Atop a dry ridge north of Brooksville, Perry Oldenburg WEA was Florida’s first state wildlife area created to mitigate the destruction of gopher tortoise habitat.
Over two decades later, you’re unlikely not to see a gopher tortoise here. In fact, many burrows are along the trail, so avoid stepping in any.
Other species you’ll see here include fox squirrels and sandhill cranesIf you walk softly, you will likely see the tortoises out grazing in the grasses and gopher apple.
The Nature Trail loop is blazed blue. The linear Florida Trail – which crosses the preserve and links to Withlacoochee State Forest in both directions – is blazed orange.
Prairie at the center of the loopResources
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Overview
Location: Brooksville
Length: 1.5 mile loop
Trailhead: 28.614771, -82.331909
Address: 13489 Government Rd, Brooksville
Fees: Free
Restroom: None
Land manager: Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission
Phone: 850-488-4676
Open dawn to dusk. Leashed dogs permitted. No camping, bicycles, or equestrians.
Directions
From Brooksville, follow US 41 north for 5 miles, passing Snow Hill Road. Turn right on Deer Run Rd. Follow it for 1.3 miles to where it makes a 90* left turn and becomes Government Road. Don’t make the turn. The trailhead is straight ahead down a narrow track. There are two parallel tracks: take the one on the right, which is marked by a sign for the preserve.
Hike
From the parking lot, walk over to the kiosk through the gap in the fence. Walk up the trail to the right, which joins an old two-track.
Starting off in the open, the trail meanders through a small hammock of live oak, where masses of deer moss carpet the leaves like seafoam.
Trailhead entrance and signAn open meadow stretches off to the left. The trail reaches the boundary fence, then takes a sharp left into the shade. Tall goldenaster sways above the white sand.
As the trail jogs to the right, you’ll start seeing the sand post oak, with its distinctive scalloped, thick, leathery leaves.
Meadow amid the oaks not far from the trailheadThese oaks only thrive in poor sandy soils, such as those of the Brooksville Ridge.
A more common oak is the water oak, with its fat wedge-shaped leaves. It lives as comfortably on the sandhills as it does in the swamp hammocks.
Carefully studying the leaf litter under the oaksWithin a few feet are some turkey oaks, another resident of sandhills and coastal hammocks. Turkey oak rarely grows taller than thirty feet.
The ends of the deeply lobed leaves look like a turkey’s foot. Young longleaf pines compete for space with the oaks.
Old gate among the oaksThe open understory beneath the oaks hosts greenbrier, American beautyberry, and beargrass.
A spiky relative of the yucca plant, beargrass is another species with a preference for the dry sandhill habitat.
Corridor through the sandhillsWhere you see a disturbance of sand – white and beige mixed together – expect to find a gopher tortoise burrow.
Emerging from a long corridor of turkey oak, you walk under a power line after a half mile of hiking.
Powerline crossingFollow the trail into a dense oak forest with a grassy, open understory. Watch for the blazes on the oaks and pines; it’s easy to lose the trail if you don’t pay attention.
A cluster of oaks stands guard next to a huge gopher hole. Joining a large, spreading sand post oak and a turkey oak is a pin oak, with long, sharp-toothed leaves.
Corridor of pines and oaksReaching another jeep trail at 0.8 mile, turn left down a corridor lined with live oaks, turkey oaks, and young longleaf pines. Sandhills yield to pine flatwoods.
Where the longleaf pines dominate the forest, notice the change in the understory.
A candle stage longleaf pineBlueberries take root in the acidic soil, as do winged sumac. Just beyond a young southern magnolia tree, a massive longleaf pine rises from the forest.
It’s more than one hundred feet tall, and at least four feet in girth.
Magnolia in the sandhillsAs the elevation drops slightly, saw palmettos crowd under spreading live oaks with long branches that dip and twirl and form corkscrew patterns.
Bright patches of red blanket lichen – in red, pink, and shades in between – liven up the dark, furrowed trunks.
Wiggly oaks along the trailThe trail opens back up into the power line crossing at 1.1 miles, jogging slightly left.
Blue blazes are now joined by the orange blazes of the Florida Trail into a dense oak hammock.
Glancing back at the Florida Trail route after crossing the powerlineLeaves crumble underfoot and puffs of deer moss decorate the forest floor between the clusters of saw palmetto.
At 1.3 miles, follow the trail under grand old live oaks. Mind the sharply pointed leaves of the American holly trees on the left.
Hiking through the oak hammockPassing through a thicket of muscadine grapes, the trail emerges out into an open, grassy prairie with a sinkhole pond. Turn right.
The trail keeps to the ecotone between forest and prairie, following a sweeping curve. You may spot sandhill cranes browsing in this wide open space.
Prairie with sinkhole pondThe Nature Trail loop ends after 1.5 miles, within sight of the trailhead.
The orange blazes of the Florida Trail continue out the entrance road along Deer Run Rd to connect hikers with the Colonel Robins tract of Withlacoochee State Forest a mile west.
Open area under oaks near trailheadTrail Map
Explore More!
To hike more of this preserve than this loop, follow the linear Florida Trail to the east trailhead of Perry Oldenburg WEA.
Florida Trail, Croom to Chinsegut 4.1 miles. North of Brooksville, two environmental areas and a state forest are paired with a short backwoods roadwalk as an example of conservation within a rural community.Slideshow
See our photos of Perry Oldenburg WEA
Nearby Adventures
Chinsegut Big Pine Tract The Big Pine Tract of Chinsegut WEA protects the southernmost old-growth longleaf pine forest in America, the second largest such tract in Florida.
Chinsegut Conservation Center Tract Discover the beauty of May's Prairie at the heart of the Chinsegut WEA Conservation Center Tract, a vast wetland where sandhill cranes gather.
Hog Island Nature Trail For a dip into primordial wilderness along the Withlacoochee River, walk the Hog Island Nature Trail at Hog Island Recreation Area in Withlacoochee State Forest.
Fickett Hammock Preserve Delving deep into a hardwood hammock with towering trees, discover a wonderland of botanical beauty at Fickett Hammock, a cradle of unusual species north of Brooksville.
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