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Secret Woods tropical forest

Secret Woods Nature Center

Designated the first “urban wilderness area” in Florida in 1978, Secret Woods protects a 56-acre floodplain of cypress strand and mangroves with uplands of tropical hammock

Fort Lauderdale      ( 26.088830, -80.177447 )      1.1 miles

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Where Interstates 95 and 595 meet, you’d hardly believe there’s a place for green space.

Port Everglades looms to the east, and jets take off and land at the nearby Fort Lauderdale International Airport.

But Secret Woods is very special. It’s hidden under such a dense canopy of mangroves that most people buzzing past have no idea it exists.

Black crowned night heron
A black-crowned night heron hides in the mangroves along the trail

It’s a place where families can discover nature together, watching giant land crabs scurry under the mangroves and cormorants hang out along the South Fork of the New River.

As the state’s first urban wilderness area, it is not at all quiet. The buzz of interstate traffic, the roar of jets, and the clanking of nearby industrial businesses is a distraction.

Secret Woods A unique Nature Play area along the New River Trail, where kids are encouraged to dig around


But the habitat was worth saving. A cypress strand and tropical hammock are edged by mangroves along the river floodplain.

Royal palms soar overhead. Birds make this green space their home.

With a mile of gentle interpretive trails centered around a top-notch nature center to teach the kids about Southeast Florida habitats, it’s perfect for a family outing.

Secret Woods Entrance to Secret Woods from the parking area


Resources

South Florida Explorers Guide book cover 50 Hikes in South Florida book cover Complete Guide to Florida Wildflowers 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: Dania Beach
Length: 1.1 miles broken into three loops
Trailhead: 26.088830, -80.177447
Address: 2701 W SR 84, Dania Beach
Fees: Free
Restroom: at the nature center complex
Land manager: Broward County
Phone: 954-357-8884

Open 9 AM to 5 PM daily. No bicycles or pets permitted. Most of the trails are accessible boardwalks.

Each of the trails loops out and back from the central trail junctions, so you can choose to do one, two, or all of them, depending on your time and ability.

Secret Woods


Directions

 
Secret Woods is along SR 84 just west of the I-95 / I-595 junction and the South Fork of the New River, immediately on the right after you cross the bridge westbound. From Interstate 95, use exit 25 to go west on SR 84 to the park entrance. From Interstate 595, use exit 9 to reach SR 84 west. From Florida’s Turnpike, take exit 54, drive east on SR 84, and make a U-turn just beyond SW 29th Ave to get to the park entrance.

Hike

Walk in from the parking area, passing a map with an overview of the trails in the park. Follow the boardwalk, and you’ll encounter the first trail loop off to the right.

It is a very short loop that leads through a restored upland area, Butterfly Island, a butterfly garden planted to attract native butterflies.

In it, watch for cloudless sulphur, gulf fritillary, giant swallowtail, and zebra longwing. It’s always a-flutter in colorful wings and brilliant blooms.

Secret Woods The Nature Center complex


Back on the boardwalk, reach the nature center complex after 0.2 mile.

For an overview of the preserve, stop in for a visit at the Monarch Interpretive Center before walking the rest of the trails.

Secret Woods Inside the Interpretive Center


There are bees making mangrove honey, archaeological artifacts, reptiles, and videos. A large mural depicts the first modern settlement of the area.

Just beyond this complex of buildings, the two main trails begin in earnest at a well-signed trail junction.

Secret Woods The main trail junction


The Laurel Oak Trail is a bark chip footpath that meanders through upland forest and around a cypress swamp.

The New River Trail is an accessible boardwalk which winds through floodplain forest and mangroves en route to the shores of the New River.

Secret Woods The New River Trail is entirely a boardwalk


For an up-close look at giant land crabs, the Laurel Oak Trail is one of the better places to see them along this coast. Turn right to head down the mulch path, and take a left at the T.

It’s primordial South Florida in here, the murky swamp lapping at the bases of tall royal palms, the giant leather ferns towering overhead.

Secret Woods Boardwalk through the primordial swamp


Pond apples groan under the weight of their fruit. The trail crosses a boardwalk and passes a bench, where you start to see large holes in the sand.

These are tunnels stretching several feet deep to the water table, created by giant land crabs for shelter. This forest is one of their last serious strongholds in the area.

Secret Woods The big hole of a giant land crab


These crabs are Florida’s largest terrestrial crab, spanning up to six inches across their shells, and they prefer living amid the roots of mangroves.

The trail continues past a cluster of benches at the base of a strangler fig, and crosses another boardwalk, leading you into an area dense with moistness and color.

Circling behind the nature center, the loop ends after 0.5 mile; turn left to exit back out to the main trail junction.

Secret Woods tropical forest
The tropical forest along the Laurel Oak Trail

Turn right to begin the New River Trail loop. You’ll notice the royal palms rising well above the forest, thriving since the canopy of cocoplums was torn off by Hurricane Wilma.

This trail is a boardwalk, even through the tropical forest of wild coffee and strangler figs.

When you reach the T, turn right to follow the boardwalk into the mangrove forest. Watch for birds roosting in the trees.

Secret Woods The boardwalk snakes its way out to the New River


The trail emerges along the edge of the New River, with an observation deck perfect for birding.

Watch for mangrove crabs – they’re much smaller than the giant land crabs – scurrying along mangrove roots.

Secret Woods View from the observation deck


After 0.8 mile, you reach a covered rain shelter. At the T intersection, either direction will lead back to the beginning of the loop.

Secret Woods Deep inside the mangrove forest on the boardwalk


To the right, the trail passes through an outdoor amphitheater before returning to the restored tropical hammock and its royal palms.

Continue straight to complete the New River Trail and exit into the nature center complex. Walk past the nature center to find the way back out to the parking area.

Secret Woods A pleasant place to take a break along the trail


Trail Map

Secret Woods Trail Map


Explore More!

Video

See our video of Secret Woods Nature Center


Slideshow

See our photos of Secret Woods Nature Center


Nearby Adventures

More worth exploring while you’re in this area.

West Lake Port Everglades

Anne Kolb Nature Center

Whether it’s from the top of a five-level observation tower or at ground level with the land crabs, Anne Kolb Nature Center focuses on the urban mangrove forest that it protects and interprets

Fern Forest ferns

Fern Forest Nature Center

A bounty of ferns awaits at Fern Forest Nature Center, where more than two miles of trails introduce you to a slice of Florida’s past, a tropical forest surrounding the original floodplain of Cypress Creek

Woodpecker on live oak (Adobe Stock)

Pine Island Ridge Natural Area

At the highest natural elevation in Broward County, this pine-topped ridge speaks to the history of those who lived here in the past, in a village that Mikasuki medicine chief Abiaka called home

wild coffee Easterlin Park

Easterlin Park

A designated urban wilderness area just north of Fort Lauderdale, Easterlin Park immerses you in a dense tropical forest on its 0.9-mile loop trail

Official Website

Category: County Parks, Hikes, Loop Hikes, Nature Centers, Nature Trails, Southeast Florida, TrailsTag: Accessible, Best Family Hikes, Birding, Botanical, Easy Hikes, Family-Friendly, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Mangroves, Observation Decks, Riverfront, Wildlife Viewing

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