Swampy's Florida

Swampy took The Historic Jungle Trail last week in Indian River County. Swampy took the trail from the entrance at the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge and headed south. The Pelican Island refuge is the first designated in the United States in 1903 by then President Teddy Roosevelt. One hundred years later, in 2003, the adjoining Jungle Trail was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

The trail is unpaved and can be taken by car, bike or foot. This is a pretty typical view of the entire length of nearly 8 miles. The road begun being formed so that farmers could move vegetables and citrus to the Indian River to get shipped out. Today A1A took the place of the old Jungle Trail. We are lucky the trail was maintained, despite the obvious pressures of the condominiums that now line almost half of the trail.

Along the way Swampy came across the Captain Forester Hammock Preserve. Click here to learn more about this preserve. Just beyond the park is a centennial farm designation for the Jones who have farmed in the area for more than 100 years.

This is what is left of the Forester homestead that once stood in this area along with Frank Forester’s vegetable farm.

Along the trail is a wonderful view of the Indian River. Though there is no official public access to the waterway.

There is even a water stop…for dogs! 🙂 The trail ends shortly after the dog water stop along A1A.