WATER & COAST
Lake June-in-Winter Scrub Preserve State Park
Highlands County · Central Florida
Eight hundred and forty-five acres of white-sand scrub with one of the highest concentrations of rare and endemic plants in North America.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
Lake June-in-Winter Scrub Preserve covers 845 acres near Lake Placid, on the Lake Wales Ridge. The sand here is the whitest and brightest in the region, left from ancient dunes, and it is poor in nutrients, which is exactly why what grows on it grows nowhere else. The preserve holds one of the highest concentrations of rare and endemic plants anywhere in North America, among them scrub hickory, pygmy fringe tree and scrub plum. The Florida scrub-jay lives here, a bird found only in this habitat and in decline everywhere it survives. It is a passive preserve, meaning conservation comes ahead of facilities. Three linked trails, Bobcat, Eagle and Deer, make a 3.2-mile loop along old firelines and ranger roads, with a shorter Tomoka Trail option through fern-lined waterways. The walking is harder than the distance suggests because the sand is deep and soft and there is little shade, so it is not a walk for the middle of the day. It is at 630 Daffodil Street with a vault toilet and a small charge per vehicle, open 8 to sunset. Leashed pets are allowed but discouraged, because of the scrub-jays and the hot sand
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