Circle B Bar Reserve (Hiking Alligator Alley Trail)
Circle B Bar Reserve is a fantastic place to experience Florida’s beautiful natural landscape and discover some of its incredible native animals (like the American alligator!) And even better, this reserve is only an hours drive west from Orlando or an hours drive east of Tampa, making Circle B Bar Reserve extremely convenient to visit and a perfect half-day outing!
At Circle B Bar Reserve you’ll find some of the best wildlife sightings in the entire state of Florida. And you’re practically guaranteed to see an alligator! Personally, our family has seen more wild Florida animals at this park in just two hours, than we have seen at any other park across the entire state. (And I’ve lived in Florida my entire life and our family has visited a lot of parks!) To me, Circle B Bar Reserve is by far my favorite place to see the best of natural Florida, it’s diverse habitats and its amazing animals.
Circle B Bar Reserve Information
Location: 4399 Winter Lake Road (SR 540) Lakeland, FL 33803
Hours of Operation: Daily from 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. during standard time and from 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. during daylight-saving time.
Cost: Free – (This park is part of Polk County’s Environmental Lands Program)
Size: 1267 Acres
Restrooms: At the Nature Discovery Center
How to Visit Circle B Bar Reserve
Circle B Bar Reserve, to me, is best visited in the early morning when the air is cool, the animals are more active and the morning light beautifully dances across the moss draped trees. I’ve also heard that the sunrises over Lake Hancock, along Alligator Alley, are spectacular (but we haven’t been able to get here that early yet.)
Circle B Bar Reserve also can get extremely crowded, especially on the weekends, so try to arrive early. They do have a lot of parking but I myself was surprised when we visited one weekend in March at 9am and almost every parking spot here was already taken. So definitely try to get here before 9:30 or 10am if you can.
But even with a crowded parking lot, I never have felt crowded on the trails. In fact, even on that busy day, we still had the majority of the trails all to ourselves. (The Alligator Alley section was the only portion of the entire trail loop that I felt was slightly busier than I would have liked.)
Where to Park at Circle B Bar Reserve
Circle B Bar Reserve is pretty easy to find from its address, yet when you turn down Discovery Drive it can be slightly confusing as to where you should park. On this road there will be, almost immediately, some picnic tables and a few parking spaces to your right. Keep driving. The main parking lot is further down this road. And it’s pretty big. If you can, try to park closest to the end, near the Nature and Discovery Center. This is closest to where the trailheads for your hike.
Circle B Bar Reserve Map
How to Hike at Circle B Bar Reserve
As you can see from the map above, hiking at Circle B Bar Reserve primarily has 2 main small loops and they can be combined to form bigger circle loops.
For a Short Hike:
- Take Shady Oak to Alligator Alley to Heron Hideout.
- This is 2.2 miles.
- Option 2: Just hike the 0.7 mile Lost Bridge Trail. This option is good for someone who doesn’t want to hike the Alligator Alley Trail.
For a Longer Hike:
- Take Shady Oak to Alligator Alley to Marsh Rabbit Run to Wading Bird Way to Windmill Whisper to Treefrog Trail.
- This loop is 4 miles.
- This is our family’s favorite path!
Another Slightly Longer Hike Option:
- Take Shady Oak to Alligator Alley to Eagle Roost to Wading Bird Way to Windmill Whisper to Treefrog Trail.
- This loop is 4.3 miles.
- This route has less shade, so make sure you bring plenty of water if hiking this loop.
Now if all of this above looks confusing, don’t worry. It’s not as complicated as it may look. All of the the trail names for each section really just let you know what type of habitat you will be walking through. And it’s all just a loop and you get to pick the loop’s size.
Where to Begin at Circle B Bar Reserve
At the parking lot you can chose between 3 different trails to start your loop.
- Head east on the 0.7 mile Shady Oak Trail (which is gorgeous!) towards Lake Hancock where it runs into the east side of the the 1.2 mile Alligator Alley Trail.
- You can head south on the short 0.3 mile Heron Hideout Trail. This runs into the west side of Alligator Alley Trail.
- Or you can head west on Treefrog Trail through a shady forest to hike the big loop counterclockwise.
We like the first option best for our family and so that’s the path that I’ll take you on in this post with hiking Shady Oak Trail first.
Shady Oak Trail
Shady Oak Trail is a breathtaking 0.7 mile long trail where magnificent live oaks are draped with shimmering silver Spanish Moss. I love this section of the trail! The Spanish Moss is so gorgeous on these trees! And if you are fortunate enough to visit in the morning hours, you’ll get to witness how the sunlight beautifully illuminates the moss and simply dances across it’s strands. This section of the loop is like walking through a magical fairytale land.
Fun Facts:
1. Spanish Moss isn’t actually moss at all! It is a bromeliad, in the same family as a pineapple.
2. Spanish Moss isn’t even from Spain. It’s native to Mexico, Central America, South America and the U.S.
3. Spanish Moss is not a parasite and does not take nutrients from the plant it lives on. Instead the plant lives on waterborne dust and debris.
Shady Oak Trail Tip
When beginning in the parking lot, it’s easy to get on the Shady Oak Management Road instead of the Shady Oak Trail. These two paths parallel each other. But even if you get on the wrong one, as you can see that we did in the picture above, it’s still incredibly beautiful!
