Seen on your GPS or a satellite photo, Corbett WMA appears to be wetlands, wetlands, and more wetlands.
But this popular wildlife management area west of West Palm Beach is also a place of superlatives. Trees grow to enormous heights and views are often panoramic.
Vast prairies form the backbone of Corbett WMAIt includes cypress strands, lush pine savannas, and vast prairies that seem to go on forever, all painted with colorful wildflowers in every season.
Encompassing part of the original sheetflow of the Everglades, Corbett echoes the beauty of its big cousin, Big Cypress, with its variety of wet habitats.
Sandra taking trail measurements through Hole-in-the-Wall (Jack Hailman)Our Florida Trail Books & Guides
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Overview
Location: Royal Palm Beach
Length: 11.7 miles linear
Trailhead: 26.855395,-80.302809
Fees: $3 per person, $6 per vehicle to park in Corbett WMA. No fee applies to Ocean to Lake hikers backpacking through the preserve.
Restroom: At Corbett trailhead
Land manager: Florida Fish & Wildlife
Phone: 561-624-6989
Open 24 hours. Leashed dogs welcome. The trailhead at Corbett has a covered picnic pavilion and composting toilets.
Corbett is busy with hunters during the fall and spring hunting seasons. They travel in large off-road vehicles called swamp buggies.
Check hunt dates in advance of your trip to avoid general gun (deer) season. If hiking during any hunting season, wear an orange vest or orange pack cover for safety’s sake.
Directions
The western end of this hike, Little Gopher Campsite, can only be reached by backpacking in from DuPuis Reserve or from the Corbett trailhead for Hungryland Boardwalk.
From Interstate 95, follow Northlake Blvd west for 12 miles to its end. From the Florida Turnpike, take Okeechobee Blvd west 1 mile to Jog Rd. Turn right and drive north to the Beeline Hwy. Turn left and follow SR 710 for 1.2 miles to where it meets Northlake Blvd. Turn left and drive 8.9 miles to the end of the road. At the end of Northlake Blvd, turn right onto Seminole-Pratt-Whitney Rd. Almost immediately you see the Corbett WMA sign. Continue north as the road becomes a hard-packed dirt road; keep to the left at the fork. After 3 miles, reach the “Everglades Youth Camp” sign. Stop at the self-service pay station and drop off your entrance fee. Drive another half mile. Past the lake, take the right fork towards the Youth Camp. Just before its gates make a left at the “Hungryland Boardwalk” sign and follow the one-lane road down to where it ends in a clearing ringed by picnic tables.
Hike
Leaving Little Gopher Campsite, the trail rounds a deep depression filled with greenish water before reaching a broad sand road where deep spots cradle pools of water.
Follow the blazes around the big puddles. They lead down the road briefly, passing several sloughs filled with water lettuce and large mounds that are part of the archaeological site.
The Big Gopher Mound Complex includes the unusual ridges, mounds, and slender canals surrounding Little Gopher Campsite.
This canal dates back several thousand yearsBy a quarter mile, the trail makes a sharp left into the pine forest away from an intersection of forest roads. Turning right, head into a cypress strand and then a pine forest.
Passing a deer stand after rambling down a corridor edged with saw palmetto, continue beneath the pines.
Zigzag through a cypress strand filled with young trees laden with bromeliads. At a half mile, a stream drains the strand; step over or wade through it, depending on the depth.
Wet pine flatwoods (Jack Hailman)In the next cypress strand, notice the open area off to the right, a prairie in the distance.
Emerging from the strand, enter a mixed pine-palm forest. Making a sharp right onto a forest road, join a berm at the next double blaze.
The trail pops on and off the berm while skirting deep, watery spots in the road below.
The prairie is now evident off to the right, beyond the canal below this berm. It’s a tight corridor for backpacks.
At the Road 3 sign at 0.9 mile, the trail continues straight. Two roads go left; don’t follow them.
Dropping through a deep dip in the road that can easily fill with water, the road heads left, but the trail continues straight ahead along a shady corridor.
Swampy forest road (Jack Hailman)The berm and ditch remain on the right. At a crazy intersection of roads at 1.1 miles, turn left and look for the next orange blaze.
Enter the forest on the right, tall pines swaying above the cabbage palms. When the trail pops onto the road again, follow it to the right.
Veering to the right on a forest road into a broad, open savanna, the character of the trail changes to a mowed, grassy footpath.
