Hike in Jonathan Dickinson State Park

 Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Hi Blog!

On the road again! After leaving CB Smith Park in Pembroke Pines, we drove north to Stuart, Florida to spend some great time with dear friends. We camped in Phipps Park, a Martin County park, situated on the banks of the Okeechobee Waterway. During our stay we visited Jonathan Dickinson State Park. The 10,500-acre park is named for Jonathan Dickinson, a Quaker merchant whose vessel shipwrecked nearby in 1696. During World War II, the land the park now occupies was home to Camp Murphy, a top-secret radar training school with over 6,600 men. The land became a state park in 1950.

Jonathan Dickinson has an extensive trail system encompassed within the park's 16 natural communities. However, recent rains have left many of the trail underwater. After talking with the park ranger, we picked a five mile trail that circles Hobe Mountain, an ancient sand dune

The volunteers of the Florida Trail Association help maintain the trails within the park. The Florida National Scenic Trail is a 1,500 mile federally designated trail beginning at Big Cypress National Preserve and ending at Gulf Islands National Seashore. A nine mile section of the Florida Trail crosses Jonathan Dickinson State Park. However, this section is currently underwater.

Our trail traversed a coastal sand pine scrub region. While only 20 percent of the park is sand pine scrub, this area contains more rare and endangered species -- like the Florida scrub-jay, Florida mouse and gopher frog -- than the rest of the park.

We noticed a clutch of recently hatched caterpillars getting ready to dine on some live oak leaves.

While dune areas are usually pretty dry, the recent rains have caused a wildflower bloom.

These were our favorite.

The Florida sand pines have cool cone patterns.

A hiking blog would not be complete if we didn't include at least one note of an encounter with a "fun" guy.

We hiked up and down a series of dunes. In between the dunes, small pockets of water allow more flowers to bloom in the sandy soil.

The local boy scout troop created a rest area at the half-way point.

The sandy environment reminded us more of Arizona than Florida. This cactus and other like it just proved our point.

During World War II, Camp Murphy, a top-secret radar training school, occupied the land that is now Jonathan Dickinson State Park. More than 1,000 buildings quickly sprang up from the scrub.  The camp had its own power plants, sewer system, church and theater. Most of the buildings were removed, but there are still sections of the old roads and some of the old foundations are visible from the observation platform we climbed (see below). Many of those roads are part of the park's extensive bike path system.  Our own trail was blazed green, and even though we shared this road section with bicycles, we didn't run into any.

Part of our hike paralleled the new Brightline train tracks. Brightline is the only privately owned and operated intercity passenger railroad in the United States. It started in March 2012 and and began revenue service in January 2018.

The trains carry passengers from Miami to Orlando. The Siemens Charger engine is a diesel-electric/dual-mode locomotive designed and manufactured by Siemens Mobility. The trains travel at speeds from 80 to 125 mph.  The train we saw, below, whizzed by so fast that we almost missed getting a photo.

We found a shady spot for lunch. The scrub jay kept an eye on us.

The final section of our hike brought us to a small lake.

As we walked around the lakeshore, we passed right next to a red shouldered hawk. He was not pleased at our proximity and flew further down the trail.

We stopped on a small boardwalk to see if we could spot more wildlife.

The last section of the lakeshore trail was completely underwater. Our hiking boots did the best they could, but with water over our ankles we couldn't avoid wet socks.

After squishing back to our Jeep, we drove over to the Hobe Mountain Observation Tower. The Hobe Mountain Trail is a short boardwalk that climbs up through the scrub community to the observation tower, with commanding views of the entire park and surrounding area.

Hobe Mountain stands 86 feet above sea level. It is the highest natural point south of Lake Okeechobee. Hobe Mountain was once submerged in the Atlantic Ocean and as sea levels rose and fell the mountain was formed by high winds and the crashing of ocean waves. Hobe Mountain is part of the Atlantic Coastal Ridge, a series of dunes and hills which parallel the Southeastern Florida coastline. From our vantage point we could see the Intercoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean beyond.

A trip to Stuart, Florida would not be complete without a trip to Terra Fermata, a scrumptious dinner, a listen to some good music, and our annual Red Chair Photo. Thank you George, Nan, Jim and Nanc for a great visit!