Yamato Scrub Natural Area

Take a minute to find yourself among some of Florida's natural habitat. Indulge in the beauty and divinity of simplicity. Let the magic of nature soothe your busy mind and bring peace to your soul.

3rd Review Best hiking area ! 2nd Review This is such a cool area to walk and commune with nature ! 1st Review Today I stopped at the Yamato Scrub Natural Area during my bike ride on the El Rio Trail. I only do this when the temperturare is a bit cooler. This is a 217 acre preserved area atop the Atlantic Coastal Ridge in Boca with a few hiking trails. There are 5 habitats to explore & several cross trails so you can create a longer hike if these trails are to short for you. I made my own loop today including the .7 Mike paved Cicada Nature Trail with a little bit of the Sky blue Lupine Hiking Trail - the sandy Trail. I was thrilled to spot a Gopher Tortoise on this gorgeous day. I highly recommend this area - you'll want to go back again and again if you like nature and wildlife !

Although it's a beautiful trail and used to be a great place to walk in peace out in nature, it has become a hot spot for people openly having $3x right out in the open on the trail with their junk exposed where people walk, people do drug deals in the parkinglot, people smoke weed and other things on the bridge, and there is trash EVERYWHERE. Not to mention the creepy park ranger that hits on females when they're alone. Don't bring your kids here!

While the entrance to the area is easy to miss and the parking is very limited, the trails are definitely worth the time. There is a 1/2 to 3/4 mile sidewalk trail that leads to 2 different sand/dirt trails. The trails range from wide open to narrow with brush growth on both sides. While you will definitely hear vehicle traffic for most of your walk/run, the surroundings help you to forget you are so close to 95.

We loved it! The entrance was a little hard to find, but overall the experience was nice. There's a small parking lot and there's 3 trails, we took the longer one which is around 3 miles (we promised ourselves to come back and do the other trails another day). Even though you can hear the I95 traffic in the background, the vegetation was beautiful and it's perfect for a little scape.