Home to its own network of trails, Riverview Pointe Preserve adjoins and connects to the trails of De Soto National Memorial, enabling up to a 1.7 mile walk between the two.
Providing access to a broad sandy beach along a cove along the Manatee River, its pathways meander through natural habitats to two historic monuments bordering a tannic creek.
TrailheadResources
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Overview
Location: Bradenton
Length: 0.5 mile
Trailhead: 27.52034, -82.64450
Address: 8250 Desoto Memorial Hwy, Bradenton
Fees: Free
Restroom: At adjoining DeSoto National Memorial
Land Manager: Manatee County
Phone: 941-742-5923
Open sunrise to sunset. Leashed dogs welcome.
Directions
From US 41 in downtown Bradenton, take Manatee Ave (SR 64) west for 4 miles. Turn right on 75th St W and drive 2 miles. The small parking area for Riverview Pointe Preserve is on the right immediately before the entrance gate to De Soto National Memorial.
Hike
From the entrance gate to the preserve, follow the broad, straight crushed shell path between walls of tropical shrubs and trees.
Make a left onto an interior path which is quickly enveloped by the oak canopy. Marsh ferns fill a low basin circled by the trail.
Shaded pathway in the forestAscend beneath palm fronds into the coastal hammock. Taller, older oaks with broken upper branches display the ravages of past hurricanes.
Walk through a thicket of shoulder-high ferns beneath a sun-drenched break in the forest canopy.
Fern-edged footpathContinuing a mild ascent, reach a trail junction under an archway of oaks and bear left.
Wild coffee and silver-tinged saw palmetto edges the footpath before it emerges at the front gate of De Soto National Memorial.
Front gate of De Soto National MemorialBy walking up the path on the right, you can interconnect this trail system with theirs, or do so at a second access point at the beach.
Staying inside Riverview Pointe Preserve, turn around to return to the trail junction.
Giant leather ferns before the junctionGiant leather ferns poke into the pathway, their size distinctive up close. At the junction, take a left under the arch of oak limbs.
The worn earthen footpath is bolstered in softer spots with a mesh. Ferns abound in this thicket under the oaks, including more giant leather ferns.
Wooded walkwayA spill of shell fragments at a root across the trail inspires curiosity: midden material, or simply shellrock fill?
Unfortunately, many ancient middens across Florida became the base of the earliest roads built in the state.
Shell fragments on the footpathBecoming sandy, the path winds between cabbage palms, fronds cascading along a narrowing passage. It broadens again as oaks again form a high canopy.
Reach a T intersection at 0.2 mile. The path to the right returns to the main corridor from the trailhead
T intersectionTurn left onto the narrow, canopied footpath. The forest understory presses close before an abrupt turn. Emerge at the base of a giant cross along the Manatee River.
It’s a distinct landmark visible from many perspectives in this area, including the peninsula at De Soto National Memorial and at Emerson Point Preserve on the far side of the river.
The giant crossAs the marker explains, it was placed here by a Catholic diocese in Florida to honor the priests and friars who came from Spain with Hernando De Soto.
Make a left to walk in front of its base and continue across a boardwalk over a mangrove-lined creek.
BoardwalkThe boardwalk ends at a sandy clearing with a second memorial, this one a Eucharist monument erected by the same Catholic diocese.
This clearing marks the boundary with the national park. The De Soto Expedition Trail starts on the other side of the monument.
The monument clearingThis is also the access point to the riverfront beach at Riverview Pointe Preserve. Turn right to walk out to the broad white sand strand along a curve in the Manatee River.
It’s a popular spot for locals to relax, and for anglers to cast a line.
Opening to the beachUnless you’re tackling the De Soto Expedition Trail next, backtrack across the boardwalk and pass by the base of the giant cross and your incoming route.
The broad path gently curves through the tropical hammock, clumps of wild coffee distinctive at the base of a large ficus tree.
Mangrove-lined creek below the boardwalkStraightening out, the corridor meets a trail junction at the incoming trail from the interior T intersection.
Continue straight ahead, passing by the original turn you took to complete the loop. Return to the trailhead after a half mile walk.
The two turnoffs to the right are for the interior loopTrail Map
Explore More!
Learn more about adjacent DeSoto National Memorial
De Soto National Memorial Interpreting the landing of Spanish conquistador Hernando De Soto, De Soto National Memorial occupies a peninsula where the Manatee River flows into Tampa Bay. Video
A walk through Riverview Pointe Preserve
Slideshow
See our photos from Riverview Pointe Preserve
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