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swampy trail Bulow Woods

Bulow Woods Loop

Stretching 5.2 miles through an primordial forest of sluggish, fern-lined waterways, ancient live oaks, magnolias, and cabbage palms, the Bulow Woods Loop is one of North Florida’s most scenic hikes

Bulow Creek State Park  |  Flagler Beach
( 29.433628,-81.140157 )      5.2 miles

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Immersing you in the ancient Bulow Hammock, the Bulow Woods Loop is part of a larger trail system across two adjacent state parks that protect the hammock.

It leads you through an an old-growth forest with massive live oaks draped in resurrection fern, beneath large southern magnolias, towering slash pines, and tall ironwood trees.

While access to this hike is via the entrance road to Bulow Plantation Ruins State Park, the entire loop and its connecting trails is within adjoining Bulow Creek State Park.

The walk through the old-growth forest leads to a panorama of Bulow Creek, a body of fresh water only a few miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean.

Marsh grasses foreground, palms beyond
Bulow Creek

Resources

North Florida Panhandle Explorers Guide book cover 50 Hikes in Central Florida Complete Guide to Florida Wildflowers Hikers Guide to the Sunshine State book cover

Disclosure: As authors and affiliates, we receive earnings when you buy these through our links. This helps us provide public information on this website.


Overview

Location: Flagler Beach
Length: 5.2 mile loop
Trailhead: 29.433628,-81.140157
Address: 3501 Old Kings Rd, Flagler Beach
Fees: Free
Restroom: inside the fee area at Bulow Plantation Ruins State Park
Land manager: Florida State Parks
Phone: 386-517-2084

Although the trailhead does lie outside the park gates, state park hours are 8 AM to sunset. If you park inside the gates, there is a $4 fee payable at an iron ranger.

Restrooms are by the canoe launch and picnic area.

This is a deeply shaded forest, so mosquito protection is a must. Dogs are welcome on this hike.

Trail under large live oak in primordial forest

Bicycles are permitted but the terrain is not optimal for them, especially on the loop.
 
The footpath is often squishy and covered in puddles in places. There are times of year – particularly after heavy rains – when parts of the trail become a wade.
 
Be very aware of your surroundings. On a sultry September morning, we spotted five pygmy rattlesnakes. You’re less likely to see them in the cooler months.


Directions

 
From Interstate 95 exit 278, follow Old Dixie Hwy east for 0.9 mile to Old Kings Rd. Drive north 1.9 miles to the entrance for Bulow Plantation Ruins State Park. Watch for the sign to turn right.
 
The natural surface entrance road, about a half mile long, is one lane with pulloffs, showing off the beauty of Bulow Hammock. The trailhead is on the right at a large sign just before you reach the park gate and pay station.

Hike

Sharing part of the route with the linear Bulow Woods Hiking Trail, the hike begins at this small trailhead in Bulow Hammock.

With rich, dark soil underfoot, you’re walking along the edge of the floodplain forest of Bulow Creek, and you may discover the footpath soggy in places.

Yellow blaze on palm across from large oak with footpath between them The start of the trail is dry, but it doesn’t stay that way


Crossing a bridge, continue through the dense greenery as the trail winds to the left at a double blaze.

It narrows down to a single track through a grassy area. Sweetgum and red maples grow in the floodplain.

Water flowing along the trail The palm hammock can be very wet at times


The air is humid, and a furry coating of sphagnum moss swaddles the bases of the tall cabbage palms.

A half mile along the hike, live oaks rise more than a hundred feet overhead, creating a distinctive canopy. Marsh ferns fill in under the trees.

Bridge in forest with large palm frond to left Bridge over a clear stream


Cross a bridge over a narrow slow-flowing clear stream, its sand bottom sparkling in the sunlight.

The stream picks up speed as it rounds several oxbow bends. As you walk along, take care not to trip over the many roots in the trail.

Dense subtropical forest The understory of the forest is dense


Gigantic live oaks spread their massive limbs, creating the high canopy. The coating of lichen on the trees is so thick it looks like whitewash.

