Florida Day Seven: Hiking On Familiar Trails In Key Largo And Some New Ones In Sunrise Florida

I like to get up early to watch the sunrise when I am traveling.  However, in Key Largo, where I spent two night on my recent visit to the Everglades and South Florida, there are not many public  places  where you can watch it rise.  I found  a new one  on Friday  morning, my last day in Key Largo.    I planned to hike in the  Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park again. I usually hike to the Port Bougainville primitive camping area on the Florida Bay  in the park to watch it rise.

However, on  my visit to the park on Thursday I saw a road next to the parking lot  was closed.  So I drove  to the Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park   parking lot  and walk on    Loquat Road.  I follow  the closed road  toward the Florida Bay.

I met a man walking his dog and he said the road lead to a residential development and was open to the public. On my walk I came across this interesting piece of Key Largo history. A  canon from the Spanish treasure ship  El Capitan  that was wrecked in a1733 hurricane is displayed  in the front yard of a residence here.

I continued my walk for about a 1/2 mile and came to a path that took  me to the Florida Bay and another beautiful Florida sunrise. I hope to watch many sunrise from this location in the future.

I left the bay and hiked back to the parking lot, seeing a pair of red-bellied woodpeckers on a utility pole on  the way.

I entered the Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park.

and walked through the hardwood  hammock forest,

as the rays of the rising sun shone on the gumbo-limbo  and other trees along the trail.

This time I didn’t walk to the Florida Bay this morning,

instead I walked to the more open meadows and mangrove trees grew near the ocean.

It was another  cool morning but the strong Florida sun quickly warmed the cool morning air.

I  again walked past the poison wood and other trees on one side of the trails,

and the mangroves on the other.  Once again, as on my entire trip to Florida this year, I did not see single mosquito.

There were few birds singing on the tree tops in the morning sun, including a northern cardinal,

 an eastern phoebe,

and colorful prairie warbler.

I  only hike out to the trail that led to the wetlands . was leaving Key Largo and driving to a new part of Florida I hadn’t visited before, Sunrise, near the Everglades west of Fort Lauderdale so I  cut my hike short and headed back to my Jeep.

On the way I saw a few wildflowers blooming along the trail including a pretty morning glory,

gumhead

and lantana flowers.

I finished my 2 1/2 mile in the hardwood  hike in the hardwood hammock. I was a bit disappointed I didn’t see more wildlife on  my hikes in Key Largo or the Everglades this year. It was still a beautiful place to hike and  even the cool Florida temperatures were better then the frigid cold and snow back home in Pennsylvania.  I  drove back to my hotel  and packed quickly.    Here is a link to a gallery on my website with some more photos from my morning hike. Florida Day Seven: Key Largo morning hike. February 13 2026.

I checked out early and began my  1 1/2 hour drive to Sunrise. I wanted to explore some parks and trails here.   I decided to take a back road when I reached Homestead and to find a place for breakfast on the way. I ran into a lot of traffic on Route and then when the highway left the town, I found no place to eat until I got to Sunrise.   It was early afternoon  when I had a quick breakfast at the Doubltree Hotel where I was staying.

I checked into the hotel, put my luggage in my room  and was soon driving through the busy streets of Sunrise. I was  headed  to to the  Markham Park on the edge of the city near the  edge of the Everglades.   I was surprised how developed the area was. Looking only on the maps I thought being next to the Everglades there would be  little development in the area. I was very wrong . I drove a few miles through heavy traffic past many corporate business centers, hotels and restaurants. the traffic. The  city was congested .When I got to the Markham Park   I found it was also busy.    Most of the parking area were filled.  I left my Jeep I walked  under the mid afternoon sun into the park.

There were a lot of people of all ages on the trails.  I walked into the the Butterfly Garden hoping to see some butterflies, birds and lizards. I  only saw  a two  butterflies,

this  zebra longing butterfly,   the state butterfly of Florida. On past visits to Florida I have seen hundreds of these butterflies on my hikes in the Everglades and Keys, This was the first one I saw this year.

I also saw a  white peacock  butterfly, also very  common on previous visits to Florida but the first  one I saw this year. . I was hoping to see some birds here but there were none in the mid afternoon sun and heat. The temperature was  now near 80 degrees.

I left the park and tried to find the hiking trail I saw on my AllTrails App.   It was along a canal  alomg the edge of the  Everglades.

I walked on a trail through Markham Park and came to the North New River Canal.   It followed Highway 84 and Interstate and  the loud sounds the the heavy traffic  could be heard along the trail.   The North New River Canal was one of 3 canals built in the early 20th century to drain the Everglades and create  land for agriculture and development. It also transported timber and agricultural products from the interior of Florida to the coast.

I followed the canal to a smaller canal, the L35A canal..It was a trail along this canal that I had planned to hike since it was on the edge of the vast river of grass that is/was the Everglades. I walked  along the canal,and,

here I saw a few palm warblers in the vegetation along the trail.

There were some wildflowers blooming along the trail including these white-panicle asters,  

and more colorful lantana flowers.

I soon came to a walkway over the canal. The trail I wanted to hike was on the other side.

I was already out a mile and I also wanted to visit the park so I followed a trail back to the park.

On the way I found a narrow trail that continued along the canal.I followed it through some dense vegetation,

and took me back to the canal.,

before ending in a large campground.  I walked  past the campsites, enjoying the smell of campfires  and the voices of the campers.

In addition to the campers I saw dozens of boat tailed,

and common grackles in the trees in the campgrounds.

I walked over to a scenic lake in the park,

and followed the Lakeside Trail,

into a woodland of large Australian pine trees.

It was now late afternoon, the sun was low in the west,

so I began my hike back to my  Jeep. Once again I was disappointed in not seeing more wildlife.  Here is a link to a gallery on my website with some more photos from my afternoon hike. Florida Day Seven:  Sunrise afternoon  hike. February 13 2026.

I was, as usual, hungry. I decided to try a Peruvian restaurant on my way back to the hotel.  I  stopped at the Embarcadero 41 Sunrise restaurant.  I  had a delicious mea served by a pleasant young lady. I ordered a Peruvian fish soup for a start. It was delicious  but way too much. It was a meal in itself.

I also ordered Tiradito Mediterraneo for my main course. I had them pack it to go. I did save room for dessert, a Peruvian specialty, lucuma miso. It was delicious.  I was full and tired.

I drove through the busy traffic to my hotel. I retired early again. looking forward to one more hike in Sunrise in the Sunshine State before I flew back to frigid Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures. ~Lovelle Drachman