As the summer heat bears down and the evening mosquitoes return, weekend city slicker backpackers like me are finally putting away their tents for the season and using their boots only for early morning hikes before the temperatures get too high. Along with our region’s state and national forests, many counties in Central Florida offer beautiful natural places to hike that have fewer crowds than you’ll find at places like Black Bear. One place worth checking out is Long Branch near Bithlo.
Long Branch is part of a wildlife corridor along the Econlockhatchee River shared with the much larger Hal Scott Regional Preserve and Park to its south. Pieced together from four different parcels of land donated to Orange County’s “Green Place” program, Long Branch now comprises almost 285 acres that surround the western portion of its namesake stream, Long Branch, a tributary of the Econlockhatchee River designated an Outstanding Florida Waterway.
While most hikers reach the better known Hal Scott Preserve from the south at its trailhead on Dallas Boulevard, the trailhead for Long Branch is located on County Road 13 less than two miles south of U.S. 50 (Colonial Drive) just west of Christmas. For years this trailhead connected to the 3.6-mile yellow blazed loop trail into the most northern part of Hal Scott, but now it also connects to 5 ½ miles of hiking and mixed-use hiking and equestrian trails in Long Branch as well.
Last weekend I joined our local Florida Trail Association chapter for a 4-mile hike through Long Branch and was pleasantly surprised, both by the pretty terrain and the fortunate absence of ticks. Much of the trail there walks along old forest roads, including one reaching a parcel upon which a home sat until shortly before the land was donated to the county in 2020. Within a relatively short proximity, you pass from oak forests, through the palmetto and pine prairie for which Hal Scott is known, and then into swampy lowlands.
Perhaps the highlight of the hike is the half-mile lavender-blazed hikers only loop deep within the parcel, which breaks from the road and crawls into a dense wonderland of pine, oak, palmetto, and ferns. With the canopy closing in overhead, you might find it hard to believe you are so close to Orlando. Long Branch also hides several gigantic old live oaks, including the big granddaddy pictured below.
Long Branch is also a great place to see wildlife. The forest there attracts most of the mammalian and avian species hikers in Florida have come to know and love. On our morning hike alone, we saw three deer, a hawk, and a rather large and unintimidated barred owl.
The one drawback is that Long Branch is not far from Orlando Speed World and its drag strip, which attracts plenty of car enthusiasts on weekends. So don’t be surprised if you are serenaded on the trail by the roars of monster-cars from much further away than they sound. But the trade off is that you’re unlikely to see many people, and for a family-friendly free hiking option with more than 5 miles of trails, Long Branch is a pleasant place to escape downtown Orlando without having to drive too far. It’s definitely worth checking out.
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