Core to this 160-acre preserve edging Jupiter Community Park is an accessible path winding through wet pine flatwoods.
It’s an easy-to-follow nature trail which crosses a cypress strand and extends to a boardwalk out into a lake.
Accessible path through the pinesThe outer yellow-blazed footpath at North Jupiter Flatwoods is more of an adventure.
It rarely insulating hikers from surrounding suburbia and is often squishy or a wade through wet prairies and under the pines.
On the Yellow TrailIt leads to a hidden observation area in a cypress dome and through the namesake pine flatwoods.
Enjoy a 2.3 mile hike by combining them both, or focus on a gentle mile on the nature trail with its benches, swings, and sensory stations.
Sensory StationResources
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Overview
Location: Jupiter
Length: 2.3 miles
Trailhead: 26.94910, -80.14811
Address: 3377 Church Street, Jupiter
Fees: Free
Restroom: In Jupiter Community Park
Land manager: Palm Beach County
Phone: 561-233-2400
Open sunrise to sunset. Fishing permitted. No pets or bicycles permitted.
Use insect repellent and expect wet feet if hiking the perimeter trail.
Directions
From Interstate 95 or Florida’s Turnpike, follow Indiantown Rd east a half mile to the traffic light at Central Blvd. Turn left. After you cross the bridge, turn left on Church St. Pass the trailhead for Limestone Creek and keep going almost 0.8 mile, crossing Island Way before reaching the entrance to Jupiter Community Park. Follow its entrance road between the ballfields all the way to the northernmost parking area, 0.2 mile north of the park gate.
Hike
Start your hike at the very north end of the northernmost parking area in Jupiter Community Park.
A sign for North Jupiter Flatwoods adjoins a sidewalk, leading to a kiosk with map and a bike rack for cyclists.
TrailheadCross the interior waterway of the park on a long boardwalk. A lake stretches northwest, with a showy fishing pier and observation deck on it.
Resuming the sidewalk, reach the turnoff to the pier and turn left at the fork.
Entrance boardwalkThe sidewalk leads to the boardwalk out into the lake, a covered observation deck providing a shady spot for birding.
Walk out to the pier itself for the views before returning to the trail junction to make a left.
Fishing pierA zigzagging boardwalk hovers within a cypress strand. Red maple leaves rustle in the breeze. Vines climb oddly-shaped cypress knees.
Pass a bench after the sidewalk resumes. A short straightaway leads towards tall pines.
Boardwalk through the strandAround the corner, come to a Sensory Station at a 0.3 miles, a frame with four textured mats.
It’s across from the kiosk for the Yellow Trail, the wild hike in this preserve. We turned off the nature trail here to hike it clockwise, cutting 0.2 miles from the hike.
Yellow Trail kioskStaying on the nature trail, it comes to a swinging bench before a split in the path in 300 feet.
Bear right to walk this loop through the pine flatwoods counterclockwise.
Split in trailAt a half mile is a second kiosk for the Yellow Trail where it merges back into the nature trail. Stay on the sidewalk.
Past the next Sensory Station, follow a wiggling route between the pines. Keep alert for the gopher tortoises that browse the forest floor.
Sensory Station along the loopFinishing the loop, bear right to return to the first Yellow Trail kiosk across from the Sensory Station at 0.7 miles.
Either exit along the paved trail to complete a mile on the gentle nature trail, or turn right to now tackle the Yellow Trail.
Yellow Trail kioskA footpath, it circles through wet prairies and drainages as well as lush pine flatwoods. It’s blazed with posts with yellow circles.
Starting on a broad mown path into a palmetto prairie, follow the markers. Bear right at a T junction.
Begin the Yellow TrailThe habitat transitions to wet flatwoods. Sheets of water collect in the tracks made by park maintenance vehicles, especially in summer.
Wildflowers abound seasonally, sabatia and candyroot especially bright against the green grasses.
Wet walkA cypress strand grows closer on the right. At the next T junction, the roofs of homes are visible over the trees.
Bear right. The path leads to a boardwalk slowly gaining elevation to a covered observation deck inside the cypress strand at 1.1 miles.
Observation deck junctionFrom this unique perspective, take in the complexity of this habitat, from the puzzle of ferns and sawgrass below to the young cypresses laden with bromeliads.
Leaving the boardwalk, bear right at the intersection to walk to the northern perimeter of the preserve.
Inside the cypress strandTurn right on the perimeter path, high ground between the hedges of a subdivision and the upper extent of the cypress strand.
Marsh wildflowers grow in abundance at the base of this pathway, the pink marsh mallows showy in summer.
Perimeter pathAt 1.4 miles, turn right at a yellow-circle post to leave the subdivision behind for the pine flatwoods.
The broad pathway is again mown into the understory, but on this side of the strand, the pine flatwoods are drier.
The turn into the flatwoodsThere may be puddles, however! One obvious drainage after a curve is often wet.
Longleaf pine intermingles with slash pine. The understory is open, but staggerbush and saw palmetto obscure the forest floor.
Pine flatwoodsFollowing the slight meanders of the path, note the cypress strand forming an ongoing wall to the west beyond the pines.
While initially sparse, the pine flatwoods become denser, the pines taller. In wetter spots, marsh ferns rise trailside.
Marsh mallow in a low spotA vast expanse of low saw palmetto marks another shift to drier ground. Following a gentle curve, the path aims for a trail kiosk.
Finishing a half mile immersion in the pine flatwoods since leaving the perimeter road, reach the paved nature trail at 1.9 miles.
Meet the nature trail on its loopTurn left to exit the preserve by backtracking your initial journey on the sensory-friendly trail, returning to its loop junction.
Past the swinging bench, seal the loop for the Yellow Trail at its initial kiosk.
Exiting the Nature Trail loopZigzag along the the cypress strand boardwalk, paying attention to the ferns and flowers below.
Passing the side path to the pier, continue over the bridge to the trailhead to complete a 2.3 mile hike.
The wet wonderland of the cypress strandTrail Map
Explore More!
Video
Hiking North Jupiter Flatwoods
Slideshow
See our photos of North Jupiter Flatwoods
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