It’s clear that this area floods at times, given the bog buttons and sundews along the footpath. Mid summer and late fall, the prairie is ablaze in a palette of wildflowers.
Playing tag with the forest road for the next quarter mile, the trail crosses it often to showcase one view or another before entering a forest of tall pines.
Around 2 miles, turn south, reaching a junction of many forest roads. Continue straight ahead up and over a small berm between the palmettos.
Main CanalA sturdy footbridge crosses Main Canal. Lotuses float on the surface of the water. This is one of the reliable water sources along the trail.
Beyond the bridge, it’s like walking into another world. Descend into a forest of pines with an open understory that seems to go on forever.
This pine savanna has a canopy to keep you cool. The trail rounds clumps of saw palmetto. The beauty is almost surreal.
Open prairie along the forest edgeBy 2.5 miles, a cypress dome marks the center of an open prairie, edged by this seemingly infinite forest.
As the trail nudges along the edge of the prairie, there is only a thin screen of vegetation between footpath and open grassland.
Leaving the prairie, head back into the pine savanna. The trail emerges at South Grade at 3 miles, entering a more open savanna on its east side.
South GradeSlip between perfectly round prairies, easing along their shores. There are many along the remainder of today’s hike. Each has a small cypress dome or tree island in the middle.
In this low wet ground, the tracks of swamp buggies make deep impressions. Cross a broad sand road, entering a younger pine savanna with little shade.
At 3.5 miles, older pines dominate, with heavy pine duff underfoot and an understory of cabbage palm. Cross two sand roads in quick succession before reaching a third.
Cardinal wild pine bromeliad (Sue Turner)Enter a cypress strand where colorful bromeliads cling to the trunks of slender cypress, a precursor to the Hole-in-the-Wall.
Leaving the strand, make an abrupt left into a stand of pine trees. After a right past a forest road into more pine flatwoods, cross the next forest road at 3.9 miles.
Jog into the Hole-in-the-Wall. “The Wall” is a long, linear north-south cypress strand in Corbett. Walking through it is almost always a wade.
Emerging from the east side of the strand, cross a messy swamp buggy road and rise into pine savannas, transitioning to tall slash pine with distant cypress domes.
The Hole-in-the-Wall (Marilyn Beckley)At 4.1 miles, rounds a large open prairie with a smattering of shade cast on the footpath from the pines above.
Passing two more similar prairies – all containing water under drought conditions – the trail keeps to the dry spaces between them before drawing close to a road which floods easily.
Leaving the road, traverse more savanna with scattered pines and distant cypress domes. Turning away a wet prairie, walk through a pretty little cypress dome at 4.8 miles.
At a big wet prairie with a little marsh in the distance, make a sharp left turn. Cross Road 7 at 5.4 miles, continuing beneath another beautiful stand of tall slash pines.
Cross a sand road soon after. A road comes in from the left where there is a broad prairie to the right.
Bowman Island junction (Paul Guyon)Rounding the prairie, reach the junction with the blue-blaze to Bowman Island Campsite (26.841345, -80.375495) at 5.9 miles.
This is a designated campsite within Corbett WMA. To reach it, follow the blue blaze south. You may have to wade to the island, which is high and dry.
Pay attention to the blazes leaving this junction, since swamp buggy roads lead in all directions. Round another wet prairie. At 6.5 miles, cross a forest road.
Backpackers wading a wet prairie (Sue Turner)Continue through pine flatwoods where slash pines have crowns twisted and sculptured by the ages. Wildflowers permeate the understory – tickseed, goldenrod, and St. Peter’s Wort.
Rounding the next big wet prairie at 6.8 miles, note concentric rings of vegetation. From corkwood on the edge, the heights rise to a crescendo with a center of alligator flag.
Rising onto high ground into scrubby pine flatwoods for the first time on this journey, the trail is elevated and in the sun for more than a half mile.
Palmettos, tinged with a silvery hue, peep up between the tall grasses. The next wet prairie, an oasis after the scrub, appears at 7.5 miles, with a center of willow marsh.
Willow marsh in wet prairieBy 8 miles, the trail caroms between many wet prairies, sticking to the high ground of pine forest or skimming the shoreline.
A broad savanna stretches off into the distance at 8.4 miles. Past Road 7 – marked by a sign in a tree – enter a very old slash pine forest, with trees of incredible girth and height.
