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Lake Proctor Wilderness

Lake Proctor Wilderness Area

Protecting 475 acres of marshlands, prairie, and scrub forest, Lake Proctor Wilderness Area is one of the best places near Orlando to see sandhill cranes

Geneva      ( 28.726650, -81.099167 )      4.0 miles

The trail system at Lake Proctor provides several linked loops, enabling you to explore a variety of habitats for a mile, or two, or up to six.

Much of the trail system described here provides broad pathways through the forest. The narrowest trails are along the lake and its marshes.

Sandhill cranes gather in the marshes along the Lake Proctor’s edge, sometimes building nests and raising their young.

Sandhill crane at Lake Proctor Wilderness Sandhill crane at Lake Proctor Wilderness


Resources

50 Hikes in Central Florida Orlando & Central Florida: An Explorer's Guide Hiker's Guide to the Sunshine State

Disclosure: As authors and affiliates, we receive earnings when you buy these through our links. This helps us provide public information on this website.


Overview

Location: Geneva
Length: 4 mile loop
Trailhead: 28.726650, -81.099167
Address: 920 SR 46, Geneva FL 32732
Fees: Free
Restroom: None
Land manager: Seminole County Natural Lands
Phone: 407-665-2211

Open dawn to dusk. Leashed dogs welcome. Trails are shared with off-road cyclists and equestrians.

Adding the Scrub Loop (blazed yellow) to this route will extend your hike to 6 miles. Carry plenty of water, since more than half of the hike will then be out in the open.

IMPORTANT: The preserve will close between 7/8/20 and 7/28/20 for habitat restoration

Sandhill cranes Lake Proctor Wilderness


Directions

 
From Sanford, follow SR 46 east to Geneva. Just beyond the intersection of SR 426 and SR 46 at the traffic light in Geneva, keep alert for the trailhead parking area on the left.

Hike

Starting off from the kiosk on the red-blazed trail, it’s a pleasant walk down a broad corridor flanked by saw palmetto.

The path is shaded by a hammock of sand live oaks with colorful gardens of lichens growing on their trunks and limbs. You come to a fork very quickly with an orange blazed trail. Keep right.

Lake Proctor Wilderness First trail junction. Keep right to follow this route, or left to immediately go to the marshes


Making a slight left turn, the trail passes under tall longleaf pines within a sea of saw palmetto.

This is a broad corridor of oak scrub, transitioning into sand pine scrub with tall sand pines.

Lake Proctor Wilderness Walking through the oak scrub


Coming to a junction with the orange trail at 0.3 mile, continue straight ahead on the red trail. The habitat is now firmly sand pine scrub, with myrtle oak and Chapman oak in the understory.

At the junction with the blue trail, continue straight as the trail loses its shady canopy to the open nature of the scrub. The trail heads down a very long corridor with lots of crunchy myrtle oak leaves underfoot.

Lake Proctor Wilderness Junction with blue trail


As the trail narrows, it’s surrounded by young sand pine, soft and fluffy but not tall enough to cast much shade.

Emerging into a stand of longleaf pines, you face a very old sand live oak with limbs reaching out in all directions.

The rattling cries of the sandhill cranes echo across the marshes. At what looks like a junction, a marker urges you left.

Lake Proctor Wilderness Corridor of oaks


Down a scrub corridor, the trail makes a sharp left and reaches a T intersection, the junction of blue and red trails, at an interpretive marker at 0.9 mile. Turn right.

As you emerge under a powerline, follow the red marker to the right down this utility easement. At 1 mile, the trail quickly turns left and goes back into an oak scrub.

Lake Proctor Wilderness Deer moss under the oaks


Crossing an unmarked trail, continue along the path outlined by the red trail markers. Entering a pretty patch of hardwood hammock, you notice the air cool down almost immediately.

As you exit back into the scrub, you can hear the peeps and chirps of frogs as the trail works its way towards a depression marsh at 1.3 miles. It’s a beauty spot, edged by saw palmetto.

Lake Proctor Wilderness Edge of the depression marsh


Scrambling up a slight bluff, the broad trail emerges back into the scrub. Off to the left there is a corner of a fence line. The trail continues to the right. This section of the red trail may be a little tricky to follow.

Keep alert to the red markers, especially wherever you encounter intersections. A seafoam-colored lichen, old man’s beard, dangles from the crooked limbs of a rusty lyonia like stiff, dyed streamers of Spanish moss.

Rreach a covered rain shelter with a map (complete with “You Are Here”) at 1.5 miles. Get your bearings here. Continue along the red trail, which follows the jeep road away from the shelter.

The red trail meets a fork in the road. Keep left. At the next junction, the yellow-blazed Scrub Loop heads off to the left towards a bayhead. This trail is an optional add-on for a perimeter hike.

Lake Proctor Wilderness Gopher tortoise browsing in the scrub


While it immerses you in more scrub habitat, a large portion of its length is spent following the property line along a fence, which isn’t particularly scenic but may be worthwhile for birding.

