Key Vista Nature Park occupies 101 acres where Rocky Creek flows into the Anclote Anchorage, a calm shallows behind Anclote Key along the Gulf of Mexico.
Explore its easy trails through coastal flatwoods and sand pine scrub to a sandy shoreline edged with mangroves and sea grapes.
Sandy shorelineThis 1.2 mile perimeter loop on the trail network ties together scenic spots from the observation tower to frontage on Sleepy Lagoon along Rocky Creek.
Add more mileage by exiting the front gate for a walk along the paved Coastal Anclote Trail just outside the boundary fence. This park is its northern trailhead.
Sleepy LagoonResources
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Overview
Location: Holiday
Length: 1.2 mile loop
Trailhead: 28.199413, -82.779591
Address: 2700 Ballies Bluff Rd, Holiday
Fees: Free
Restroom: At the trailhead
Land manager: Pasco County
Phone: 727-942-4030
Open daily dawn to dusk. Leashed dogs welcome. A dog water station is thoughtfully set up near the restrooms.
Accessible parking and restrooms are provided, but the trails are natural surface. A central picnic area is in the island formed by the circular parking lot.
Directions
From New Port Richey, follow US 19 south to Trouble Creek Rd. Turn west. After 3.1 miles, the road makes a sharp left in front of Eagle Point Park and becomes Strauber Memorial Hwy for 0.8 mile. It makes more 90-degree turns before meeting Baillies Bluff Rd. Turn left. The entrance to Key Vista Nature Park is within the next mile on the right.
Hike
Several trails radiate from the parking area in a clockwise circle around a central picnic area.
Take the first broad path clockwise, next to the restrooms. Enter a sand pine scrub where the grand champion sand pine once stood.
Sand pine scrubThis forest stands out in sharp contrast to those managed by timbering by the variety of sizes of the pines.
Some are tall and skinny, others shorter and plump like Christmas trees. Turning to white sand, the footpath curves through it.
Picnic bench at trail junctionSlash pines enter the mix in a blend with sandhill species, scrub oaks adjoined by turkey oaks.
Emerge into a broad clearing with a picnic bench at 0.2 mile. Turn left to continue on the perimeter trail. Wiregrass gleams in the sun.
Climbing over a ridgeAscend through a series of curves through the continued mingling of habitats. Pass a bench on a curve.
Scrub plum and Florida rosemary peep from the edges of the understory. Candle-stage longleaf pines sprout with towering wind-blown sand pines as a backdrop.
Florida rosemaryMeet a junction with a north-south footpath at 0.4 mile. To the left, it connects to the boardwalk at adjoining Anclote Gulf Preserve.
Straight ahead is a beaten path to a tidal flat. To the right is the observation tower. Three stories high, it provides a panoramic view of the Gulf of Mexico.
Tidal flat between the parksA sandy path in front of it reaches a strip of white sand above the flats revealed when the tide is out.
Black mangroves and sea grape grow right up to the water’s edge.
Observation towerLooking left, the arc of flats stretches towards a power plant smokestack and around to a radar tower.
Take the sandy path to the right through a tunnel of mangroves.
Pop out on a stretch of white sand beach. Decorated with multiple wrack lines above the flats, it’s long enough for a beach walk.
Sandy beachPassing behind another mangrove, reach the north end of the beach. A footpath exits the beach towards a bench above a small boulder pile.
At the trail junction beyond it, walk straight ahead past the incoming path from the tower.
The ribbon of white sand enters scrubby flatwoods where some of the older pines have oddly twisted trunks from surviving hurricane winds.
Scrubby flatwoodsA bench overlooks the placid waters of mangrove-lined Rocky Creek at 0.6 mile, with a glimpse of the Gulf in the distance.
This tidal creek drains a natural basin, Sleepy Lagoon, at the north corner of the preserve.
Rocky CreekThe next overlook along it is studded with surface limestone. Cross a boardwalk to a bluff with a bench facing the water.
Walk to the rocky shoreline for a view upstream, where oyster bars emerge during low tide.
Outlined with stakes for boaters’ sakes, they’re a favorite gathering place for ibis to feed.
Ibis on the oyster bedsBehind the next bench, rejoin the footpath in the pine forest northbound. Here by the water, palms flourish in the understory.
At a Y intersection, bear left, passing an earthen ramp for paddlers to launch from.
Launch pointA panorama of the creek follows on the walk along a low bluff. After a final rocky approach to the water, leave the creek to follow the sandy path into the pine forest.
Quickly covered in pine needles, it broadens, ascending to a bench at 0.8 mile.
Bench at a T intersectionThe trail to the right heads directly for the trailhead. Bear left, walking a corridor into sand pine scrub.
Keep left at the next junction. Descend towards the mangroves, curving right at a bench to walk the ecotone.
Along upper Sleepy LagoonThe tidal basin beyond the mangroves is only visible where they thin. Facing a warning sign at a blocked off path, curve right.
Ascend the bluff into the pine forest. The curve continues to point this loop south, passing a bench.
Climbing away from the mangrovesAs the forest shifts to sand pine scrub, the footpath becomes soft white sand once more. A clearing with a picnic bench has a sign declaring this path the Sleepy Lagoon Trail.
Finishing it up, bear left, away from the Rocky Creek Loop Trail (which you finished earlier) to return through the scrub to the parking area, completing a 1.2 mile loop.
Make a left where the loops meetTrail Map
Explore More!
Video
Hiking Key Vista Nature Park
Slideshow
See our photos from Key Vista Nature Park
Nearby Adventures
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