DuPuis Auto Tour
The next "park" to explore in the South Florida Water Management District Recreational Guide is the DuPuis Management Area. We picked a gorgeous day to take the Auto Tour, which starts at Gate 1 and goes for 7 1/2 miles down a dirt road to the fishing pier.
It's a good thing we had already printed out the tour stop descriptions, because there weren't any brochures in the kiosk at the entrance. And I'm not so sure how well-maintained it is currently; several of the markers were missing. So I don't need to worry about copyright issues, I won't include the entire description , but I will give the title. You can look up information on each subject if you so desire.
Stop 1 - Pine Beetle Restoration - This was one of the posts we couldn't find, so this picture doesn't show any damage from pine beetles, but it does make a great place holder.
Stop 2 - Recreation - We took this trail and crossed the road here when we hiked Loop 1 years ago. Apparently, it hasn't seen much use from hikers lately.
Stop 3 - Red Cockaded Woodpecker Reintroduction; Bald Eagles
Stop 4 - Exotic Plant Control
Stop 5 - Fire
Stop 6 - Marsh Restoration
Stop 8 - Florida Trail - Technically, the Florida Trail crosses the DuPuis Grade Road (the auto tour road) a mile or two before this spot; however, you can reach it by following another trail that starts here. The sign also says there's a boardwalk; although we got out of the truck to search, we had no luck finding where that was located.
Stop 9 - Fishing Pier - We had a delightful time at the end of the road - reading the posted signs, meandering down the pier, and eating our picnic lunch. So remote and peaceful!
They didn't have designated "post" markers, but along the road we also found signs for a couple of campgrounds. I suspect that one day we'll return and go camping, at least at the family campground. We'll let you know how that goes!
Comments