WATER & COAST

Shell Mound Beach

Levy County · Gulf Coast

The Shell Mound unit of the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge, at 17650 SW 78th Place, about nine miles north of Cedar Key. The Shell Mound Trail is a loop of just under four tenths of a mile that winds around a Native American shell midden and opens out onto the salt marsh, and the Dennis Creek Trail runs from the same unit with boardwalks, benches and views over uplands, tidal creeks and marsh. There is a fishing and observation deck and a boat ramp. Watch the mudflats for American avocets and marbled godwits. Open all year, sunrise to sunset, and free. No camping and no overnight parking anywhere in the refuge.