A backbone for making longer loops at Emerson Point Preserve, the North and South Trails connect the Portavant Mound Trail, Tower Trail, and Terra Ceia Trail.
With a firm crushed limestone surface, these winding trails are popular for cyclists, as they also tie to the paved bike path along the park road.
Bench along the North TrailSome signage and maps reflects their origin as the North and South Restoration Trails, while others have simplified the names.
Nearly twenty five years have passed since we saw the initial plantings along them replacing invasive Brazilian pepper.
Raccoon on the edge of a restored wetlandHealthy wetlands, tangled mangroved forests, and a dense tropical hammock are the delightful result.
Multiple trailheads access for this pair of trails. The two trails almost touch in front of the old Pioneer Trail sign, the direct gateway to the Portavant Mound.
Start of the North Trail near the Portavant MoundResources
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Overview
Location: Palmetto
Length: 2 miles
Trailhead: 27.531967, -82.625950
Address: 5801 17th Street W, Palmetto
Fees: Free
Restroom: At the nature center
Land manager: Manatee County
Phone: 941-748-4501
Open sunrise to sunset. Leashed dogs welcome. Cyclists welcome on these trails but restricted from some connecting trails. Prepare for mosquitoes, which can be intense.
Directions
From Interstate 275 south of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, exit onto US 19. Drive south into Palmetto. Turn right onto SW 10th St. After 2.5 miles, cross a small bridge onto Snead Island. At the sign for the preserve, turn right on Tarpon Rd, then left at the stop sign. Follow the road as it narrows and enters the park gates. Turn left at the first turnoff. The Pioneer Trail trailhead is on the left as soon as you enter the one-way loop to the nature center. It’s a small lot with limited parking, so keep going around the loop if spaces aren’t available here, where there is another South Trail sign at the start of a quarter mile loop along it.
Hike
Walk past the large boulders and bench by the Pioneer Trail sign. Straight ahead, the 0.9 mile loop around the Portavant Mound complex is now called the Portavant Mound Trail.
Make a left within sight of the picnic pavilion in the woods to enter a tunnel of trees near the trailhead. Emerge at a wetland adjoining the park road.
Approaching the road crossing to the North TrailCross the park road to begin the North Trail. Roomy but hemmed in by a dense understory of cabbage palms beneath the pines, the pathway makes sinuous curves through the forest.
Reach a T junction. The quickest route to the Tower Trail is to the left. Your hike will return to this point, so turn right first.
T junctionUnder the shade of the oaks, a bench looks out across a mangrove-lined pond. After a meandering curve, pass another bench under the oaks along a straightaway.
Reaching the junction for the North Trail Loop, bear right. Water glimmers behind the trees.
North Trail Loop junctionIt’s revealed to be a large marsh-edged pond as the trail swings around it and parallels the park road. A bench provides a perch for birding.
Circling the pond, pass a side trail on the right from a walk-in entrance to the preserve for neighborhood residents. The young forest crowds more closely, providing ample shade.
PondAt 0.4 mile, meet the turnoff for the north end of the Terra Ceia Trail, a 1.2 mile linear hiking-only path through the bayfront mangrove forest.
Skip this access point and go around the curve to complete the North Trail Loop. Walk straight ahead, passing the bench on the mangrove pond.
Mangrove pond overlookReach the initial T intersection with the Tower sign at 0.6 mile and continue straight ahead towards the tower.
Walking beneath strangler figs and cabbage palms, emerge within sight of the park road briefly.
Walk through a palm hammockSwing closer to the mangrove channel, a scrim of groundsel bush and sea grapes providing a buffer. Cabbage palms tower over one curve.
A cedar leans over the North Trail where it emerges at the parking area for the Tower Trail at 0.8 miles. Continue along the fence to the trail junction.
Access point for the Tower TrailThe Tower Trail is a 0.4 mile loop around a sizable mound topped with an observation tower overlooking Tampa Bay. It also provides a central point of access for the Terra Ceia Trail.
Emerson Point Tower Trail Discover a unique perspective of Terra Ceia and Tampa Bay from an observation tower crowning a mound purposely built in the mangrove swamps by an ancient civilization.To continue your loop on the North Trail, stick with the curve around the rest of the parking area. Cross the park road to the paved bike path and turn right.
