River Hammock Trails, Atlantic Ridge Preserve

On former ranchland, Atlantic Ridge Preserve State Park protects nearly 5,000 acres along the east shore of the South Fork of the St. Lucie River.

Built by local volunteers, a trail network with a short stretch along the river bluffs tallies nearly five miles of hiking.

Tropical hammock on the River Trail

Narrow footpaths branch off of multi-use trails, leading to river views and through dense tropical river hammocks.

Different lengths of hikes can be tailored along the trio of loops and spurs. The map at the trailhead showed a 3.5 mile route. The choices we made at trail junctions made ours longer.

Exit sign pointing to road into pine forest

This Exit sign pointed out River Road from the levee

“Trail,” “River,” and “Exit” signpots were critical for catching sudden turns that could use double blazing.

Exploring the outer edge of the trail system we call the River Hammock Trails gave us a 5.8 mile loop.

River view at river level in lush forest

First overlook on the South Fork of the St. Lucie River

Resources

Resources for exploring the area

South Florida Explorers Guide book cover

Hikers Guide to the Sunshine State book cover

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Overview

Location: Stuart
Trailhead: 27.10297, -80.24158
Address: 8120 SE Paulson Ave, Stuart
Fees: $6 per vehicle
Restrooms: Portable toilet at the trailhead
Land manager: Florida State Parks
Phone: 772-546-2771

Open 8 AM to 5 PM. A gate code is necessary to enter the park. You must call the number above in advance to obtain it.

Leashed dogs permitted. The large parking area accommodates horse trailers and has picnic tables. Expect mosquitoes. With the exception of the River Trail and other side trails to the river from the River Hammock Trails, trails are multi-use.

Directions

From Interstate 95 exit 101, Kanner Hwy, follow SR 78 north. Turn right at the second light, Cove Rd. Make an immediate right onto Paulson Ave and turn left in front of Hosford Park to stay on Paulson Ave. The pavement ends in a half mile. Continue through the neighborhood to the park gate, which has a turnaround in front of it. Once through the gate, pay your fee and drive up the park road to the trailhead / picnic area across from some storage sheds.

Hike

The River Hammock Trail begins at a small kiosk adjoining a gap in the fence at the far end of the trailhead past the picnic tables. Follow the shaded forest road.

Making a quick left after a tenth of a mile, it starts following orange blazes, winding through an oak hammock.

Trailhead entrance

At a half mile, a spur trail on the right cuts through saw palmettos to your first glimpse of the South Fork of the St. Lucie River.

Return to the junction to pass the incoming trail and continue straight ahead to a split in the trail. Keep right, walking a corridor cut through saw palmetto.

Palmetto passage

The two routes converge at a forest road in the pine flatwoods. A sign stating “Horses are not allowed past this point” marks the bail-out for the first loop.

Straight ahead you can meet River Road, turn left, and be back at the trailhead for a 1.2 mile hike.

Bridge past the “No Horses” sign

The best is yet to come, so turn right. Past the sign in the pine flatwoods, the footpath descends to a bridge and crosses a small but deep waterway.

Paralleling it downstream, reach a bench tops a bluff where the stream broadens. The flatwoods understory turns scrubby, the trail tunneling into the scrub.

Scrubby flatwoods

Edge around a grassy swale where cabbage palms on the far side have enormous rootballs from prior periodic flooding in the river basin.

The hydrology has changed due to massive subdivisions replacing ranches and farms between the river and US 1.

Mature cabbage palms edge a swale

Wind through a forest of older saw palmetto. As the trail nears the river, it becomes a narrow passage inside a tropical hardwood hammock.

Pass a mucky, bubbling pool around 1.1 miles, likely a spring flowing into the river.

Muddy swamp with giant leather ferns and a spring

Spring in a mudhole

Snaking through tight squeezes in the tropical hammock, the trail can be damp in spots, especially as it edges more open areas where water pools when the river overflows.

Wild coffee and marlberry make an appearance. Watch your step through the section carved across more saw palmetto trunks.

Peeking from the hammock towards the river basin

Passing more floodplain depressions, the trail emerges from this dense river hammock at an oxbow in a stream, the second loop decision point.

A left leads to River Rd by following this stream upstream along its bluffs, and a left on River Rd gets you back to the trailhead in 2.5 miles.

Oxbow junction

For a walk on the river bluff, cross the bridge to your right at 1.3 miles. Just around the corner, white arrows painted on a tree point both ways at a T intersection.

Turn right for another clamber through saw palmettos, emerging at the edge of the river bluffs. Turn left.

Junction with River Trail to right

The best river views of the hike are in this next tenth of a mile. At one spot, the trail virtually charges off the bluff towards the river down a steep slope.

You then scramble atop the bluff again. At 1.5 miles, begin moving away from the river through the dense tropical hammock, the forest floor busy with ferns.

South Fork of the St. Lucie

The River Trail ends a quarter mile after it reaches the bluff by emerging onto a grassy levee above a deep canal. Make a left to follow the levee, the least interesting part of the hike.

A gap in the berm on the left opens up at 2.3 miles. Turn left to follow River Road. A gentle meander through the pine flatwoods, this picturesque two-track showcases the habitat well.

Trail sign pointing away from a long levee

Exit from the Levee Trail

At 2.6 miles, there is a swale directly ahead that the road plunges through towards a tall marker labeled “2”.

The slough was dry on our visit, but by the “Exit” sign pointed left, it obviously isn’t all the time. Curious, we made the left.

Start of the Slough Loop

Following that route led along the slough’s south bank, reaching the T intersection with the arrows by the oxbow at 3 miles.

Turning right per the signs, recross the bridge and make a right to parallel the north bank of the waterway, where lush vegetation thrives.

Bridge over the oxbow

Eventually white stripes on trees mark the well-trodden route, which pops out by the “2” marker north of the swale on River Road.

Unnecessary for us, this scenic walk around the slough added 0.8 mile to our hike.

The upper reaches of the slough

Continue along River Road. It is bounded by marsh drainages which pass under it in culverts. At the junction of roads at the “1” marker at 3.8 miles, continue straight ahead.

While you can follow River Road to the trailhead, we turned off a tenth of a mile past the marker at the “Exit” sign for the northernmost loop.

Causeway portion of River Road

That two-track headed into the pine flatwoods for a slightly longer but much shadier and scenic finish, winding its way to the junction with the “no horses” sign.

Continue straight and stay to the right this time at the split in the trail; the two halves rejoin at the first river spur turnoff.

No horses sign to left in a clearing under oaks

The “No Horses” junction

Pass it by and walk through the river hammock, the trail winding its way out into the more open stands of oaks. At the T with a forest road at 4.6 miles, turn right.

The final stretch is largely a straightaway retracing your initial walk under the oaks to the trailhead, completing the 4.8 mile hike.

Forest road under the oaks

Trail Map

Explore More!

Learn more about Atlantic Ridge Preserve State Park

Broad sand road through sandhill habitat

Atlantic Ridge Preserve State Park Protecting what remains of the forested Atlantic Ridge between the Indian River and the St. Lucie River, this secluded state park is hidden behind subdivisions in Stuart.

Video

Hiking at Atlantic Ridge Preserve State Park

Slideshow

See our photos of Atlantic Ridge Preserve State Park

Nearby Adventures

More worth exploring in this area

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Delaplane Preserve An easy trail through pine flatwoods and mangrove marsh leads to an overlook at the confluence of waterways.

Kiplinger Preserve Tunnel through mangroves after pausing to watch birds in a freshwater wetland in this habitat-rich preserve along the St. Lucie River.