As you walk along, the trail squishes. Cross a small bridge over an ephemeral stream.

Tea-colored stream amid palm trees Tannic stream in the palm hammock


Meet the loop trail junction at 1.5 miles. The sign says “Cisco Ditch via Pine Hammock Trail 0.6” to the right; “Cisco Ditch via Marsh Trail 1.6” straight.

Continue straight ahead along the lime green blazes to start the loop portion of this hike. The turn to the right is the direct route of the Bulow Woods Trail.

Two trail signs and hiker walking forward Junction with the loop


Gaining a little elevation, you enter a hardwood hammock of southern magnolia, scattered hickory trees, and sweetgum.

Cabbage palms are interspersed throughout. Bamboo rises from the forest floor, and the forest crowds closer.

Black and turquiose damselfly perched on a fern A damselfly on a goldfoot fern


Sunlight plays across giant leather ferns sprouting beneath the cabbage palms that emerge from the mossy places between the flow of the waterway.

The trail skirts the edge of the floodplain. The air is filled with an earthy aroma.

Palms in a jungle-like setting The primoridal basin of Bulow Creek


The trail turns uphill, away from the creek and into a forest of pines and young oaks, emerging at a sweeping vista along the wetlands of Bulow Creek.

Tunnel beneath Walter viburnum, their tiny white bell blooms raining down on the footpath. A large southern red cedar stretches its limbs out over a small spot of open water in the savanna.

View of grassy savanna with palms foreground and background Peeking out across the Bulow Creek savanna


After the trail turns away from the salt marsh and into the hardwood hammock, it’s carpeted with a dense layer of loblolly pine needles.

Coontie, a primitive cycad that has vanished from most of Florida, covers the forest floor.

Crooked branches above saw palmetto A touch of scrub forest on high ground


As the trail continues through a patch of scrub and rounds a floodplain forest on the left, it rises up through a cut after 3 miles and comes to a swiftly flowing canal.

This is Cisco Ditch, its sand bottom sparkling in the sun beneath water the color of iced tea. This is the junction with the Pine Hammock Trail. Turn right.

Clear tea colored water at the base of a slope Cisco Ditch


The trail scrambles to a slightly higher elevation. Here, the oaks and palms are extraordinarily old and tall.

They create a high canopy above the pines. As the trail meanders beneath them, you feel shrunken in scale.

Tree canopy of palms, oaks, sweetgum The high canopy overhead


After 3.7 miles, meet the loop trail junction for a second time. You’ve completed the loop.

Turn left and retrace your route through Bulow Hammock, marveling at the massive live oaks and tall Southern magnolia. You reach the trailhead after 5.2 miles.

John looking at a large oak Pausing to marvel at an ancient live oak


Trail Map

Bulow Woods Loop Trail Map


Explore More!

Slideshow

See our photos from the Bulow Woods Loop


Nearby Adventures

Discover more of the grandeur of Bulow Hammock at these nearby destinations

Wet trail in lush Florida palm forest

Bulow Woods Trail

A linear hike between state park day use areas at Bulow Plantation Ruins and Bulow Creek, the Bulow Woods Trail parallels the flow of a freshwater creek near the sea

Fairchild Oak

Bulow Creek State Park

Walk among the ancients in Bulow Hammock, starting with the imposing Fairchild Oak, one of Florida’s largest live oak trees

Bulow Plantation Ruins museum exhibit

Bulow Plantation Ruins State Park

History and natural beauty meet under a dense oak canopy at the ruins of one of Florida’s oldest sugar mills

Tomoka State Park statue

Tomoka State Park

Walk in the footsteps of the Timucua beneath the ancient oaks at Tomoka State Park, where the village of Nocoroco was a thriving community on a bountiful set of rivers

Trail Map (PDF) Official Website

Category: Day Hikes, Hikes, Loop Hikes, North Florida, TrailsTag: Best Hikes, Big Trees, Birding, Botanical, Bulow Creek State Park, Bulow Plantation Ruins State Park, Daytona Beach, Dog-friendly, Favorites, Flagler Beach, Notable Trees, Ormond Beach, Scenic Hikes

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