On our March 2020 trip to Florida we explored more of Lovers Key State Park and followed the Black Island and Eagle Trails within the park. These were both short trails which worked well for us as we explored in the mornings and visited Steve’s mom in the afternoon and evenings.
Location
Black Island Trail and Eagle Trail are both located within Lovers Key State Park near Fort Myers Florida, just off of Estero Boulevard. If you want to go for a longer hike, you can also connect to the beach near the trailheads. You can read more about the beach in my recent post, Return to Lovers Key Beach-Ft Myers, Florida.
Black Island Trail
We followed the signs and were able to park near the trailhead. The trailhead is just off the service road, after a small butterfly park. You can’t miss it. The path is well maintained in addition it is a wide packed dirt trail which is easy to walk on.
Black Island Trail circles around Black Island in a lush area of trees, brush and other vegetation with water around the narrow land. You will find benches along the way and scenic views all around. It is a very peaceful walk and there were few people around when we were there mid morning. This trail is a loop trail and is about 2.5 miles in total. Furthermore, there are 3 areas in which you can cut through to the other side and shorten your hike.
Wildlife
This is Florida, so there are alligator warnings throughout the area. I can’t say I was thrilled about this as I really don’t ever want to meet an alligator on a leisurely walk. We did not see any, which was fine by me.
We did come across this little black snake which I believe is an Eastern Indigo snake. He slithered away before I could get a better photo of him.
If you look close you can see a bird up in the tree. He pretty much ignored us.
My favorite was the Gopher Tortoise. These are burrowing turtles and as you can see make a burrow in the ground to protect them from weather and predators. They are known as keystone species because their holes not only provide shelter for themselves but for over 300 other animal species in the area. The turtle in the photo is an adult because of its dark color. A young turtle is a lighter color.
Eagle Trail
The Eagle Trail at Lovers Key Park is also a loop trail. You can access this by following the service road past the Black Island sign. It’s just a short walk to the trailhead which is well marked.
The Eagle Trail is very similar to the Black Island Trail with the lush green trees and also water views. Although this trail is shorter and is about 1.5 miles.
Conclusion
If you are in the Fort Myers, Florida area and looking for a nice hike, Black Island and Eagle Trails in Lovers Key State Park are great choices. In addition it is nice that your hike can be short or long depending on what you are looking to do. With this in mind, both trails together took us about 2 hours.
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Click on the below links for more posts about the Fort Myers Beach, Florida area:
Return to Lovers Key Beach-Ft Myers, Florida March 2021
A morning walk on Fort Myers Beach March 2021
Fun at Fort Myers Beach in Florida Sept 2015
Sanibel and Captiva Islands Sept 2015