I love to hike and combining that with wild food foraging and primitive camping makes me one happy outdoors man. Over the past couple week I have been exploring the CREW hiking trail system. Although I hike these often I wanted to dig deeper into the connections these trails have with others. These connections extend the hiking trails significantly while also offering a more diverse hiking experience.
On my last outing I spent a couple hours on the Cypress Dome trail which offers six miles of well-marked loop trails. These scenic hiking trails wind through pine flat-woods, oak hammocks, wet prairie, slough, and two beautiful cypress domes. Most trails are flat grass and sand at ground level but seasonally wet in low spots. This trail also connects to Caracara Prairie Preserve which is owned and maintained by Conservation Collier and offers an additional two point seven mile loop.
The trail offers a nice parking area with trail information and maps which are located at the trailhead. There is also one port-a-potty located just as you get started on the trail. As is normally the case there is no running water or trash cans. There are many benches located along the hiking trail and picnic tables are in and near the campsite as well as on the Wild Coffee Trail. Primitive camping is available by reservation and should be reserved well in advance. Although the trails are free to use there is a donation box just inside the gate with a suggested donation of three dollars.
As you hike through these scenic trails you may see a variety of wildlife including deer, alligator, and a variety of bird species. Depending on the time of year you will also find a wide variety of wildflowers and edible plants. The edible plant species include blueberries, smilax, green briar, Biden’s Alba, just to name a few. On one day trip Dozer and I stopped and cooked up a wild foraged tea to enjoy while taking int he calming silence and beautiful scenery
Scenes From The Trail
