Hiking Oxbow Eco-Center Preserve

Perched along the western shore of North Fork of the St. Lucie River, Oxbow Eco-Center Preserve protects 225 acres of natural habitats in bustling Port St. Lucie.

Amid a growing sea of surrounding subdivisions it’s a natural escape for families and homeschoolers thanks to its vibrant nature center and its childrens’ programs.

Mosaic bench and dinosaur scuplture in garden

Oxbow Eco-Center

The well-marked network of trails within the preserve lets you tackle both mild and wild footpaths.

Colored icons mark named trails, with a black “Home” icon always pointing to the exit.

Our route follows a scenic perimeter loop, but it’s easy to tailor your distance according to your time and hiking experience.

Hikers on the Tortoise Trail pass a home marker

Of all the trails in the park, the most distant ones from the nature center are the most rugged.

Steep dropoffs on a narrow ridge characterize much of the Otter Trail, and that end of the Scrub Jay Trail can be a muddy slog.

Creek paralleling the Otter Trail at its start

A stretch of accessible boardwalk starts behind the nature center, making up the finale of our counterclockwise loop.

Interpretation is part of all the trails, from a walk through history on the easy Florida Heritage Trail near the parking lot to signage calling your attention to plants and habitats.

One of the interpretive signs along the Blue Heron Trail

Resources

Resources for exploring the area

South Florida Explorers Guide book cover

Hikers Guide to the Sunshine State book cover

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: Port St. Lucie
Length: 3.4 mile loop
Trailhead: 27.35360, -80.35486
Address: 5400 NE St. James Dr, Port St. Lucie
Fees: Free
Restroom: At the Eco-Center
Land manager: St. Lucie County
Phone: 772-785-5833

Open sunrise to sunset daily. The Eco-Center is open Tue-Sat noon-4.

No bicycles permitted. Leashed dogs welcome. Paddlers are welcome to visit via the canoe dock on the Otter Trail.

Do not remove plant life. Expect to see wildlife along the trails; do not approach alligators.

Directions

From Interstate 95 exit 126, CR 712 (Midway Road), drive east to 25th St / St. James Drive. Turn right on St. James Drive and follow it south to the park entrance on the left.

Hike

The prominent “Oxbow’s Florida Heritage Trail” sign directed our attention to a new trail entrance at the parking area, supplanting the older one at the kiosk in a shaded picnic area.

Curve right when that trail comes in, following the unique metal markers and “trail” signs of the Heritage Trail, an interpretive walk through Florida history.

Along the Heritage Trail

Where the Heritage Trail makes a sharp right for its return loop, leave it to go straight ahead on the Bat Trail.

At a junction, the Limpkin Trail goes straight to meet and parallel the C-106 canal. Turn left to stay in the pine flatwoods on the Bat Trail.

The Bat Trail winds through young flatwoods

A second connector to the Limpkin Trail is just beyond a bench. Keep left, walking in a broad corridor beneath the pines.

At the next trail junction, continue straight ahead, joining the Tortoise Trail. Veer right at a fork.

Follow the Tortoise Trail

Approach a bridge with markers for the Otter and Raccoon Trails at a half mile. Starting on the far side of the bridge, the Raccoon Trail is a short round-trip.

Cross the bridge and make a left to tunnel into the pine flatwoods understory. Hemmed in by towering saw palmetto, the pine duff footpath weaves between them.

Bridge to the Raccoon Trail

Opening into scrubby flatwoods where bromeliads cling to tall pines, the trail ends at a pass-thru gate and kiosk at a utility line.

Return the same way, crossing the bridge to make a right onto the Otter Trail.

Tight corridor of the Raccoon Trail

The Otter Trail isn’t like the gentle walk you’ve experienced so far. The trail curves left where the adjoining tannic waterway burrows into the forest.

Past an interpretive kiosk a mile into the hike, a spur boardwalk reaches a canoe landing on a scenic cove off the North Fork of the St. Lucie River.

Canoe landing

Edging the cove, the footpath enters an often-muddy hydric hammock with exposed roots and dense fern cover.

Clambering up a slope, it meets a narrow ridge above the river. It terminates to the right very quickly in an observation point above the river’s oxbow.

