Hiking near Port St. Lucie, Florida

We walked the connector trail to the Blue Heron Trail continuing on to the Scrub Jay Trail. We then continued beside the St. Lucie River along the Otter Trail. At the canoe dock we didn't see any alligators, but did see a fish. We then took the Gopher Tortoise Trail back to the parking lot. Just before coming out of the scrub pines we were met on the trail by a gopher...

We hiked 3 miles of trails at Oxbow Eco-Center. It was really tough on Riley, but he did great! The sad thing is he came to see the gopher tortoise and we didn't get to see any... he was disappointed.

This is a hike in a little known state park. Access is limited to ~30 people per day. It is mostly a wetlands area, and is a great place to see birds that wade or dive for their food. Of course there are deer, raccoons, armadillos, snakes, bobcats and feral pigs here too. Eventually, this park will be over 20,000 acres, if the state manages to find the money to purchase all...

St. Lucie Village Heritage Park has some nice trails and the map was marked with areas describing different flora natural to the region. Molly and I really enjoyed all the trees that provided great shade on this hot day. 

Hiked Indrio Scrub with Molly. The trail is not marked very well and due to some downed trees we got lost for a bit. While trying to make our way back on the trail we came across a Gopher Tortoise. The story about the tortoise and the hare is complete nonsense... this tortoise would give the hare a run for his money!

Saw a couple turtles and a bunch of lizards