#Boondocking in florida keys full#
#Boondocking in florida keys free#

#Boondocking in florida keys full#

Nowadays, Bahia Honda state park offers 72 campsites ranging from primitive to full hook-up, with spaces for RVs and tents, as well as three duplex cabins on stilts that overlook the bay. Just about anywhere along the top of the bridge provides a panoramic view of the beach, the ocean and the gulf, and an unparalleled vantage point for spotting fish and sea turtles swimming silently beneath the waves, or large rays or bottle-nosed dolphins jumping. And the now-decommissioned rail bridge that stretches out over the parkвЂ™s southern end offers a true birdвЂ™s-eye view of the tropical trees where migrant yellow-billed cuckoos and American redstarts abound. Flocks of shorebirds вЂ“ ruddy turnstones, yellow-crowned night herons, povers and sanderlings вЂ“ gather to feed in the wrack line at low tide. ItвЂ™s home to endangered white-crowned pigeons and, during the fall and winter migration, to more than 30 species of wood warblers. Or, follow the path past the Loggerhead parking lot to the Wings and Waves Butterfly Garden, known for attracting both Martial and Mallow Scrub-Hairstreaks,В Lyside Sulphurs,В andВ Malachites, as well as a variety of skippers.Д«ahia Honda state park is also a birdersвЂ™ paradise, duly noted on the Great Florida Birding Trail as the best of the Keys birding habitats. A fifth geocache at the park is part of FloridaвЂ™s Operation Recreation GeoTour, with geocoins awarded to adult and children trackers. вЂњTreasureвЂќ hunters can test their geo-seeking skills searching for one of the four park geocaches. Hikers (and easygoing meanderers, too) have their choice of three separate trails that wind through tropical hardwood hammocks lined with gumbo limbo and poisonwood, as well as the more common sea grapes and Jamaica dogwood. ItвЂ™s a place for day-trippers and overnight campers, for beachgoers, seafaring sojourners, and nature-loving landlubbers.Д«ahia Honda state parkВ is home to over 150 species of flora, including rare yellow satinwood, key thatch palm, and the endangered small-flowered lily thorn, along with the largest known stand of Florida silver palms. It has something for just about everyone who takes their pleasure from the land, air, or sea. The state park, though, is not just for beachgoers, or stargazers.

#Boondocking in florida keys free#

ItвЂ™s far enough from city lights to be nearly free of light pollution, and the primordial roar of the waves on shore under the dark of a moonless night harkens to a time immemorial.

By night, Loggerhead beach offers a spectacular starscape, with the misty veil of the Milky Way clearly visible, cutting through a splash of stars thicker than youвЂ™ll find just about anywhere else in the state.