Continuing along the red blazes, you enter scrubby flatwoods. At the second junction of red and yellow blazes, turn right. Winding through the diminutive scrub, the trail crosses an access road.

Lake Proctor Wilderness In scrub along the red trail


A bench sits within sight of a stand of bleached tree trunks, memorializing pines that lost their battle to pine bark beetles.

Paralleling the powerline, the red blazes finally meander beneath it to a marker that ushers you to the left. The red blazes lead back to the parking area.

However, the highlight of this trail system is the walk along Lake Proctor, and it’s in the opposite direction. Turn right and walk up the powerline, past the red trail to the right and up to the junction on the left.

Lake Proctor Wilderness Rain shelter and junction of trails


Continue left, headed back to the main trail junction at 2.6 miles. Continue straight, following the blue markers as the trail drops down towards the lake through the pine forest.

At the next rain shelter, the crossroad of many unmarked trails, follow the blue markers to the left.

Lake Proctor Wilderness Blue trail to Lake Proctor


You have your first glimpse of Lake Proctor through the trees as the trail gently descends to the edge of this large, shallow wetland, more wet prairie than lake.

Walk beneath the longleaf pines and Southern magnolia, which release sweet scents from their dinner-plate-sized blooms each May.

Lake Proctor Wilderness Trail in the woods along Lake Proctor


A side trail leads right down to the edge, where leopard frogs sing in the shallows. What you see is just one little arm of the lake, which the trail now rambles along.

At 2.9 miles, the trail swings right to work its way around a tall wall of saw palmetto, and you soon have the lake in your sights again. Lily pads drift across the placid surface.

Lake Proctor Wilderness Lake Proctor


Meandering past a depression marsh, the trail makes its way back to the lakeshore at a spot with an interpretive sign and bench.

Saw palmetto rises up on its trunks, stretching up above the trail, as you hear sandhill cranes kicking up a fuss not far ahead.

Lake Proctor Wilderness Last corner of the lake


After another short jaunt along the lakeshore beneath loblolly bay trees, the trail emerges at another marshy arm of the lake.

Leaving the lakeshore past an ephemeral pond, the blue trail meets the red trail at 3.3 miles. Turn right.

Lake Proctor Wilderness Ephemeral pond near trail junction


At the picturesque oak just a little ways down the trail, bear right to walk along the orange trail, the shortest of the loops.

It makes its way quickly down to the marsh edge, where a sign “Eastbrook Wetlands,” claims the spot for a local school.

Lake Proctor Wilderness The Eastbrook Wetlands


A tall slash pine has a deep slash in its trunk, a catface speaking to the turpentine industry that was once an important part of the local economy.

At 3.7 miles, a bench provides a beautiful view of this long arm of Lake Proctor. The trail makes a sharp left soon after it.

Lake Proctor Wilderness The last wetland view. Sandhill cranes are frequently in this spot.


The sound of traffic increases and the forest grows denser as you draw closer to the trailhead, walking uphill through an oak hammock.

Keep to the right as you return to the red trail, and you emerge at the trailhead after 4 miles.

Lake Proctor Wilderness Trailhead at Lake Proctor


Trail Map

Lake Proctor Wilderness Trail Map The blue loop at the upper right is the optional 2 mile yellow-blazed Scrub Loop


Explore More!

Video

See our video of Lake Proctor Wilderness

Lake Proctor Wilderness

Slideshow

See our photos of Lake Proctor Wilderness


Nearby Adventures

More worth exploring while you’re in this area.

Geneva Wilderness

Geneva Wilderness Area

Showcasing prairie ponds amid scrub on the edge of a pine flatwoods, Geneva Wilderness Area offers two loops of gentle paths on which to explore the habitats.

Lake Harney Wilderness

Lake Harney Wilderness Area

With an outstanding accessible observation tower offering a panorama of the St. Johns River floodplain, Lake Harney Wilderness is a must-see for birders and photographers

Little-Big Econ bridge

Little-Big Econ State Forest

One of the most popular destinations for outdoor recreation in the Orlando metro area, Little-Big Econ State Forest protects more than 9,500 acres along the floodplain of the Econlockhatchee River

Flagler Trail South

Flagler Trail South

Following a historic railroad route, the southern portion of the Flagler Trail provides a sometimes rugged, sometimes gentle ride between Geneva and Chuluota


Trail Map (PDF) Official Website

Category: Biking, Central Florida, Day Hikes, Hikes, Loop Hikes, Natural Lands, TrailsTag: Birding, Dog-friendly, Family-Friendly, Geneva, Lakefront, Orlando, Oviedo, Sanford, Wildlife Viewing

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. John Pinto

    November 24, 2020 at 7:00 am

    Did this hike yesterday and many sections of the Blue and Orange trail are flooded so be prepared. Probably due to the recent heavy rains.

    Reply

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