The saw palmettos beneath them are not just shades of green but silvery as well, sometimes on the same plant. Wildflowers bring bursts of color to the understory.
Pine flatwoods traverse (Sue Turner)Plants that prefer scrub habitats with well-drained sand appear here, like bracken fern, gallberry, and pennyroyal.
Cross a large wet prairie with water beyond. At 8.9 miles, cross Road 7 again and continues winding through scenic pine flatwoods.
After the next road, a double-blaze ushers you deeper into the realm of the pines.
Round a very large prairie a quarter mile later, catching a glimpse of it before being swallowed up by the shade of the forest. The trail works its way around it for some time.
Sandra surveying the trail in 2004 for FTA to make maps (Sue Turner)One breathtaking tree stops you in your tracks – a slash pine at 9.6 miles that rises up, up, and up, reaching for the sky. Turning away from it, traverse a small cypress dome.
Reaching the far shore of the large prairie, the trail works its way along the edge of it and heads up into the woods.
By 9.8 miles reach the Eyeglass Ponds, named for their shape. They retain water all year. Beyond a little berm, a rocky peninsula juts into the expanse of wet prairie.
Eyeglass PondsIt tapers into the water, so a wade is necessary. Islands of sand contain carnivorous plants, including tiny bladderworts with tall yellow and small purple flowers.
The bladders at the ends of their root systems suck up microscopic creatures from the damp sand, most notably mosquito larva.
Scrambling up into the pine woods on the other side, head down a well-defined corridor lined with saw palmetto, atop a ridge between prairies.
Showy wet prairieSawgrass invades the footpath near the edge of the next wet prairie. Keep watching for the next blaze.
Following the rim of the prairie, reach an outflow where marsh plants grow in the footpath and the trail may be very mucky.
Winding past dahoon holly and ferns, emerge to an open spot overlooking the massive power lines. It may be very wet here depending on the depth of swamp buggy tracks.
Pine lilyCrossing under the power line at 10.3 miles, enter a corridor defined by saw palmetto. Look for pink blossoms of sabatia in spring and pine lilies in early fall.
Reach the white-blazed Wetlands Bypass junction at 10.6 miles. The white-blazed route avoids a wade across Big Marsh, using Stumper’s Grade to get around it.
Big Marsh campsite is here, a mowed area in a grassy savanna. Backpackers continuing east will want to stop here as the nearest campsite, Soggy Socks, is 11.2 miles ahead.
Along the Wetlands Bypass at Stumper’s GradeIf you’re ending (or starting) your hike at the Corbett trailhead, continue past the campsite.
Orange blazes lead into a thicket of loblolly bay and wax myrtle under the pines.
Roots make for tricky going as the trail works its way to the shoreline of the large pond. Line of sight is a blaze on a post in the middle of the water.
Looking back at the pond crossingLook carefully for a tall pine on the far shore to see where the trail is headed. Probe the water with a hiking stick. If the mud or water is deep, use the bypass back at the campsite.
The two trails rejoin on the far side of the pond with a bench on slightly high ground at the junction. Turn left.
Bench at trail junctionThe remainder of the trail is a comfortable walk. Mostly hemmed in by saw palmetto, it’s well shaded by tall pines as it parallels the enormous prairie pond.
Watch for one tricky spot where the footpath climbs over a berm. Giant star rush grows in moist low areas.
By 11.5 miles, reach the junction with the blue-blazed trail to the trailhead. Continue along it to the parking area, finishing this hike 11.7 miles from Little Gopher Campsite.
Corbett trailheadWestbound / Eastbound
Florida Trail, Ocean to Lake: DuPuis to Corbett Deep in the heart of the Ocean-to-Lake Greenway, this 9.7 mile segment of the Florida Trail bridging DuPuis Reserve and Corbett WMA is one of the most wild and scenic treks in southeastern Florida.
Florida Trail, Ocean to Lake: Corbett to Luckey Tract On this 12.1 miles of the Florida Trail between campsites at Corbett WMA and Luckey Hammock, discover the natural wonders of Hungryland Slough and Loxahatchee Slough.Explore More!
Learn more about the Ocean to Lake section of the Florida Trail
Ocean to Lake Hiking Trail A 61-mile spur of the Florida Trail from Port Mayaca on the east side of Lake Okeechobee through forested landscapes to Hobe Sound Beach on the Atlantic Ocean.Slideshow
See our photos from this hike
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