Bulow Woods Loop

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

Hikers Guide to the Sunshine State book cover

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.