Along the St. Johns River floodplain in Osteen, the 1.6 mile White Loop on the Kratzert Tract at Lake Monroe Conservation Area offers an immersion into palm and oak hammocks.
We were first introduced to it by our friends in the Central Florida Chapter of the Florida Trail Association, who were looking after its trail maintenance at the time.
Trailhead for the Kratzert TrailIt’s a short and fun hike. Wildflowers abound, and gopher tortoise burrows are obvious in several locations.
There are there are long stretches of narrow, maze-like corridors through dense, tall saw palmettos, and bridges to cross.
Since it lies in the floodplain, the trail can be seasonally innudated. Seasonal hunting is permitted on the Kratzert Tract too, so plan ahead.
Big trees are a hallmark of this hikeResources
Resources for exploring the area
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Overview
Location: Osteen
Length: 1.6 mile loop
Trailhead: 28.8320, -81.1914
Address: 2656 Reed Ellis Rd, Osteen
Fees: Free
Restroom: At nearby Beck Ranch Park
Land manager: St. Johns River Water Management District
Phone: 386-329‑4500
Open sunrise to sunset. Leashed dogs welcome. Insect repellent recommended for mosquitoes and ticks.
Check hunt dates before you visit. Deer hunting generally spans Nov and Dec, prime hiking months. Wear bright orange if hiking during any hunting season.
Directions
From Interstate 4, take exit 101C, Sanford. Head east on SR 46 into Sanford, and pay careful attention to the road joining and leaving US 17-92. Reaching the light at SR 415, turn left. Follow SR 415 north for 2.5 miles, crossing the St. Johns River Bridge into Volusia County. Turn left onto Reed Ellis Rd. Continue 0.6 mile to the trailhead parking on the left.
Hike
Start the hike from the west side of the parking area into the longleaf pines that have grown in nicely over the past two decades to replace the cattle pasture that was here.
White blazes guide you along the grassy path. After a quarter mile, the trail dips through a small drainage lined with young sweetgum and large wax myrtle.
Crossing the first small drainageAs the trail rises up again, you can see the vast floodplain forest beyond the pines. The trail turns away from Reed Ellis Road and into a patch of open scrub.
Walking under live oaks and palms, you pass a patch of coreopsis, our state flower, which is often in bloom.
Coreopsis in bloomTurning again, the trail enters a hardwood hammock with clumps of saw palmetto around, the oaks creating a canopy above.
A footbridge proudly inscribed as an Eagle Scout project crosses an ephemeral waterway at the half mile mark.
The trail turns left immediately after this bridgeRising up through another pasture reclaimed by planted longleaf pines, the footpath becomes slippery due to the grass and pine needles.
Look for gopher tortoise burrows here before the downhill into a shady forest of oaks, saw palmetto, and large longleaf pines.
Pawpaw growing under the pinesBeds of sword fern crowd the footpath as it parallels the meandering route of a sand-bottomed stream. Roots jut out into the trail.
Reach a T intersection with an unmarked trail. Turn right, away from the pines.
Entering the denser forestA jog to the left leads uphill through a tangle of saw palmetto beneath a corridor of magnolias.
The trail twists and turns down a narrow corridor, entering a very dense stand of Southern magnolias.
Walking between Southern magnoliasAfter plunging into the twisting, winding path again, at 0.7 mile the trail rises up under tall oaks laden with bromeliads.
It drops back into the palmetto maze again, making its way through the dense understory.
The palmetto mazeClimbing up into a palm hammock, the trail winds beneath with cabbage palms of regal stature, rising more than one hundred feet above the forest floor.
Being close to the river, the air is humid. Every tree sports colonies of bromeliads and orchids.
Wild pine covers a live oak trunkLook overhead for dense mats of resurrection fern, fine sprays of wild pine, the purple, red, and yellow spikes of cardinal wild pine.
Grass-like blades of butterfly orchids are nestled in the crooks of tree limbs. This is truly a beauty spot worth hiking to.
Orchids, lichens, ferns, and bromeliads on one trunkThe trail jogs through the thickets of saw palmetto as you continue under the grand oak canopy.
Pass between two cabbage palm trunks before the corridor gets much denser with young trees. Leaves dangle just overhead.
Bracken fern in the understoryAfter a mile, you reach a trail junction with another unnamed path. The White Loop turns left. Continue through the palm hammock.
The elevation slowly rises, leading you beneath laurel oaks and water oaks. At the next trail junction, continue straight ahead.
Dense floodplainA lazy waterway meanders off to the right as it makes its way down to the St. Johns River, its banks lined with netted chain fern.
The trail turns right to cross a bridge over the waterway, then broadens considerably for a short stretch.
Saw palmetto define much of the trailOnce it narrows down, you’re walking along the edge of another palm hammock.
Notice the watermarks on the trees. This trail will flood a foot or more deep when the St. Johns seriously overflows into its floodplain.
Resurrection fern on a live oakWalk under a massive live oak that looks just plain furry from the amount of resurrection fern swaddling its limbs. Cabbage palms grow right through the middle of the tree.
As the trail slowly climbs away from these shady hammocks of the St. Johns River floodplain, it rises through stands of tall saw palmetto.
Walking through the palm hammockIt emerges into planted longleaf pine forest, along the edge of the forest.
Follow the obvious footpath. Coming over a rise, you see the trailhead kiosk and parking lot, the completion of the 1.6 mile loop.
The last stretch is along the edge of the planted pinesTrail Map
Explore More!
Learn more about Lake Monroe Conservation Area
Lake Monroe Conservation Area
With marshes brimming with swamp sunflowers and old-growth forests along natural ridges, Lake Monroe Conservation Area protects the St. Johns River north shore at Osteen
Slideshow
See our photos of the Kratzert White Loop
Nearby Adventures
More worth exploring while you’re in this area.
Green Springs Park
An unearthly glowing bowl in shades of green, the centerpiece of an ancient forest at Green Springs is surrounded by gurgling streams and the trails that follow them
Lake Jesup Cameron Tract
On a mile-long loop in grassy prairies along Lake Jesup, enjoy palm-framed panoramas of the open prairies along the lakeshore
Hickory Bluff Preserve
Just east of Osteen, Hickory Bluff Preserve provides a 1.5-mile loop to a bluff of notable size along a scenic stretch of the St. Johns River
Palm Bluff Conservation Area
Discover a parade of habitats in the Deep Creek basin on three loop hikes within 3,300 acres east of Deltona.