower
Wildflower
Wildflower
And there were lots and lots of wildflowers blooming. In January! Such a treat. Of course I have no idea what any of them are… Liatris? Lupines? Asters?
Saw Palmetto
Most of what I walked through was pine flatlands that had been through a recent burn. It was just very tall pine trees (longleaf pines?) They were all charred to about 10 feet up, and the undergrowth looked like ground cover. Except for the saw palmettos, which were everywhere.
The Balance Beam Bridge
This bridge is one of the main features of this trail… the balance beam bridge. Long, narrow, and over an alligator-infested swamp. Just kidding about the alligators. I’m pretty sure. Fortunately there’s a cable hand-rail.
Replanted Pines
I will never get used to the sight of these apparently replanted pine forests. Weird.
Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Nest Sites
See the broad white stripes on those trees? They mark nest sites for the endangered red cockaded woodpecker. According to the National Geographic website:
The Apalachicola National Forest has the world’s biggest population of endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers; broad white bands painted around the trunks of longleaf pine trees indicate nest clusters.
Bridge… closed?
This bridge was almost at the end of the trail. It’s a loop trail. I was afraid I’d have to go all the way back, so I decided I’d try the bridge in spite of the sign. Turned out, there was nothing particular that I would have considered dire enough to close the bridge… it was a little bit rickety, a little bit slippery, but closed? Nah.
You can find out more about the Wright Lake Loop Trail from the website of the Apalachicola National Forest. And as always, click on the above image for details and to download the gps track.
[…] rejoining the logging road, the environment changed again, and looked a lot like the hike I did at Wright Lake in Tate’s Hell State Forest—lots of longleaf pines with an understory of saw palmetto. So […]