Saw this trail while riding my e-bike on the Island. Decided to try it out. It's quite short but…read moretotally cool. Starts at Beachwalk-Pasley Beach and ends at Bryn Mawr Beach where it opens up to the ocean. Ride under the sea grapes, mangroves and maritime hammock and end up sitting on the beach watching the waves roll in. Totally cool!!

Hutchinson Island is situated off the coasts of Martin and St. Lucie counties, bordered by the…read moreAtlantic Ocean on the east and the Indian River on the west. It is a prime destination for fishing, boating, watersports, and relaxing on the miles of uncrowded beaches. I discovered the Hutchinson Island Coastal trail in Beachwalk Pasley Park. It is a natural earth walking trail that runs parallel to the beach. The trail takes you from Beachwalk Pasley Beach Park to Bob Graham Beach. There is a sign marking each end of the trail making it easy to locate in the parks. As you walk the shaded trail you go through beach dune, coastal strand, maritime hammock and mangrove habitats. The walk takes approximately 12 minutes between the two parks. During my walk I saw a lot of butterflies and lizards. While the walk is very pretty it was extremely hot on the day I visited. I recommend saving it for a cooler day.

The Maggy of Maggy's Hammock was environmentalist and long time county Martin County commissioner,…read moreMaggy Hurchalla. Before being renamed in Maggy's honor this was known as Rocky Point Hammock. This is a 22 acre natural conservation area consisting of scrub and maritime hammock communities. Scrub habitats are particularly endangered in Florida. They used to cover many miles but have been reduced to small patches since they occur at higher elevations which is exactly where developers like to build. This park is like walking back in time to before Florida was turned into strip malls and subdivisions. There is a paved trail that is ADA accessible and leads to a picnic area and playground. Along the presenter of the hammock is a one mile natural earth loop trail. As you walk along the trails you will see gumbo limbo trees nicknamed the tourist tree because the peeling bark looks like sunburn. Also look for white stopper known for its skunk like smell, the thorny acacia, oak and paradise trees, slash pines, strangler fig, wild coffee, beauty berry, resurrection ferns, hickory, the white blooming marlberry, Florida and scrub rosemary, wild lime, and saw palmetto. The large number of berry producing plants attracts an assortment songbirds. Look for them in the trees. This park is part of the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail. On the ground you may be able to spot the state protected gopher tortoises. The destruction of their habitat has dealt a blow to their population. I was excited to see two tortoises walking around the preserve. Although I can form easily spot their burrows I rarely see them walking around as they spend up to 80 percent of their time burrowed under dry sandy ground. I loved my walk through this natural area. Martin County has 93,000 acres parks and preserves to explore and it is always fun to discover a new one. A visit to Twin Rivers Park a half a mile away is also well worth your time. There is a gorgeous view of the St. Lucie River and the chance to spot even more gopher tortoises.

The Gomez Preserve Nature Trail is a 61 acre preserve that was purchased in 1992 by Martin County…read more In the early 1900's, it was the site of a Bahamian settlement along the Indian River Lagoon where some of the earliest inhabitants of the Hobe Sound area lived. There is no parking at this preserve. It lies between Seabranch Preserve and Peck Lake Park so you would have to park at one of those and bike or hike about a mile over. The nature trail directly connects to the paved portion of the East Coast Greenway, which goes directly through Seabranch Preserve State Park. The East Coast Greenway is a 17.6 mile trail that connects Port St. Lucie, Jensen Beach, Stuart, Port Salerno, and Hobe Sound. The hard packed shellrock Gomez Preserve Nature Trail is a .3 mile loop. There is a picnic pavilion at the north end and a shaded bench at the south end of the preserve. Along the trail you will find several sets of exercise equipment that uses your body weight to work out. Animals that make their home here include raccoons, bobcats, gopher tortoise, osprey, and song birds. The trail traverses through pine and palm flatwoods, pine trees, and cabbage palms. I enjoyed a peaceful walk through the preserve and I appreciated that most of the trail was shaded. This is an easy hike suitable for all abilities and fitness levels. It is also ideal for cyclists. Leashed dogs are welcome. The only negative was the flying insects. I recommend mosquito spray before you hit the trail and bring water.

A quiet park with trails along the river and a nice playground for kids. Dog friendly walks.read more

I went here with my sister and her three children and we had a good time! This park is smaller but…read moreit's a great size for children and it seems like it is well maintained! My niece and nephews enjoyed themselves and I love to see great parks in an area! It's an important resource! I loved the sailfish detail on the turf as well! I hope I'm able to come back to this park one day!

Less than 24 hours after being back in my hometown for the first time in years, I knew a beach trip…read morewas necessary. After driving around the island for a bit with the windows down, I pulled into Bryn Mawr Beach on a cool and breezy February day. Located on Hutchinson Island and three beaches north of popular Stuart Beach, Bryn Mawr is a great option for those looking for a remote and low key experience. There's usually parking available, while only being a stones throw away from walking up the beach. Obviously, it's cooler this time of year. Well for Florida, right? So I didn't spend the whole day laying on the beach like I normally would due to the cool breeze in the air. However, I walked the whole beach and it was just perfect. With winter in Colorado in full swing, this was the break I didn't know I needed until I set my toes in the sand. If you're looking to do more people watching, go to Stuart Beach just a mile away. Want something chill instead? Check out Bryn Mawr, a tucked away hidden paradise.

