South of downtown St. Augustine, Canopy Shores Park is hidden deep within the massive Canopy Shores subdivision.
It preserves a tiny corner of the original forest canopy that once graced the western shore of the Matanzas River.
Old growth live oaksAlthough it has river frontage, this 33 acre coastal park never shows you the waterfront.
Instead, it explores a hardwood hammock with ancient oaks and pines via an easy paved loop with two short boardwalks.
Boardwalk along the loopResources
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Overview
Location: St. Augustine
Length: 0.6 mile loop
Trailhead: 29.81216, -81.29944
Address: 804 Christina Dr, St. Augustine
Fees: Free
Restroom: At the trailhead
Land manager: St. Johns County
Phone: 904-209-0333
Open 7 AM to dusk. Leashed pets welcome. No glass containers permitted in park.
Directions
From Interstate 95 south of St. Augustine, take exit 305 and follow SR 206 east 2 miles to US 1. Turn left and continue 2.4 miles north to Shores Blvd. Turn right and drive 2 miles east through the subdivision to Christina Dr. Make a right. The park is on the right after 0.6 miles.
Hike
Park near the picnic pavilion and start your walk at Canopy Shores History interpretive panel adjoining it. Mile markers along the loop go clockwise.
Follow the paved path along the edge of the parking area past the pavilion. Enter the woods at the second history panel, descending through a curve.
Descent on the paved pathThe first of a fleet of exercise machines along the path sits beneath a massive oak along a retention pond.
Losing elevation at a gentle pace, pass a .11 mile post across from a bench and cross a low footbridge.
Mile postSnaking into the hammock, walk by cedars, oaks, and magnolia with a dense understory.
Curve pass a leg press and a bench before the .22 mile post.
The attention-getting mileages continue like this around the entire loop.
In the hammockThe high canopy of Canopy Shores asserts itself, ancient oaks draped in streamers of Spanish moss.
Another wide bridge crosses an ephemeral stream as the trail curves east into a straightaway through the forest.
The sky lightens on the left on the approach to a cove in the Matanzas River, but it is never visible from the trail.
BoardwalkA mild descent past the next exercise station and bench leads to a break in the canopy with tall cabbage palms overhead.
Just beyond milepost .33, a boardwalk begins. Traverse a low area in the heart of the hammock.
Where it ends, a narrow ditch half-hidden by vegetation parallels the path, funneling water towards the river.
Coastal pinesThe next curve reveals pines rising above mounds of grapevine near the shoreline of the river.
The water is out there, but you can’t see it.
Curving over a footbridge and past more exercise stations, enter the showiest part of the hammock after milepost .44.
High canopyAnchored by enormous live oaks, a green canopy hovers high above this corner of the forest, with palms below.
Yaupon holly grows thickly between the magnolias and oaks.
A side path behind the next exercise station pops out at the private boating facility for the community, the one place to glimpse the Mantanzas River beyond their buildings.
Side pathPassing milepost .55 amid towering oaks and magnolias, cross a boardwalk through a beautiful stretch of forest gleaming in a hundred shades of green in the morning sun.
The paved path now climbs, quickly making up the elevation it lost as it ascends into a drier part of the hammock.
Emerge at the trailhead between the playground and the picnic pavilion at 0.6 mile.
Ascent to trailheadTrail Map
Explore More!
Video
A walk through Canopy Shores Park
Slideshow
See our photos from Canopy Shores Park
Nearby Adventures
Fish Island Preserve Only a few miles from downtown St. Augustine, a set of well-marked paths explore shady hammocks and expansive salt marshes on the grounds of a former orange plantation. 
Anastasia State Park Anastasia State Park is windswept and sandy, with an arc of beach that stretches four miles to Matanzas Inlet, curving in on itself to face the ancient city of St. Augustine. 
Matanzas State Forest A system of linear and loop trails connected to a primitive campground offers scenic views of flatwoods, hammocks, and marshes alongside the Matanzas River.
Moses Creek Conservation Area Follow a system of wide trails across pine forests, hammocks, scrub, and sandhill habitats to a scenic overlook and campsite along tidally-influenced Moses Creek.
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