At Brooker Creek Preserve, the Friends Trail was the first loop established many years before its environmental education center and larger network of trails opened to the east.
Surprisingly quiet despite sharing a fence with a rural subdivision, it’s largely an immersion in pine flatwoods, a pleasure to hike.
Along the loopIn stark contrast to the Wilderness Trails in the southeast corner of the preserve, it’s also a dry hike with a minimum of potentially soggy spots.
Pine needles fallen across the forest floor make for a frequently cushioned treadway on this well-maintained trail.
Cushioned trailNumbered posts provide stops to learn about the preserve and its plant life along the entire loop.
Download their detailed interpretive brochure before you visit, or take advantage of the posted QR codes to activate an audio tour.
First of the interpretive markersResources
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Overview
Location: Tarpon Springs
Length: 1.9 miles
Trailhead: 28.129464, -82.670659
Address: 929 Lora Ln, Tarpon Springs
Fees: Free
Restroom: None
Land Manager: Pinellas County
Phone: 727-453-6800
Open 7 AM to one hour before sunset. No dogs or bicycles permitted.
Hikers may not use the equestrian trail that starts at this trailhead, and horses are not allowed on the hiking trail.
Directions
From US 19 in Tarpon Springs, take East Tarpon Ave east. Within a mile it becomes Keystone Rd. Two miles later, cross E. Lake Rd (CR 611). Continue east 1.5 miles to Lora Lane. Turn right and drive a mile to the trailhead at the gated end of the road.
Hike
Enter through a pedestrian gate in the chain-link fence to follow a straight line forest road west.
Carpeted in pine needles, it adjoins a deep ditch built long ago to drain what was a naturally swampy area to create pastures.
Drainage ditchFeeding into Brooker Creek, the ditch now serves as flood control for adjoining neighborhoods. It’s a deep one, the water in it tannic but clear.
Birdsong becomes the dominant feature of the soundscape. After 0.2 mile, turn right to walk to the observation tower.
Spur trailIt overlooks a re-created wet prairie and cypress strand planted in 1998 on pastureland as mitigation for nearby roadwork.
Returning to the main trail, turn right, passing by the south end of the wetland.
Wetland view from the elevated deckA hard left at Marker 3 carries the trail across a bridge above the ditch. Deep, soft pine duff cushions the footpath through a thicket of mature saw palmetto.
At 0.4 mile, a red-tipped post with a hiker symbol marks the loop junction, with Marker 4 nearby.
Loop trail junctionContinue straight ahead to walk a counterclockwise loop through the pine flatwoods. Red blazing and signage points out the route.
Slash pines and laurel oaks dominate the forest, with clusters of saw palmetto breaking up an otherwise open understory.
Sharp turn before equestrian trail crossingNot far past Marker 5, sweep to the left of and then cross the signposted equestrian trail at 0.6 mile. Signage warns against taking the wrong trail.
Scattered remnants of pine plantation are a reminder the forest was commercially logged through the 1970s.
Trail crossingWinding between the trees, reach Marker 6, denoting a portion of the forest impacted by wildfire in 2018. Grassy patches intermingle with the saw palmetto understory.
Past a small section of footpath slightly raised along a furrow to allow runoff, sweetbay joins the mix of trees, a hint that the habitat is getting damper.
Furrow along the footpathSlip past a natural nursery of young slash pines in a sun-splashed spot, their parents looming high above.
More bay trees green up the understory as southern magnolias, also in the same family, tower among them. Mind the roots poking out of the footpath.
Slash pine nurseryAs your surroundings grow damper, sword fern, cinnamon fern, and marsh fern edge the trail in a tangle.
Trapped between walls of saw palmetto briefly, the corridor wriggles through a dense understory. Red maples shower leaves on a footpath now damp in spots.
Ferns fill a curveA minor ascent leads to a sudden sharp left at 0.9 mile. This time, the waterway the trail parallels may look like a ditch, but it is indeed Brooker Creek.
Rising from wet prairies and cypress domes to the northeast, Brooker Creek flows fifteen miles to Lake Tarpon, nourished by the waters of twelve feeder streams.
Approach to Brooker CreekLike many Florida streams, it’s ephemeral, drying up when rainfall is minimal and surging when it pours.
Its upper reaches are protected by Brooker Creek Headwaters Preserve near Lutz, and you can walk along its outflow to Lake Tarpon at John Chesnut Sr. Park.
Brooker CreekClose to a third of its watershed lies within Brooker Creek Preserve. Few of the trails intersect it. This one follows alongside it briefly.
In less than a tenth of a mile, make a sharp left, ascending into the drier pine flatwoods.
Leaving the creekside walkRed blazes mark the furrowed, cushiony footpath winding between the saw palmetto. Some of the slash pines are giants, their bases mounded in pine needles.
Curving past Marker 8 at the bay trees, follow a straightaway up to Marker 9.
Among the pinesThe understory opens up again on the approach to a second crossing of the equestrian trail at 1.1 miles, laurel oaks and slash pines again dominant.
Yaupon holly also grows here, with bright red berries among its shiny leaves.
Yaupon hollyMarker 12 points out a gallberry shrub. Bluestem palm joins bay trees in sprouting in damp spots.
Another sharp turn at 1.4 miles brings the footpath within sight of the initial ditch you paralleled.
Paralleling the south side of the ditchWalk within sight of the ditch, wiggling past clumps of saw palmetto and cabbage palms among the pines and oaks.
Within a tenth of a mile, a curve leads to the conclusion of the loop. Turn right to exit.
Crossing the bridge over the ditch, return straight along the forest road to the trailhead to complete this 1.9 mile hike.
Bridge over the ditchTrail Map
Explore More!
Learn more about Brooker Creek Preserve
Brooker Creek Preserve The largest nature preserve in Pinellas County, Brooker Creek Preserve protects a mosaic of vanishing habitats while interpreting their value along 6.2 miles of trails.Video
Hiking the Brooker Creek Friends Trail
Slideshow
See our photos from the Brooker Creek Friends Trail
Nearby Adventures
John Chesnut Sr. Park Weaving through floodplain forests and cypress swamps, the boardwalks and trails of John Chesnut Sr. Park add a place to pause for wildlife along a wild shoreline on Lake Tarpon.
Brooker Creek Headwaters With nearly 4 miles of footpaths adjoining the paved Upper Tampa Bay Trail, Brooker Creek Headwaters explores the rise of a waterway that nourishes Lake Tarpon.
- Michael Crotty Bicentennial Park - November 3, 2026
- A.J. Henry Park - November 1, 2026
- Okeeheelee Nature Center Trails - October 22, 2026