Hiking the Dupuis Wildlife Management Area

Today was beautiful and not too warm, so we decided to do an 8 mile hike in the DuPuis Wildlife Management Area, east of Lake Okeechobee.  The property is interspersed with numerous ponds, wet prairies, cypress domes, pine flatwoods and remnant Everglades marsh.  A 15-mile section of the Florida Trail stretches through the area from east to west.

The South Florida Water Management District acquired the property in 1986 to protect the sources of drinking water for Miami and Southeast Florida.  Before the District acquired the property, it was a working ranch for Dutch white-belted cattle, sheep and goats.  Now, the ranchland is going back to nature, and the District manages it to protect the wild species of animals and plants that occupy it.

Twenty-two miles of trails loop through the area.  We chose to hike two of the loops.

Here we are at the entrance to the area:

Our trail is signed to show that it's part of the Florida Trail:

The hiking trails wind through pine highlands, interspersed with wetlands and prairie.  Here is how the land looked as we entered the area:



Some sections became very dense, with saw palmettos, ferns, species of laurel and azalea, loblolly and longleaf pine,  and bushes reminiscent of blueberry:

Other areas were open plans or wetlands:

Kathy spotted an orange tree and picked one of the fruits --

-- then opened it to show the familiar fruit.  It was a bit sour, but very tasty and refreshing:



While the area is populated by feral hogs, Florida panther and others, we didn't see those dramatic species.  We did, however, see some beautiful butterflies --

-- and some black bear scat, as well as extensive rooting evidence of the feral hogs.

More common were delicate wildflowers:

Kathy admired the baby longleaf pines as they popped up through the groundcover:

There were one or two wet areas, and even a small stream with a log crossing:

 
The Area maintains formal campsites, and we inspected one, which was quite primitive.  The only evidence that it was a campground was -- of course -- a sign, the campfire ring, and in the background under one of the trees, a discarded tent and tentpoles:

We finally spotted a local hawk who flew along our path for some distance, patrolling his territory. Here, he is perching and screeching, seemingly uncaring about our intrusion into his territory:

This area of Florida is replete with fire ants.  We found a particularly good example of a fire ant mound:

The day was breezy but the sun was strong.  By the time we finished our hike, we were ready to head back to the campground and enjoy a hot tub dip before happy hour.  Tomorrow we bicycle again!