Delnor-Wiggins Nature Trail Beach Walk

CLOSED indefinitely due to damage from Hurricane Ian.

At the northernmost end of Naples, the breezy shores of Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park entice thousands of beachgoers on summer days – especially on weekends.

On weekdays and early mornings and evenings, people who like a stroll on the beach have it all to themselves.

One of the best places along this coast to find massive beds of seashells swept in with the tides, it’s also an excellent birding spot, especially near Wiggins Pass.

An easy nature trail – with an observation tower rising over the mangroves – sits at the far end of the farthest parking area. Add in a walk on the shoreline, and you can start your day off right.

Resources

Resources for exploring the area

South Florida Explorers Guide book cover

Hikers Guide to the Sunshine State book cover

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Overview

Location: Naples
Length: 0.8 mile loop (plus optional 2 mile beach walk)
Trailhead: 26.286711, -81.830422
Address: 11135 Gulfshore Dr, Naples
Fees: $6 per vehicle
Restroom: At the trailhead
Land manager: Florida State Parks
Phone: 239-597-6196

Open 8 AM to sunset. No dogs on beach. Access is closed when parking is full.

Most visitors head for the near shore parking area. Keep going to the end of the road, where the nature trail starts.

Directions

Following Interstate 75 through Naples, exit at CR 846 / Immokalee Rd. Head west for 4.6 miles, crossing US 41. The street name becomes Bluebill Ave. Continue straight ahead for another 0.6 mile to the park gate. It’s about a mile driving inside the park to the parking lot at the north end.

Hike

The Observation Tower Trail at Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park is a 0.3-mile boardwalk through a tangled coastal tropical forest.

Starting near the picnic pavilion, the boardwalk winds its way through these dense woods, leading to an tall tower from which you get a sweeping view of Wiggins Pass and the Gulf of Mexico.

Look down to see the extensive mangrove canopy. Along the trail, the habitat transitions from a cabbage palm hammock into red mangrove swamp and back again.

Coming to a decision point, turn right and head out towards the sea beneath a canopy of sea grapes.

Walking to the end of this trail, you reach the beach and the pass itself, where currents prevent you from swimming.

But the far shoreline is a delight to behold, looking much like a deserted tropical island lined with cabbage palms that are slowly teetering over into the water as erosion of the pass takes its toll.

Rough teal water with palm trees beyond — Rough water at Wiggins Pass

That tip is protected by Barefoot Beach Preserve in Estero (details below).

Follow the shoreline until you can’t anymore – it’s all about the tides and whether they’ll let you around the bend to a little point of sand where boaters sometimes drop anchor.

Many birds gather at the pass – terns and seagulls, stilts and sandpipers. This is the farthest point from where visitors come to crowd the beaches on the weekends. All was still on a weekday morning.

As you come back along the pass, stay close to the water and continue past where you entered the beach.

You’ll notice that once you get beyond the sweep of where the water rushing through the pass affects the shoreline, there are lengthy beds of seashells running perpendicular to the sea.

These are deep, too – dig in! You might find tulip shells or the elusive alphabet cone.

Black skimmers and seagulls line up along the water’s edge to rest, and will part as you draw near, settling farther down the beach.

Coconuts bob up on shore and nestle into the sand, probably refugees from Naples Beach or Sanibel Island.

Look for the crossover leading up into the sea grapes along the dune ridge above. It’s the first place you can get back to the parking area where the nature trail started.

Using it completes a 0.8 mile walk of nature trail and beachfront. If conditions are lovely for more walking on the beach, keep going.

If you continue the full length of the beach up to the south end of the park and back, you can add up to 2 more miles to your exploration of this shoreline.

Bridge between sea grapes from beach — Crossover from beach trail at Delnor-Wiggins State Park

Trail Map

Explore More!

Learn more about Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park

Bench overlooking beach and tropical scene

Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park

Swift tides rolling through Wiggins Pass define the northernmost beach of Naples, a spread of sun-drenched sand at Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park within sight of a line of condos that stretch southward.