Highlands Hammock State Park is one of the earliest examples of a grass-roots campaign to support the environment. Local citizens acquired the property here and agreed to protect it even before the Florida state park system was established in 1935.
This park near Lake Placid (central-ish Florida just south of Orlando) has several trails that extend from its Main Loop drive. In the western states we tended to see plant biodiversity when hiking from lower elevations to higher ones. Given that Florida is so flat, we were surprised to see a lot of biodiversity, even on trails within a short distance of one another.
We rode our bikes along the Main Loop and pulled off to hike the elevated, single-lane boardwalk Cypress Swamp Trail and the dense jungle-like Fern Garden Trail. I spent most of my time on the Cypress Swamp Trail looking for alligators and on the Fern Garden Trail wondering if there were in any snakes and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one.
We saw neither. Despite my self-induced stress, both hikes were worth doing. One highlight was this amazingly politically (in)correct sign describing the “hammock”.
We missed out on seeing old growth oaks by not hiking the Alexander Blair Big Oak Trail. Next time, Highlands Hammock, next time.
Main Loop
What’s a Hammock? 
Cypress Swamp Trail 
“Here’s Doug in the middle in the swamp on a little tiny boardwalk without a rail.”
Fern Garden Trail 
“A lot more birds in here than on that other loop. It’s kinda fun. Dense. Dense, dense jungle.”
