Spread over 9,200 acres in the Lower Keys, the refuge was established in 1957 to protect the near-extinct Key deer. Key deer are the world’s smallest deer, so tiny a newborn fawn fits in cupped hands. A full-grown buck stands waist-high to the average hiker. The Key deer population hit an all-time low of 50 individuals in 1947, but conservation efforts have allowed the herd to grow to more than 800 deer today.
As in all National Wildlife Refuges, all roads not posted “Area Beyond This Sign Closed” are open to hikers. But this refuge goes one step better. At the visitor’s center on Big Pine Key (in the Winn Dixie Plaza on Key Deer Boulevard), both the park brochure and the flyer “National Key Deer Refuge Hiking and Bicycling Trails,” explain how to access trails on other Keys along US 1. Staff will also provide specific hiking advice.
The Hiking Trails of Big Pine Key
North on Key Deer Boulevard from the visitor’s center is Blue Hole, site of the first short trail. The rocky limestone karst of Big Pine Key holds fresh water like a sponge. By exposing the fresh water lens in the karst, the Blue Hole, a former quarry, is the primary source of fresh water for the wildlife of Big Pine Key. A short trail leads to an observation deck, good for watching deer coming down to the water to drink.
A little farther up the road, at the “Wildlife Trails” sign, are two hiking trails providing 1.1 miles of meandering through the pine rocklands. It’s an eerie landscape of stunted slash pines and bare karst with solution holes. The Fred Manillo Trail is wheelchair-accessible and an easy out and back walk. The adjoining Jack Watson Nature Trail takes a more rugged approach, skirting solution holes and zigzagging through stands of poisonwood. Long sleeves and long pants are recommended on this and other trails, as poisonwood is one of the primary components of the tropical hardwood hammocks—and its sticky oozing sap is ten times as irritating as poison ivy.
Lower Keys Hikes Explore Tropical Habitats
More than 16 miles of trails are scattered across five of the lower Florida Keys in the National Key Deer Refuge. Remains of old roads provide the footpaths for these trails, but none of the trails are blazed. All are open to biking, and those on Cudjoe Key and Upper Sugarloaf Key are better for bike trips because of the lack of shade. On No Name Key, the old road starting across from Paradise Drive leads through dense tropical hammocks where deer browse. The trail off Long Beach Road on Big Pine Key ends up at a secluded beach after 0.6 mile. On Lower Sugarloaf Key, the trail is a wild and wooly 8-mile round trip on the original Overseas Highway, a narrow strip between mangrove forests, the pavement now eroding into the forest floor.
Endangered Species a Lower Keys Delight
On all of the trails of the National Key Deer Refuge, it’s best to pause and look at the details. In addition to the diminutive Key deer, there are other endangered species, including the silver rice rat and the Lower Keys marsh rabbit, in these dense tropical forests. Look closely at tree limbs and leaves for colorfully banded tree snails, once collected to near-extinction. The refuge abounds in natural wonders. Its hiking trails enable visitors to enjoy the unique habitats of the lower Florida Keys up close and personal.
More details about these hikes are in the guidebook 50 Hikes in South Florida, available at Amazon.com.
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