During WWII this area was used for the training and landing of airplanes as well as bombing…read morepractice from the air. In the 1970's the first development in the area began with the Bryn Mawr CampResort. Bryn Mawr means large hill in Welsh. Today the Bryn Mawr beach is one of the many lovely beaches on Hutchinson Island. It is located one mile south of Jensen Beach on A1A. It is known for good fishing and as a popular place to see wildlife. The Beach is pet friendly and parking is free. From the parking it is a short walk up a hill to a boardwalk carries you over the dunes to one of the top 10 beaches in the country as reported by Travel magazine. Whether you want to fish, surf, fly a kite or just sit in a beach chair this is a beautiful beach to relax and recharge.

This is a four acre park at the base of the Palm City Bridge. It was named in honor of Charles…read moreLeighton, a businessman and county commissioner who passed away in 1980, at age 66. Charles Leighton Park has stunning views of the south fork of the St. Lucie River. It sits on a shallow lagoon making it perfect for rowing, kayaking and stand-up paddle boarding. An ADA accessible dock funded by the Martin County Redevelopment Agency and the Florida Inland Navigation District was added in 2016. It allows for easier access to the water by non motorized crafts. The Treasure Coast Rowing Club is located in the park and makes use of this amenity. You can also launch your motorized boat. The park has a restroom for everyone's convenience. In addition to boating recreation, this park is also popular for fishing and taking sunrise photos over the water. Even though I wasn't boating I was still able to walk out over the water on the fishing pier. This is a really nice spot to enjoy the river.

This popular park in Jensen Beach was named in honor of Frances Langford (1913-2005). Frances…read moreLangford was a popular singer, radio performer, and actress in the 1930's through the 1950's. She was also a boater and fisherwoman. Langford's first singing performance was staged in Lakeland. The classically-trained opera singer had a tonsillectomy in her teens, and she retrained her vocal style to the big band type of music that was popular at the time. Langford was discovered by Rudy Vallee while performing on a Tampa radio station. She worked on the radio with Vallee, Dick Powell, and Bob Hope. Her first film was Every Night at Eight (1935) which featured her singing I'm in the Mood for Love. Her other films included Yankee Doodle Dandy and The Glenn Miller Story. During WWII Frances Langford worked with the USO and traveled through North Africa and the South Pacific to visit injured GI's. She became known as the GI Nightingale. Her weekly newspaper column, "Purple Heart Diary," told of those visits and urged public support for injured soldiers. Of her time visiting the troops Langford said ""The greatest thing in my life was entertaining the troops." Langford's war-related papers can be found at the Institute on World War II at Florida State University. In 1955 she moved to Jensen Beach with her second husband Ralph Evinrude to live out her dream, Frances Langford's Outrigger Resort, where she had cottages, a restaurant, and a marina. In 1948, Frances donated 20 acres of her estate for the creation of this park. Lanford Park is located just south of the historic Stuart Welcome Arch. The park is home to the Vince Bocchino Community Center that has a kitchen and meeting space. It can be rented for private events like shower and weddings, and hosts programs that include summer camp and the Jensen After School Experience. There is also the Log Cabin Senior Center that hosts many senior programs and activities like light exercise and art classes. Other park amenities include restrooms, a playground currently closed for remodeling, four baseball diamonds, a concession stand, two basketball courts, four tennis courts, four racquetball courts, two sand volleyball courts, eleven picnic pavilions, and the newest addition, four pickleball courts. Connected to the park by a sidewalk path through the ball fields is the Pat Mark Rio-Jensen Skate Park. I enjoyed walking the park for exercise. This well maintained recreational facility brings the community of Jensen Beach together. It is a great place for play, exercise, sports, picnics, or just hanging outside enjoying the beautiful weather.

Beautiful scenery all around! When they have outdoor concerts there, it's a fantastic venue. The…read moreold mansion on the hill is cool, too!

Tropical Farms is a neighborhood in Stuart, Florida. Way back in 1910, this area was a convict…read morecamp, part of the convict camps that began in the deep South in the late 1800s. By the early 1900's they grew in number to provide laborers for industries such as logging, phosphate mining, farming, railroad building, sawmills and turpentine production. Private industries leased the men from the state for a fee and had to provide them with shelter, food, and medical care. A few years later the Tropical Farms camp moved south to Delray Beach to clear roads. The camps were abolished in the 1920's after investigations revealed abuse of prisoners. Today this area remains rural with farms and many people owning horses. The Tropical Farms Park is a basic neighborhood park located next to Tropical Farms Fire Station 22. The fenced in park has amenities that include a large open field, covered pavilions with picnic tables and grills, and a playground with swings, slides, and climbing structures. This park is good for picnics, cookouts, and play.