The oxbow of Oxbow Eco-Center Preserve

Turn around and start following the footpath, which opens up to a scenic view from a bluff crumbling into a canal carved to parallel the river.

Beyond this point, some of the scrambles on the Otter Trail are narrow and challenging, but rewarding for its superb scenery.

Stand of cabbage palms below trail junction post

Scrub Jay Trail post and palm hammock below

Meet the junction with the Scrub Jay Trail at 0.9 miles. From here, the Otter Trail is an out-and-back hike.

It ascends a knife edge between the river and its floodplain, with some of the footpath deeply eroded between the rootballs of the ubiquitous cabbage palms that top the ridge.

Rugged climbs and drops are a part of the Otter Trail

Hike to the first bridge, a half mile round-trip, at a minimum to savor the views. Walking past it to the very end and back adds a quarter mile to this route.

Return to the steep grade to the Scrub Jay Trail and assess whether you can use this quarter mile connector as part of your perimeter loop. On this visit, the path and blazing was unclear. With boardwalks strewn willy-nilly across gloppy mud, it wasn’t appealing.

We hiked the Bluebird Trail last time but opted against it this trip

Backtracking adds a half mile to the perimeter hike (included in our mileage) but also leads past a boardwalk and tower you’d miss by taking the Scrub Jay Trail.

Follow the Otter Trail to the bridge junction with the Raccoon Trail. Turn right then bear right at the Y for the the Tortoise Trail.

Pine flatwoods on the Tortoise Trail

Both sides come together at 1.8 miles in the pine flatwoods. Backtrack this short section and veer right at the the marked junction.

Weaving through the flatwoods understory, the Tortoise Trail reaches a connector to the Blue Heron Trail. A left on the Tortoise Trail is a direct route back to the trailhead.

Junction of Tortoise and Blue Heron Trails

Turn right to continue the perimeter hike, descending to a boardwalk leading into a broad creek drainage in a hydric hammock. A bench is built into the shaded boardwalk at 2.1 miles.

The trail rises into the pine flatwoods and meets the Blue Heron Trail. Turn right.

Boardwalk through palm hammock

The next junction has an icon for an observation tower on its post. A short stroll down the spur trail reaches a tower with a long ramp to its top.

The observation deck on top is in the tree canopy, a unique perspective on the surrounding forest.

Canopy Tower

Continue along the Blue Heron Trail. The junction with the dry end of the Scrub Jay Trail is at 2.3 miles, a park bench at a curve in the loop not far beyond.

Drainage in these pine flatwoods creates small bogs with bog buttons, candyroot, and sundews flourishing in swales.

Saw palmetto with footpath among pines beyond

Blue Heron Trail in the pine flatwoods

The understory varies from scrubby to grassy to thickets of saw palmetto as you progress around the loop.

Making a sharp left a quarter mile after the bench, take the next side trail with a tower symbol. It’s not a tower but an observation platform above a small wet prairie.

Observation deck on a prairie

Rising towards a berm on the preserve boundary, the trail parallels the berm under the pines. Cross a wooden bridge.

At the next tower symbol, the side trail leads to another one with a ramp to an observation deck.

Bog overlook observation deck

At 2.9 miles, this deck overlooks a larger wet prairie where carniverous plants thrive.

The Blue Heron Trail crosses a similar patch of prairie soon after; peer closely at the ground to see the sundews glistening.

Seepage bogs in pine savannas host carniverous plants

At a junction where a park bench and a picnic bench are in a clearing amid the saw palmetto, follow the Blue Heron Trail marker, the footpath making an arc through the flatwoods.

Reaching a trail marker with “Home” pointing right, leave the loop by turning right.

Leave the Blue Heron Trail here

The scrubby understory beneath the slash pines yields to a thicket of lush saw palmetto as the trail approaches a waterway.

Joining a boardwalk, savor the welcome shade of magnolias and dahoon holly.

The boardwalk leads to the trailhead

The boardwalk reaches the back side of Oxbow Eco-Center, where a kiosk with trail map illustrates the route you just completed, a 3.4 mile hike.

Within view are outdoor classrooms for kids and the “Musical Forest” for nature play. Walk through the education center to see its exhibits (or around it if closed) to reach the parking area.