With a surprising amount of habitat diversity for such a short stretch of trail, the hike between Chuluota Wilderness and the Joshua Creek trailhead of Bronson State Forest is a very scenic one.
Hiking this section southbound gives the distinct feeling of going downhill, as habitats transition from the high, dry scrub down through pine forests and into the floodplains of two creeks.
Sand pine scrub in Chuluota WildernessWell-designed and well maintained, this is a very pleasant section of the Florida Trail that’ll have you smiling over the natural beauty around every bend.
One sloppy part near a property boundary virtually guaratees wet feet, but don’t let that dissuade you from this excellent linear hike.
Boardwalk in Bronson State ForestOur Florida Trail Books & Guides
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Overview
Location: Chuluota
Length: 3.9 miles linear
Trailhead: 28.623217, -81.063275
Fees: Parking fee at Joshua Creek
Restroom: None
Land manager: Seminole County Natural Lands, phone 407-665-2211
Land manager: Bronson State Forest, phone 407-971-3500
Open dawn to dusk. Leashed pets welcome. Hunting is permitted in Bronson State Forest, so check on hunting dates and wear bright orange. Joshua Creek campsite must be reserved.
Hunting is not permitted in Chuluota Wilderness. To avoid walking through a hunting zone, do a round-trip hike to the park boundary from the Chuluota Wilderness trailhead, returning on the East Loop or West Loop.
Directions
From CR 419 (Chuluota Road) at the south end of Chuluota, turn onto Lake Mills Rd. Drive 0.8 miles to Fort Christmas Rd. To drop a car at the end of the hike, follow Fort Christmas Rd south for 5.8 miles. Turn left on Philips Rd to the sign for Bronson State Forest. Take the jeep track to the left of the sign. It ends up at the trailhead. Pay the day use fee and leave the receipt on your dashboard. To get to the start of this hike, return to Fort Christmas Rd and follow it back up to Lake Mills Rd. Turn right. Continue 1 mile to Curryville Rd. Turn right. Follow it 2.5 miles to the trailhead on the right, just before the road ends.
Hike
Starting at the Chuluota Wilderness Area trailhead, which has a picnic table in the shade by the trailhead, the footpath starts off in a oak hammock yielding quickly to sand pines.
After you cross a forest road used as an equestrian loop through the preserve, enter a forest of young sand pine scrub.
Sand pine scrubWithin a quarter mile, the pines are much taller, with mosses and lichens growing riotously on tree limbs and across the forest floor.
The large rounded shrubs are Florida rosemary, and there are enough of them to refer to this spot as a rosemary scrub beneath the sand pines.
Rosemary scrubCrossing a forest road sometimes used as a firebreak, enter a younger scrub forest, and beyond it, more rosemary scrub.
The trail twists and winds between the shrubs as it loses elevation, heading towards a wall of pines, passing a gopher tortoise burrow.
Younger scrub forestThe habitat transitions from scrub into hardwood hammock with saw palmetto, cabbage palms, and oaks, with intrusions of sand pine scrub.
Meet the junction with the East and West Loops at a forest road used as part of both of them. Continue straight ahead on the orange blazes that mark the Florida Trail.
Three-way trail junctionDescending through hickory and water oaks, southern magnolia and a smattering of sweetgum, walk along the edge of a bayhead in the shade. Watch for double blazes at the sharp turns.
After a mile, make a sharp left into a tunnel of scrub oaks, narrow and twisting, with a canopy close overhead. The trail seems to double back, snaking through the thickness of the vegetation.
Twisting through an oak hammockWith bayhead swamp in the distance, the trail descends from the scrub and a mixed hardwood forest dense with hickories, rich in texture and color.
Cross a long low boardwalk through a boggy area under tree cover and emerge to draw close to a boundary fence along a ranch.
Low boardwalkA plank boardwalk crosses a small tributary before the footpath edges close to a paralleling forest road that’s become a swamp.
Meet the property boundary between Chuluota Wilderness Area and Bronson State Forest at a nice rest stop, a covered bench at 1.7 miles.
Boardwalk over tributaryPass through the fence on the right to enter Bronson State Forest. Join an old forest road that has also turned into a swamp.
Use the beaten path into the trees to avoid the worst of the mucky spots in the floodplain, with frequent twists and turns.
Gloppy swampAt 2 miles, reach the junction with the County Line Trail. This blue-blazed trail leads to the white-blazed River Trail that crosses the entire forest at a diagonal.
For this hike, pass it by and stay on the orange-blazed Florida Trail straight ahead. Crossing a forest road, the trail rises up into an upland area where tall skinny pond pines dominate.
County Line Trail junctionCurving above the floodplain, enter a hardwood hammock before dropping into a mushy bayhead area with a boardwalk. The forest floor is full of roots to trip over.
A lengthy boardwalk lifts the trail slightly above the floodplain of marshy Buscombe Creek. Plants poke through the boardwalk, making footing a bit tricky.
Approach to Buscombe CreekAfter the boardwalk ends, footing is a little difficult through the hardwood forest. This bit of forest sits between two creek basins that sometimes overflow.
Crossing an old sand road that is part of the equestrian trail system, reach a sign that says Joshua Creek Campsite at a boardwalk.
Joshua Creek CampsiteAt 3.1 miles, the campsite is down a short side trail to the right, not far from its water source. It has a picnic table and fire ring and must be reserved.
The boardwalk is slippery. It ends briefly at an island in the middle of the Joshua Creek floodplain and resumes, ending soon after you cross the tannic, sand-bottomed creek.
Joshua Creek floodplainClimb up a slope through a saw palmetto thicket into a pine savanna, where scattered longleaf pines shoot up through the dense saw palmetto and prairie grasses.
Dropping through a small drainage, rise into an old pasture dotted with colorful wildflowers, including paw-paw and candyroot.
Pine savannaAs the trail gains a little elevation, the habitat shifts to sandhills. Reach the intersection with the blue blaze to the Joshua Creek trailhead at 3.7 miles. Turn right.
The blue-blazed trail zigzags between the stands of oak trees, attempting to optimize the shady spots between the turkey oaks. Once pasture, this is sandhill reclaiming its own.
Complete your hike by emerging from the forest through the gap in the fence at the Joshua Creek trailhead at 3.9 miles.
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