At Royal Palm Hammock, also home of the Anhinga Trail, the Gumbo Limbo Trail is a paved path that gets you up close and personal with a tropical hammock.
This was once called Paradise Key, owned by Henry Flagler, and became a state park in 1916 well before the creation of Everglades National Park.
Although the Gumbo Limbo Trail is a short walk, it has some interesting highlights, including deep solution holes.
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Overview
Location: Royal Palm Hammock
Length: 0.4 mile loop
Trailhead: 25.381913, -80.609572
Fees: Everglades National Park entrance fee
Restroom: At the visitor center
Land Manager: National Park Service
Phone: 305-242-7700
This trail is paved but is rough in spots. Expect mosquitoes.
Directions
From the Ernest Coe Visitor Center, follow the Main Park Road for 1.6 miles to the turnoff to Royal Palm Hammock. Turn left and follow this road for 1.9 miles to where it ends in the parking area.
Hike
The trail starts at the “Gumbo Limbo Trail” sign next to a royal palm just outside the visitor center.
Peeling gumbo-limbo trees show off their odd green and red bark, leaning heavily across the trail and clipped off in places.
Tunnel into a tropical hammock, where interpretive signs explain some of the unusual residents, like pigeon plum.
An overlook lets you peer into a solution hole, where bright water spangles float on the dark water.
These holes form by the gradual erosion of the limestone bedrock by acidic water as rain flows through the leaves on the forest floor.
There are several solution holes at different points along the trail. One of Sandra’s earliest childhood memories was her father dad trying to scare her on this trail by saying “ooo-lite” in a scary voice.
The oolite is oolitic limestone, a sedimentary rock full of Swiss-cheese like holes that allow the water to pass through and keep dissolving it, hence a solution hole.
Scarier is the poisonwood, a native Everglades tree with sap ten times more harmful than poison ivy. Don’t touch!
The nasty-looking oozy dark blotches on the smooth tree trunk are the best way of identifying this tree.
The trail crosses a short boardwalk over a broad solution hole that holds a small marsh. Cattails grow along the edge.
As the trail ends, you emerge from the woods facing the visitor center, adjacent to the parking area.
Explore More!
Learn more about Everglades National Park
Everglades National Park In 1.5 million acres across South Florida, Everglades National Park has outdoor experiences from accessible boardwalks and paved trails to rugged adventures in harsh wilderness.Nearby Adventures
More worth exploring while you’re in this area.
Anhinga Trail For most visitors, the Anhinga Trail is their first glimpse into Everglades National Park. It's short, and the alligators are right there: hard to miss
Pinelands Trail The Pinelands Trail is a showcase for South Florida’s weird and wonderful karst, a limestone bedrock that’s full of Swiss-cheese like holes, in a tropical forest where colorful tree snails make their home.
Pa-Hay-Okee Boardwalk For a sweeping panorama of the "River of Grass" from a personal perspective, get out of your car and walk the short Pa-Hay-Okee Boardwalk at Everglades National Park.
Mahogany Hammock Trail Mahogany Hammock is a tree island, a tropical oasis in the Everglades “river of grass,” where the short boardwalk trail immerses you in the jungle-like hammock.
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