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Unusual pine forest

Jack C. Watson Wildlife Trail

Rare pine rockland and rockland tropical hammock are key habitats for Key deer along this immersive interpretive loop on Big Pine Key.

National Key Deer Refuge  |  Big Pine Key
( 24.7060, -81.3800 )      0.8 miles

We can thank the namesake of the Jack C. Watson Wildlife Trail for bringing Key deer back from the edge of extinction.

The tale starts with hunters who’d worried poaching was deciminating the deer population.

Key deer A Key deer doe near Blue Hole


In the early 1950s, the Boone and Crockett Club, a venerable sportsmans’ organization, donated funds to U.S. Fish and Wildlife to cover a game warden’s salary.

Hired to guard against poachers, Watson was named the first manager of National Key Deer Refuge before it was even established.

Trail marker in tropical forest Marker honoring Jack Watson at the start of the trail


Carried on after his death, Watson’s strategies to eliminate poaching and protect deer from cars helped the population grow from 50 to more than 300 between 1954 and 1975.

Taken after Hurricane Irma, the last population count estimates around 950 deer throughout the Lower Keys.

Man in red looking at a palm tree his height John admiring a thatch palm along the Watson Trail


Resources

Resources for exploring the area

50 Hikes in South Florida book cover South Florida Explorers Guide book cover 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: Big Pine Key
Length: 0.8 mile loop
Trailhead: 24.7094, -81.3824
Address: Key Deer Blvd
Fees: Free
Restroom: None
Land manager: National Key Deer Refuge
Phone: 305-872-0774

Open daily from a half hour before sunrise to a half hour after sunset. Repellent is a must.

Bicycles are not permitted on the trail, and pets are not advised so as not to scare away wildlife.

Report wildlife emergencies such as injured or dead Key deer or aggressive animals to Florida FWC immediately at 888-404-3922; press Monroe County extension.

White path under tall gangly pines

Stay within the marked path to avoid brushing into poisonwood or manchineel.

Poisonwood is found all over Big Pine Key and along this trail, and is much more irritating than poison ivy. With toxic sap, manchineel (Hippomane mancinella) is less common but also present in this forest.

Both tropical trees bear fruit, an important food source for endangered white-crowned pigeons. However, their fruit is deadly to humans.

Manchineel leaves Manchineel leaves are similar to poisonwood but larger and rounder


Directions

 
From US 1, follow Key Deer Boulevard past the shopping center. Pay attention to the speed limits as they are slow for a reason: you may see Key deer cross the road along this stretch, especially at dusk and dawn. The turnoff for the parking area is on the left past Blue Hole, 3.2 miles from the shopping center.

Hike

A map is displayed at the Wildlife Trails kiosk. Start at the sign honoring Jack Watson. Surface limestone outcrops all around you as the trail curves left past a stand of poisonwood.

Unlike the Keys to their north, the ancient reef rock under the Lower Keys is overlain with a layer of oolitic Miami limestone, like the bedrock of the Everglades.

Sign with name and silhouette of Jack Watson Start of the Watson Trail


Exposed limestone dissolves into a rough karst landscape of pinnacles and solution holes where pine rocklands thrive.

Stay right at the fork to begin the loop, which leads into an expanse of pine rocklands.

White path into pine and palm forest Pine rocklands


The spindly pines are known as Dade County pine and are extremely resistant to insects and rot, which made them a prime target for logging by early settlers in South Florida.

The extremely rocky floor of the pineland frustrated those same settlers, who used dynamite to destroy it.

Rough limestone and poisonwood foreground to pines Poisonwood predominates in the understory


While this habitat once stretched across what is now Miami-Dade County, it is now as endangered as the deer themselves.

National Key Deer Refuge protects more than 80% of the remaining pine rocklands of the Florida Keys.

rocky pine forest Pine rocklands along the Watson Trail


The tropical understory contains poisonwood, wax myrtle, scattered thatch palms, and occasional silver palms.

Both species of palms are very small compared to the cabbage palms commonly found elsewhere across Florida.

Silver palm fronds up close Silver palms at eye level


The trail turns past a side road that leads into another part of the refuge. As the trail curves, you see a sparkle of water through the underbrush.

A quarter mile in, freshwater wetlands accumulate in rocky depressions in the rugged karst terrain.

White footpath through plain of low vegetation Entering the wetlands


These solution holes trap rainfall, providing critical freshwater resources for the Key deer and cool microclimates where ferns and orchids grow.

Alligators are known to live throughout these wetlands, so be alert as you walk through the sawgrass.

water filled depression Water in a solution hole


Mosquitofish swim in the shallows, chowing down on mosquito larvae.

The trail rises, slightly elevated to prevent flooding. Deer trails are broken through the underbrush.

White path heading towards treeline Leaving the wetlands for higher ground


Notice the wonderful quiet, just the breeze (or Key deer) rustling through the palmetto fronds.

Buttonwoods grow out of a series of solution holes leading to the edge of a tropical hardwood hammock, which affords some patches of shade.

Man in red smiling at forest John watching wildlife in the tropical hammock


At a half mile, curve left past a satinleaf tree and some thatch palms. A cabbage palm rises out of a deep solution hole.

The landscape opens up into pine rocklands with a rugged rocky forest floor and scattered solution holes filled with water. Sawgrass grows along their edges.

Crooked trees in pine forest Back into the pine rockland habitat


Cross a culvert over a mosquito control ditch etched into this rugged landscape.

Past another small collection of silver palms, reach the end of the loop and continue straight ahead. At 0.8 mile, exit to the Wildlife Trails trailhead.

Interpretive sign and bridge over ditch Mosquito ditch near the end of the trail


Trail Map

Map of trails on Big Pine Key, National Key Deer Refuge
Mannillo Trail in yellow. Watson Trail in red. Blue Hole in blue.

Explore More!

Learn more about National Key Deer Refuge

Key deer peering out of palm fronds

National Key Deer Refuge

Established in 1957 to prevent the extinction of the diminutive Key deer, National Key Deer Refuge spans 84,351 acres across 25 islands in the Lower Keys.


Slideshow

See our photos of the Watson Trail


Nearby Adventures

More worth exploring while you’re in this area.

White path between palms

Fredrick C. Mannillo Jr. Nature Trail

Key deer browse the understory of a pine rockland explored on this short accessible interpretive trail within National Key Deer Refuge.

Open water edged by tropical plants in Florida Keys

Blue Hole

For the easiest wildlife watching at National Key Deer Refuge, visit the trail and observation deck at Blue Hole, a cenote-like pond that is the largest body of fresh water in the Florida Keys.

1943 carved in concrete railroad bridge over mangroves

Overseas Heritage Trail, Lower Keys

38.0 miles. Between Key West and Bahia Honda Key, this segment of the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail crosses many historic railroad bridges in view of mangrove-lined shores.

Palms along iconic beachfront at Bahia Honda Key

Bahia Honda State Park

Long known for its natural beaches, Bahia Honda State Park continues to heal after the ravages of Hurricane Irma stripped much of its tropical vegetation

Official Website

Category: Loop Hikes, Nature Trails, Southeast FloridaTag: Big Pine Key, Birding, Botanical, Florida Keys, National Key Deer Refuge, National Wildlife Refuges, Wildlife Viewing

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Our recent park & trail updates in this region

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