Follow the bike path briefly to reach a boardwalk into the mangrove forest. Duck under low-hanging branches as it zigzags through dense growth.
Boardwalk off the bike pathAn observation deck allows for a closer look at the interior waterway on the island. Return to the bike path, making the next left onto a limestone trail.
It sweeps through a hammock of oaks and cabbage palms before reaching a crosswalk to the north side of the park road a mile into the hike. Cross the road to continue.
Eastbound view of paralleling the park roadParallel the park road behind a median of trees, arriving at the Terra Ceia trailhead at 1.2 miles.
It provides the main access for the Terra Ceia Trail and has a launch to explore the mangrove channels that parallel it, as well as a picnic pavilion. The North Trail ends here.
An alternative to taking the South Trail back to the start of this hike is to join the Terra Ceia Trail at this end. It’s a scenic narrow hiking only walkway on a sometimes-rough berm.
Emerson Point Terra Ceia Trail An immersion in mangrove forest and numerous overlooks on Terra Ceia Bay elevates the rugged Terra Ceia Trail to the best of the hikes at Emerson Point Preserve.Follow its full length 1.2 miles to the access point at the North Loop, then return from there to the Pioneer Trail trailhead for a 2.6 mile hike.
To continue to the South Trail, cross the park road at the crosswalk and rejoin the bike path compass west.
Cross the road to walk along the pondPass a bench overlooking a broad pond with wetland shallows favored by wading birds. Within a tenth of a mile reach the start of the South Trail.
It begins by a bird blind and bench and starts a long circle around the wetlands along the edge of the pond, one of the better birding spots in the preserve.
Start of the South TrailReaching the far side of this pond, the marsh comes up to the edge of the trail. Curve through the oak canopy for a glimpse of a much smaller pond.
At 1.8 miles, reach a junction for a fork in the South Trail. Either option works to get you back to the trailhead.
Straightaway to the Pioneer Trail trailheadStraight ahead, the pathway tunnels in a straight line under the live oaks to reach the Pioneer Trail trailhead at 2 miles.
The trail to the right continues under the oaks, quickly emerging at the parking area near the nature center at the South Trail sign.
South Trail access near the nature centerTaking this option gives you a chance to start the route we describe for Portavant Mound Trail, if you haven’t done so already, to add another 0.9 mile loop.
Emerson Point Portavant Mound Trail Delve deeply into Florida's past by exploring an ancient complex of mounds fronting the Manatee River at Emerson Point Preserve. If you’ve already hiked it, simply follow the nature center road around to its exit to finish your hike of the North and South Trails at the Pioneer Trail trailhead.
Cyclists can see the mounds via a level access path to the Manatee River from the Pioneer Trail trailheadTrail Map
Dark Blue: Tower Trail. Green: Terra Ceia Trail. Yellow: Beach Trail.
Explore More!
Learn more about Emerson Point Preserve
Emerson Point Preserve Where the Manatee River meets Tampa Bay, Emerson Point Preserve has a network of trails around a complex centered on one of Florida's most ancient temple mounds, the Portavant Mound, near Bradenton.
Emerson Point Beach Walk Trail Pick a path through a tangle of mangrove roots on this wild shoreline where Terra Ceia Bay and the Manatee River mingle their waters at Tampa Bay. 
Emerson Point Portavant Mound Trail Delve deeply into Florida's past by exploring an ancient complex of mounds fronting the Manatee River at Emerson Point Preserve. Slideshow
See our photos from the North and South Trails at Emerson Point
Nearby Adventures
De Soto National Memorial Interpreting the landing of Spanish conquistador Hernando De Soto, De Soto National Memorial occupies a peninsula where the Manatee River flows into Tampa Bay. 
Robinson Preserve Edging Tampa Bay, the vast sweep of Robinson Preserve is a puzzle of natural and restored habitats circled by more than ten miles of mixed-use trails. 
Madira Bickel Mound State Archaeological Site One among many intentional high points constructed by ancient peoples along the edges of Tampa Bay, this protected shell mound and adjacent burial site are what remain of a much larger complex at Terra Ceia.
Terra Ceia Preserve State Park Home to many wading birds, Terra Ceia Preserve State Park is an aquatic preserve protecting the ragged northern shoreline of the island of Terra Ceia.
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