Fern Forest Nature Center

Established in 1979, Fern Forest protects a Florida that has mostly vanished along this coast.

This urban wilderness area takes you back in time before 1905, when the destruction of natural habitats began with dredging canals to drain the Everglades.

Here, you enter the original floodplain of Cypress Creek before its waters were diverted into ditches for agriculture, changing the hydrology of the landscape forever.

Rich textures of ferns at Fern Forest

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Thirty-four species of ferns, including the endangered and very primitive whisk fern, thrive in this deeply shaded forest.

To understand just how radically different the Broward County of today is from the past, stop in the nature center to see the interactive exhibits before you roam the trails.

Ferns leaning over the Cypress Creek floodplain

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Resources

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Overview

Directions

Hike

Start from the parking lot. A boardwalk leads up to shaded benches next to a kiosk with a map of the park.

The boardwalk crosses a wetlands canal, where giant leather fern reaches skyward from the banks.

Following the boardwalk towards Fern Forest Nature Center

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Rising upward, the boardwalk passes through a thicket of sea myrtle, wild tamarind, and pond apple. Laurel oaks provide the high canopy, while wild coffee rises over your head.

As you approach the nature center, a cypress stump is a reminder of the incredible size of the trees that once lined Cypress Creek.

Continue behind the nature center to an intersection of trails. Turn left to start the Cypress Creek Boardwalk.

Ferns growing profusely in the wetlands

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Cypress Creek Boardwalk

If you only have time for one trail at Fern Forest, this is the one to follow. This boardwalk loop parallels the old channel of Cypress Creek, now hidden under a dense layer of ferns.

Look closely into the forest as you walk, and you’ll see the deeply eroded rocky banks of the creek, undercut with small caves.

Strap ferns growing where a tree leans out of the former bank of the creek

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Surrounded by a tropical understory of marlberry, gum bumelia, and wild coffee, the trail drops down into the woods. Keep alert for the unusual ferns on the forest floor.

In between the usual standbys like giant sword fern, swamp fern, and netted chain, you’ll spy several spleenwort and southern woods fern.

Jogging around a strangler fig, the trail continues through the tangled tropical thicket. Look for giant brake fern poking out from the limestone ledges.

Strap fern cascades from the bases of tree trunks and the dark wood of rotting logs.

Bromeliads fill the trees in the understory

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At 0.3 mile, you reach a trail junction that marks the beginning of the Cypress Creek Loop.

Keep left, passing the bench. The trail drops lower, where giant leather ferns rise from marshy spots, and woods ferns hide the rugged limestone creek bottom.

As you round a corner to the left, there is an umbrella tree in the understory and a garden of ferns clustered above and below a limestone ledge.

Several benches sit under the shade of a gumbo limbo where the trail turns right and crosses high over a cypress-shaded pond.

On the still dark water, water spangles and mosquito fern float.

Rising back up into the tropical hammock from the swamp, the trail turns to the right.

Reaching a vantage point on the far side of the pond, the trail follows the other shore of Cypress Creek upstream past an observation platform with benches.

Where the trail makes a sharp right at a strangler fig, look up into the crook of its trunk for whisk ferns.

A whisk fern in the strangler fig

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After 0.6 mile, you return to the beginning of the loop. Turn left and return to the nature center.

Continue past it to cross a canal to a trail junction with a trail map. To start your walk around this trail system, follow the “Prairie Overlook Trail” sign to the right.

Returning to the trail junction behind the Nature Center

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Wetlands Wander & Prairie Overlook

The broad path parallels the canal, passing a butterfly garden. The footpath of rough surface limestone leads to the beginning of the Prairie Overlook Trail at 0.8 mile.

Turn right, following the limestone and root-studded narrow path into the cool shade of the hammock, where tall slash pines rise from the shallow soil.

Trail junction with Wetlands Wander

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This is a tiny remnant of Florida’s pine rocklands, now one of our state’s our rarest habitats. Keep left at the fork to start the loop section of the Prairie Overlook Trail.

At one mile, a steeply sloped boardwalk rises up to an observation tower. After a visit for the view, follow the trail to the left.

It’s a a short walk out to the edge of a prairie, where Broward County’s largest concentration of gopher tortoises live.

When you emerge from the forest, turn right on the sand road to follow the edge of the prairie.

Turn right at the “Prairie Overlook Trail” sign to re-enter the forest. The trail rises up into a denser forest of older pines, cabbage palms, and laurel oaks.

Tropical hammock near the observation deck

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After you pass under a towering paradise tree, the footpath narrows. When you reach the end of the loop, continue straight, emerging under the power line.

Turn left and parallel the canal to follow the Wetlands Wander along this thin ribbon of wetlands.

Where this trail ends at a locked gate, turn around and return to the trail junction.

Back to the trail junction

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Maple Walk

This final half-mile loop is optional. It’s a swamp walk, so come prepared to get your shoes wet and muddy, or don’t try to tackle it.

At the sign, face the forest and follow the narrow Maple Walk. A slippery slab of limestone drops you down into the deep muck of the cypress slough.

Sign for the Maple Walk

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During the wet summer season, this trail will be entirely under water. At other times, it may be just muddy and slippery and full of puddles.

Follow the red maple blazes into the dark forest, keeping to the right as you wander through a maze of cypress knees.

Along the Maple Walk

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Scattered along the trail are interpretive labels to help you identify the plants.

It is very easy to get lost in the open understory, so keep watching for the next red blaze to find the route through this forest.

When you emerge at the trail junction, continue straight across the Wetlands Walk to follow the boardwalk over the canal.

Return to the nature center, where the boardwalk on the far side of the building leads you out to the parking area.

Cross this canal a second time as you return to the Nature Center

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Trail Map

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Explore More!

Slideshow

See our photos of Fern Forest Nature Center

Nearby Adventures

More worth exploring while you’re in this area.

Tradewinds Park

One of the largest parks near Fort Lauderdale, Tradewinds Park provides a surprising variety of activities, from farm animals and butterflies to miles of trails

Crystal Lake Sand Pine Scrub Natural Area

Winding through a diminutive forest of sand live oak, gopher apple, and sand pines, the accessible 0.4-mile trail through Crystal Lake Natural Area celebrates scrub

Helene Klein Pineland Preserve

In just 13 acres, Helene Klein Pineland Preserve packs in a nice walk through a variety of habitats within an urban forest along busy Hillsboro Blvd

Doris Davis Foreman Wilderness

A pretty patch of tropical hammock hides amid the bustle of suburbia in Parkland in Broward County on the half-mile loop through Doris Davis Foreman Wilderness Preserve