Anastasia State Park

What once was a field of sea oats swaying in the breeze, now sits a land of coastal grass sand dunes at Anastasia State Park. Throughout the years, these sand dunes were formed by winds and waves along the coastal shoreline. Now today, we follow the winding, wavering trails through a forest of oaks, palm, cedar, and magnolias. The sun peaks through crevices and reflects off the sandy, tapered paths.

Ancient Dunes Nature Trail

Along the 1-mile loop Ancient Dunes Nature Trail, we admire Florida’s State tree, the sabal palm, and beauty berries perched upon multitudes of branches glowing in the sunlight. We climb up a short stairway of logs, leading to limbs of resurrection fern, and then another sandy stairway down to bountiful saw palmetto, aptly-named for their saw-like teethed leaves. The uphill flights of stairs somewhat intensify the hike, so we take a momentary pause on a park bench hidden in a cul-de-sac surrounded by laurel oak and beauty berries. This secluded spot offers passersby some intimacy with nature, where the wind whisks the grains of sand, forming overlapping piles of sand dunes for miles.

As we venture onward, the day grows hotter, and we hike in silence, gawking at the intricacy of intertwined branches overhead, big magnolia leaves layering the winding trail, and infinite, luscious green canopy within this productive ecosystem. Along our route, we pause to read signage about each variation of foliage in the forest, such as laurel oak, splash pine, and yaupon.

We encounter toads camouflaged on stair logs, banana spiders dangling from their daring webs, and mammoth butterflies whizzing past us, close enough to touch, but too quick for either of us to grasp. We take turns alerting each other of a red cardinal hanging out in a magnolia tree and a baby snake slithering in sight.

The nature trail continues with massive pine trees stretched to the sky, the ground covered in pine needles, and tiny yellow dandelion weeds with white floaties on the outskirts of the trail. One more park bench before the home stretch allows us to relax and invite in the smells of Southern Red Cedar and sizzling summer air.

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