Flowing south towards Lake Tohopekaliga, Shingle Creek winds through what is now some of the densest urban sprawl in Central Florida.
Shingle Creek Regional Park preserves more than 450 acres along its banks, including the Historic Steffee Homestead, a lushly forested park along US 192.
With extensive boardwalks amid a cypress floodplain, this historic site is an oasis of beauty in a busy urban corridor. The waters of Shingle Creek eventually reach the Everglades.
Boardwalk through the Shingle Creek floodplainResources
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Overview
Location: Kissimmee
Length: 1.3 miles
Trailhead: 28.303433,-81.453083
Address: 4280 West Vine St, Kissimmee
Fees: Free
Restroom: At the trailhead
Land manager: Osceola County
Phone: 407-742-0200
Open daylight hours when gates are open. Please do not disturb the historic buildings and artifacts.
Directions
From Interstate 4 exit 68, follow SR 535 (Vineland Road) south for 3.6 miles to US 192; turn left. Drive east on US 192 for 3 miles to the entrance on the right, just past Old Vineland Road.
Hike
The parking area adjoins a beautiful farmhouse from 1911 under the canopy of old live oak trees. Trails radiate in several directions from the turnaround loop for the parking area.
Head towards the picnic pavilion, where there is a restroom and a kiosk with map. From the kiosk, go straight ahead past historic farm implements and a small sawmill.
A concrete trail, uneven underfoot, winds through the forest of slash pine, oaks, and saw palmetto in the understory.
On the left just past a junction with an incoming trail is the caretaker’s house from 1920. Made of cypress, it’s a gorgeous piece of vernacular Florida architecture, with an open-air porch overlooking a waterway and an outdoor kitchen.
1920 Caretaker’s HomeContinuing deeper into the pine woods, make a left at the next junction near a picnic table. The concrete path broadens through the open understory of the oak and pine forest. Wild citrus, a legacy from pioneer days, grows beneath a live oak’s spreading crown.
Passing under the large oaks, the trail continues into the floodplain and becomes a broad boardwalk. At 0.4 mile meet a trail to the right.
BoardwalkA platform on the left provides a place to watch for birds at a sluggish cypress-lined creek that flows into Shingle Creek. From the signage, the boardwalk will eventually be extended farther in this direction. If it hasn’t been, backtrack from the platform and turn left.
As the boardwalk winds beneath the cypress trees, notice the watermarks on the tree trunks, some as high as three feet. Shingle Creek floods, as it traps an enormous amount of urban drainage. If the boardwalk is underwater, don’t attempt to walk on it.
Cypresses surround and shade this boardwalk, with vast masses of marsh fern swarming around their bases. Loblolly bay, red maple, and dahoon holly lend their colorful trunks and leaves to the floodplain forest mix. Slash pines stand in tall columns against the blue sky.
Observation deckAfter half a mile, reach a T intersection with a boardwalk that was once part of an old nature trail. Turn right to see detailed interpretive information down this dead-end spur. Then head in the opposite direction.
Past a rain shelter, the boardwalk ends. The trail becomes a concrete path through the woods again, slipping between tall pines and clumps of saw palmetto.
Reach the Bass Road trailhead at 0.7 mile. Return the way you came through the cypress floodplain. At the intersection with the observation platform boardwalk, turn left to meander along the broad boardwalk under the pines.
Boardwalk among pinesAfter the boardwalk ends, return to the spot with the creekside picnic table and caretaker’s home. Turn left to walk among the saw palmetto and slash pines; a smattering of wiregrass grows beneath them.
Passing a bench, the park boundary fence is on the left and tall saw palmetto on the right. Emerge at the turnaround for the parking area within sight of the Steffee Homestead farmhouse at 1.3 miles.
FarmhouseTrail Map
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