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Sand pines Buncombe Hill

Buncombe Hill Hiking Trail

At Tiger Bay State Forest near Daytona Beach, the 2.1-mile Buncombe Hill Hiking Trail interprets habitats at the location of one of Central Florida’s first Boy Scout camps

Tiger Bay State Forest  |  Daytona Beach
( 29.1660, -81.1622 )      2.1 miles

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Habitats with history: that’s what a walk down the Buncombe Hill Hiking Trail reveals. It starts with its trailhead at Indian Lake.

A kiosk at this recreation area in Tiger Bay State Forest explains its former use as the earliest known Boy Scout camp in the Central Florida Council.

Scouts and their leaders in uniform are shown in various camp activities, and buildings on the site are documented.

Buncombe Hill Tiger Bay Photos on the history kiosk


We confirmed this camp location and patches in the photos against artifacts displayed at the Boy Scout Historical Exhibit at The Casements in Ormond Beach.

But the camp didn’t last, and we don’t know why. A timber company next owned the land, working the pines for turpentine and felling the ancient cypress to cut at a sawmill at this spot.

Commercial forestry persisted until the state of Florida bought the land in 1994 and it became Tiger Bay State Forest.

Buncombe Hill Tiger Bay Dense corridor of oak scrub


Resources

50 Hikes in Central Florida Central Florida Orlando Explorers Guide book cover 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: Daytona Beach
Length: 2.1 mile loop
Trailhead: 29.1660, -81.1622
Fees: $2 per person day use fee
Restrooms: Portable toilet at trailhead
Land manager: Florida Forestry Service
Phone: 386-317-3277

Leashed dogs welcome. The trailhead has a covered picnic pavilion and a boardwalk / fishing pier out onto the lake.

Hunting is permitted in the Rima Ridge Tract. Check ahead regards scheduled hunt dates and wear bright orange if you plan to hike during those dates.

All artifacts along the trail are protected under state archaeological laws. Do not remove any plants or objects you encounter.

Buncombe Hill


Directions

 
From Daytona Beach at Interstate 95, follow US 92 (International Speedway Blvd) west for 4.2 miles. Turn right at the traffic light for Indian Lake Rd. The drive along it to the trailhead is 2.4 miles. After passing county government buildings and a shooting range, the pavement ends and there is a sign-in kiosk for the forest. Sign in and continue north to the intersection with Rima Ridge Rd. Turn west and follow Indian Lake Rd to where it ends at the recreation area. The hiking trail kiosk is on the right as you enter.

Hike

Walk up to the kiosk and grab an interpretive brochure if there is one. Numbered posts along the loop correspond to it.

The trail is blazed with lime green blazes, which can be tricky to spot but the footpath is generally well worn and obvious.

Tiger Bay State Forest Kiosk at the beginning of the hike


The trail is on Rima Ridge, a north-south landform of high ground running through a vast swamp forest, dividing Bennett Swamp from Tiger Bay.

Rains that fall on these upland forests trickle into the swamps and recharge the waterways they feed, which include the Tomoka River.

Buncombe Hill Tiger Bay Scrub atop Rima Ridge


Although you walk through a succession of scrub habitats along this loop, they’ve been altered by past forestry practices.

The trail starts out in a sand pine scrub that has replaced a sandhill habitat. Marker 2 calls your attention to the scrub.

Oak scrub Tiger Bay
Oak scrub along the hiking trail at Buncombe Hill

Entering an oak hammock, keep left at a T intersection. Sand live oaks provide a canopy over the oak scrub, with dense saw palmetto beneath them.

By Marker 3, the habitat shifts to planted slash pines. Beyond them, a bayhead lines the shore of Indian Lake to the northwest.

Buncombe Hill Tiger Bay Planted pines break up the scrub


Passing through another pretty oak hammock, the trail leads from that into a sand pine scrub dense with rosemary as its understory.

This is a small but very immersive rosemary scrub, one of Florida’s rarer habitats, surrounding Marker 6. The sand of the footpath is bright white.

Buncombe Hill Tiger Bay Large Florida rosemary bushes in the understory


A half mile into the hike, pass Marker 7 at a yucca plant. Partly planted pines, partly sand pine scrub, the forest shifts from broad open spaces to dense ones near a bench.

The younger sand pines almost feel like bamboo as their slender trunks are crowded together.

Buncombe Hill Tiger Bay Walking through the scrub forest


Where the trail turns onto a forest road, you enter a clearing. This was once a work camp for turpentine workers tapping the longleaf pines that dominated the old forest.

There is nothing here but a clearing at Marker 10, but two decades ago, artifacts remained. Once the pines were no longer useful for turpentine, the timber company cut them down.

Tiger Bay State Forest Site of the Stillman Turpentine Camp


The trail goes through a gate before crossing Rima Ridge Road at 1 mile. This is the northern tip of the loop.

The footpath turns south and parallels the road through planted pines, dense with small blueberry bushes in the understory.

Tiger Bay State Forest Planted pines on Rima Ridge


Crossing back over Rima Ridge Road, the trail continues through obvious rows of planted pines.

Once you pass Marker 8, natural habitats start seeping in and taking over. Skyblue lupine blooms in spring, and showy plumes of blazing star in the fall.

Buncombe Hill Tiger Bay Skyblue lupine


A bench near Marker 12 sits next to an old forest road and a patch of blueberries.

Heading south, the trail re-enters the sand pine scrub and pulls within sight of the power lines on Rima Ridge Rd.

Buncombe Hill Tiger Bay The trail follows an old road for a stretch


Keep alert for a hiker symbol on a green marker at 1.5 miles, where the trail turns away from the road.

It follows the ecotone between oak scrub and mature pines, passing a turkey oak at Marker 14.

Buncombe Hill Tiger Bay The footpath was unfortunately disked when we hiked this part


Gradually curving into the scrub forest after an intersection of firebreaks, the trail emerges onto the entrance road into Indian Lake Recreation Area.

Turn right and follow the blazes to the trailhead kiosk, then continue down to Indian Lake.
The best views you’ll get of this 66-acre lake are from the observation deck at the end of a long boardwalk over the lake.

Buncombe Hill Tiger Bay Looking north across Indian Lake


Trail Map

Buncombe Hill Hiking Trail Map


Explore More!

Learn about other hikes and outdoor activities at Tiger Bay State Forest

Rima Ridge pines Tiger Bay

Tiger Bay State Forest

Surrounding more than 42 square miles of the Tomoka River watershed, Tiger Bay State Forest provides nearly 20 miles of interpretive and multiuse trails between Daytona Beach, Ormond Beach, and DeLand

Video

Slideshow

See our photos of Tiger Bay State Forest


Nearby Adventures

More worth exploring while you’re in this area.

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

A stream crossing along the trail

Wild Persimmon Trail

At De Leon Springs State Park, the Wild Persimmon Trail is a 4.4 mile wild walk along the edge of habitats in the floodplain forest created by the springs

Lake Woodruff NWR

Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge

Six miles of trails meander through wide open spaces preserved for wintering waterfowl at 21,500-acre Lake Woodruff NWR along the St. Johns River.

Ormond Memorial Gardens Vietnam Veteran

Ormond Memorial Gardens

Spilling across the Atlantic Coastal Ridge, Ormond Memorial Gardens leads you into a contemplative world mere steps from a major highway

Trail Map (PDF) Hunt Dates Official Website

Category: Central Florida, Day Hikes, Hikes, Loop Hikes, TrailsTag: Birding, Botanical, Daytona Beach, De Leon Springs, Deland, Dog-friendly, Florida State Forests, Ormond Beach, Picnic, Wildflowers

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