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Sandhill wireweed

Lake Wales Ridge

South of Lake Apopka, the Lake Wales Ridge is a significant landform down the middle of the Florida peninsula, with its highest hills and oldest biological communities

Big Bay Trail

Trail tunnel between sand live oaks

Lake Wales Ridge State Forest  |  Frostproof
( 27.760020, -81.465255 )      4.5 miles

Traversing sandhill, pine flatwoods, and bayhead habitats, the Big Bay Trail offers a one mile loop with an optional 1.7-mile spur trail featuring two primitive campsites.

Bok Tower Gardens

Reflecting pool with palms

Lake Wales      ( 27.91773, -81.56598 )      3.8 miles

Art, architecture, and nature intersect among fifty acres of gardens first planted a century ago atop Iron Mountain at Lake Wales.

Buster Island Loop

White blazed tree and trail into forest

Lake Kissimmee State Park  |  Lake Wales
( 27.9401, -81.3586 )      6.9 miles

The 6.9-mile Buster Island Loop at Lake Kissimmee State Park is a favorite for both day hikers and backpackers, as it shows off a variety of habitats along the open prairies

Catfish Creek Preserve State Park

Prairie basin with tall orange grasses

Lake Wales      ( 27.984103,-81.497243 )      10.2 miles

At Catfish Creek Preserve State Park, the steep ridges of blinding white sand are some of Florida’s most ancient landscapes, an unusual and unique natural area for Central Florida

Clermont

Lakeshore with cypresses

With some of Central Florida’s highest elevations, Clermont is where the Lake Wales Ridge meets the edge of the Green Swamp, west of Orlando.

Crooked Lake Prairie

Crooked Lake Prairie

Frostproof      ( 27.806483, -81.559483 )      3.6 miles

With an interlinking network of loop trails, Crooked Lake Prairie is a refreshing excursion into habitats found on the high hills of the Lake Wales Ridge

Crooked River Preserve

Crooked River Preserve

Clermont      ( 28.507938, -81.750393 )      1.7 miles

On a 1.7-mile loop, Crooked River Preserve showcases a wide variety of habitats in a short hike on the northernmost extent of the Lake Wales Ridge in Clermont

Ferndale Preserve

Ferndale Preserve

Lake Apopka  |  Ferndale
( 28.625886,-81.700286 )      2.1 miles

On Lake Apopka’s western shore, Ferndale Preserve offers amazing panoramas of Florida’s fourth largest lake, along with serious elevation changes on its four miles of multi-use trails

Frostproof

Sandhill habitat on a ridge

Edged by expansive state forests and wildlife management lands, Frostproof boasts a large concentration of trails in the southeastern corner of Polk County.

Hickory Lake Scrub

Hickory Lake Scrub

Frostproof      ( 27.697283, -81.536783 )      0.7 miles

Nestled along the eastern shore of Hickory Lake, Hickory Lake Scrub is a 57-acre preserve showcasing some of the unusual plants you can only find on the Lake Wales Ridge

Jack Creek Tract, Lake Wales Ridge WEA

Grassy footpath lined with lyonia under pines

Lake Wales Ridge WEA  |  Sebring
( 27.380074, -81.424890 )      3.9 miles

The remarkably unique Florida scrub habitat is on display at the Jack Creek Tract of Lake Wales Ridge WEA, home to rare endemic species.

Lake June-in-Winter Scrub Preserve State Park

Two track through scrub forest

Lake Placid      ( 27.296511,-81.424338 )      

Protecting 845 acres of the whitest, brightest sand on the Lake Wales Ridge, Lake June-in-Winter Scrub Preserve State Park has one of the highest concentrations of rare plants in North America.

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