Bear Lake Trail

"Dated 01/03/2024 Use caution when hiking this trail, the manchineel tree is growing right on the trail and if touched it can cause painful rashes. If you don’t know how to ID manchineel it may not be a good idea to walk this trail. The trail is very easy to follow and isn’t too overgrown. It follows the old Homestead Canal (now called the Bear Lake Canal) and the historic Mud Lake Canal. The road to the trailhead is very muddy and small / low clearance cars shouldn’t attempt to drive it. The Bear Lake Canal (the old Homestead Canal) has many downed trees and is most likely not passable in canoes or kayaks."

"Nice and easy trail with lots of shade, the mosquitoes were a bit of a nuisance but it was fun zapping them with a zapper racket."

"Rough 1.5 mile road to get there. Easy hike. Ground was flat and dry. There are sections that could get muddy at high tide or after a rain. No problems with bugs if you keep walking."

"Dirt road in isn’t bad if you take time and go slow, about two miles in. Trail is beautiful but sadly we had to turn back before getting all the way to the lake as my son had on a different pair of shoes than normal and they were pinching his toes. From what we experienced, I highly recommend this trail. Gorgeous hike and an easy hike. Vlog to post soon to my channel on YouTube."

"I am sure this is a nice place, but we didn't make it all the way to the lake. The road to leads to this area is unpaved, we drove for about 30 minutes in but we turned around as it was taking too long, we had a small car so we were driving at a much slower speed to respect nature and to not hit so many potholes, besides we were unsure we were even going in the correct direction and it was getting dark on us. The road is along a canal and we did get to see a large alligator just standing still in the water. We saw birds, huge spider webs right over the road, and some creepy but cool looking plant with spikes, the ones opened had a round "seed" in the center."