Sunday FUNday at Savannas Preserve State Park

Last week’s holiday weekend brought us a true Sunday FUNday since Monday was a day off from work. We decided to go for a morning bike ride at a State Park that is local to us, Savannas Preserve.

Savannas are freshwater marshes and they once extended all along Florida’s southeast coast. Savannas Preserve is the largest and most intact remnant of Florida’s east coast savannas stretching 10 miles from Ft. Pierce to Jensen Beach.

Savannas is comprised of six natural communities: pine flatwoods, wet prairie, basin marsh, marsh lake, sand pine scrub and scrubby flatwoods. The sand pine scrub is a globally imperiled plant community and here you can see rare plants like the prickly apple cactus, Lakela’s mint and four-petal pawpaw.

Savannas Preserve State Park is home to a variety of birds and wildlife including marsh rabbit, deer and yes, alligators. The park is also home to the Gopher Tortoise, one of our favorite native species. We met up with a Gopher Tortoise after our bike ride and he even posed for a photo. Afterwards, he followed Ma to the truck! It was like he wanted to come home with us but we knew better…we left him alone as Gopher Tortoises are a threatened species and are protected under state law.

The Park has over 15 miles of multi-use trails that are great for walking, hiking, horseback riding and biking. You will see in my time-lapse video (which was filmed from my POV) there is little cover or shade on the trails so venturing at this time of year, even in the morning, was hot and exhausting. But I still had FUN!

Savannas Preserve offers opportunities for canoeing and kayaking as well. You can explore on your own or take one of the volunteer-led tours on Friday and Saturday mornings.

The trails at Savannas Preserve State Park are probably best explored during the dry, cooler season so we will definitely go back. We may try a canoe adventure too.

What makes your Sunday a FUNday?