Circle B Bar Reserve – Alligator Alley Trail
At the end of Shady Oak Trail, you’ll run into the beginning of the 1.2 mile Alligator Alley Trail. This is an absolutely fantastic part of the loop! And it is here, where you are practically guaranteed to see an alligator! In fact just this past March, when our family visited, we saw over 50 alligators in just this portion of the trail!
Warning
This brings me to my warning. Please watch children very closely on this trail and do not let them go anywhere near the water. These alligators are wild. This is not a zoo. And although I felt safe on this raised path, and most of the alligators were in the water, I never let my guard down while walking here.
Now honestly, this past March, there was one place on this trail where I did get kind of nervous. This was where a small section of the trail did not have a steep bank leading to the water and two huge alligators were laying right next to the trail!
Let’s just say that I hurried our family past as quickly as we could go. This was a little too close for comfort for me. Yet, at the same time a group of people were actually stopped right here and were casually taking pictures of these enormous alligators! I’m definitely not that brave (or stupid, you decide.)
(Please note that if the park notices any alligator being aggressive or if this trail floods due to a large rain, they will immediately close this trail so that everyone can remain safe.)
Aside from the above instance, in every other part of the Alligator Alley Trail, I felt that I could safely view these beautiful creatures from the trail and have plenty of time to take as many pictures as I wanted.
In addition to seeing so many alligators, don’t miss taking a moment to notice the incredible scenery on this trail. It’s beautiful!
Circle B Bar Reserve Birds – along Alligator Alley Trail
Along Alligator Alley Trail you may also see numerous bird species, including the great blue heron, snowy egrets, white ibis, roseate spoonbills, cormorants, sandhill cranes, ospreys, bald eagles, and more. This trail is a birding paradise!
At the end of Alligator Alley Trail you will come to a junction with several paths to chose.
- You can walk north on the short 0.3 Heron Hideout Trail. This takes you back to the parking lot.
- You can turn left down the 0.7 mile Eagle Roost Trail. Be sure to take water if hiking this longer, sunny route.
- Or you can go straight onto the shady 0.7 mile Marsh Rabbit Run Trail.
We like taking the Marsh Rabbit Run trail through the shady shallow marshes.
Keep a look out at this junction towards Eagle Roost Trail, just in case you happen to see the incredible sight we saw here!
Marsh Rabbit Run Trail
Marsh Rabbit Run is a beautiful shady 0.7 mile trail through a shallow marsh where you can find tons of wading birds, turtles, possibly otters and even some adorable raccoons!
Oh yes, and of course a few alligators!
Marsh Rabbit Run Trail was an amazing part of this loop for our kids because amazing animals were everywhere and our children got to practice their photography skills!
This little raccoon, along with it’s sibling were so adorable. They both walked right past our family as we were hiking along Marsh Rabbit Run trail (completely ignoring us) so that they could first play in the water beside the trail for a minute and then climb this tree to rest. They were so cute! And I couldn’t believe that they weren’t bothered by our presence at all!
At the end of Marsh Rabbit Run you will turn right and continue onto Wading Bird Way.
Wading Bird Way Trail
Out of the entire loop, this is probably my least favorite section. There is practically no shade and the sun gets really hot here. But we did see some beautiful birds along this trail as we walked.
We also saw a heron eating a snake here. This was pretty cool for our kids to see nature in action.
Windmill Whisper Trail
At the end of Wading Bird Way, you’ll turn right onto Windmill Whisper Trail. This is 0.4 miles long.
Now after Windmill Whisper you’ll end up next to Discovery Drive. (This is the road that you drove in on.) And you’ll be right next to the picnic area with a few parking spots that you passed when you first entered the park.
At this point, look just to the right of the picnic area and you’ll see a trail that goes into the woods. This is Treefrog Trail.
Treefrog Trail
Treefrog Trail is 0.6 miles and is a nice and shady, pretty walk. We did not see any animals on this section of the walk, but we did enjoy walking through this pretty section of forest.
Treefrog Trail will take you back to the main parking lot to complete this amazing 4 mile loop.
There is one last trail that I need to mention that lies on the north side of the parking lot. This is Lost Bridge Trail. It is 0.7 miles long and it can be connected to one of the loops mentioned above or it can be hike by itself.
Circle B Bar Reserve Information to Know Before You Go
- Lake Hancock has one of the densest populations of alligators in the state and Alligator Alley Trail follows its shore.
- Sometimes there are trail closures due to flooding, general maintenance or a possible aggressive alligator so you may want to call before you go to make sure the the trails you want to hike are open.
- Also please note that Alligator mating season is in May to June. During these months, the alligators may be more aggressive and the Alligator Alley Trail could possibly be closed.
- If you are traveling with an individual that does not want to walk near alligators then they should probably skip Alligator Alley Trail. There is plenty of other nature and wildlife at this great park.
So now you’re all set to go and explore Circle B Bar Reserve in Florida. Have a great time viewing Florida’s amazing wildlife and its magnificent alligators!
Have a Great Hike with Your “Traveling Feet!”
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