When the original Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve Nature Center occupied the building adjoining the boardwalk, this was the first place we truly saw the beauty of the river’s vast estuary.
To get to that view, you have to walk the trail. But it’s only a quarter mile out to the observation deck, and along it, a succession of coastal habitats keeps your attention focused on the little things.
Blue flag iris in bloomResources
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Overview
Location: Apalachicola
Length: 0.6 mile round trip
Trailhead: 29.732009, -84.995673
Address: 261 7th St, Apalachicola FL 32320
Fees: Free
Restroom: None
Land manager: Apalachicola NERR
Phone: 850-670-7700
Open daily 9 AM to 4 PM. Expect a lot of mosquitoes if there isn’t a breeze.
The trail is accessible with minor assistance. Most of it is a boardwalk, except the hard-packed shell and rock path at the very beginning.
Directions
Follow Market Street through Apalachicola to its north end. The entrance to the former Apalachicola NERR nature center is on the left past the marina, and the trail starts across from it
Hike
Starting in front of the former nature center, head down the hard-packed shell and rock path pathway into a hardwood forest.
A boardwalk leads across a swale of wetland surrounding the trickle of a freshwater creek where blue flag iris grow thickly along its edges, waving pale blooms in April.
Uplands at the beginning of the trailIt winds under Virginia willows and past dahoon holly. Royal fern grows in the moist earth below a cluster of cabbage palms.
Cypress and loblolly bay rise from the dampness below, adding heavier lines within a riot of textures in spring green.
Breaking out from the leafy tunnel and into the open, the boardwalk drops the trail onto an overwash plain covered in grapevines, pines, and oaks.
The boardwalk rises in a steady slope between cedars and oaks to reach its destination, the edge of a vast sweep of estuary at the northwest end of Apalachicola Bay.
Boardwalk through the overwash plainScipio Creek is the nearby open water flowing through the maze of marsh grasses. Beyond the line of cypresses is the main channel of the Apalachicola River.
From noon until evening, the grasses across the estuary gleam golden as sunlight plays across them.
Trail Map
Explore More!
Slideshow
See our photos of the Scipio Creek Boardwalk
Nearby Adventures
More worth exploring while you’re in this area.
Orman House Historic State Park
A showcase of fine architecture on a high bluff above the Apalachicola River, the Orman House was built by early Apalachicola settler and shipping magnate Thomas Orman in 1838.
Chapman Botanical Garden
Chapman Botanical Garden honors the memory of Dr. Alvan Wentworth Chapman, a noted botanist who in 1860 published Flora of the United States.
John Gorrie Museum State Park
One of only two Floridians honored in the halls of Congress for their achievements, Dr. John Gorrie is the inventor of the icemaker and the father of air conditioning.
Cat Point Trail
Just a short walk from the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve Visitor Center, this half-mile loop meanders coastal habitats in Eastpoint