Address:
801 Hollister Rd.
Babson Park
33827
Details:
An open landscape dominated by grasses and wildflowers, the Lake Wales Ridge sandhill features a scattered overstory of longleaf pine and turkey oak trees. The yellow-sand soils and high elevation contain many endangered plant species. Four rare animals thrive here: gopher tortoises, eastern indigo snakes, sand skinks and scrub lizards. Look toward the trees to spot woodpeckers, an occasional osprey and the resident screech owls. You may even see a more common skink trying to blend in with the oak trees bark.
Gallery:
You’ll be sure to enjoy the self-guided trail through a magnificent savanna and an open, airy, pine forest that makes up the endangered sandhill ecosystem. At one point you’re 215 feet above sea level with a spectacular view of Crooked Lake, and at another you’ve dropped off steeply into the depression of an old sinkhole. You can almost always find wildflowers in bloom, with fall being the most colorful time of year.
Owned and managed by Polk County through their Environmental Lands Program, this site was acquired in January 1999 as one of several natural areas purchased to protect important habitat within Polk County. Crooked Lake Sandhill is one of the best remaining examples of the sandhill ecosystem in Polk County. At only 25 acres, this site shelters an impressive number of rare species. The property appears to have escaped logging and is considered “old growth,” with some trees thought to be 200 years old.
Map: