We took advantage of the perfect South Florida winter weather to take hike in a new place. We went to Yamato Scrub Natural Area in Boca Raton. We didn’t really know what to expect but were pleasantly surprised.
This is a scrub / wetland area (we went in the dry season) and I couldn’t believe how much land there was! 217 acres to be exact!. I am not usually a fan of sand scrub, but this area has some nice sized slash pines and Spanish moss that breaks up the ground cover, and makes the landscape much more interesting! It felt like we were walking back in time, like we might even see a dinosaur among all those palms. (By the way we didn’t).
The multiuse trail (sidewalk) is .5 miles, perfect for those with little ones! If you know your
family can handle longer hikes the other trails are 2.5 (yellow trail markers) and .7 miles (blue traill markers), these are rough trails with roots and scratchy palms so light weight pants and shoes and socks are recommended.
Since we had not planned this little hike, we took the yellow trail not realizing it was longer. There is a fire break in the trail so we cut across until we came to the end of the trail and picked it up again. My daughter was complaining rather loudly by the time we got to the fire break and my husband had a moment of genius! He pulled out his phone, put on the compus and said the “car is parked east find the trail leading east off this trail. Serious, genius! She led the way proudly and loved it! I knew there was a reason I married this man.
If you haven’t taken your family on hike yet, check out my 5 tips for hiking with kids. I have ideas on how to start your kids out birding as well at The place was beautiful and now is the time to head before the mosquito’s regroup for summer!
You can find Yamato Scrub Natural Area at 701 Clint Moore Rd in Boca Raton. The entrance is on the north side of Clint Moore east of Congress Ave.
Click Here for their website it has a list of the plants and animals you might see on your hike as well as a trail map.
Oh, one last bit of advice, the area only has a portable toilet so make sure everyone has gone before you get there. I didn’t go into it, but my husband did and his exact words were “It is not as bad as most, but it is a porta potty.”
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