Scribble World Travel Blog

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Aligators

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, sitting on 140,000 acres (on Route 404 North Titusville, FL) was a wild and interesting place to spend some time. We started out on Black Point Wildlife drive.  The self-guided dirt road tour through the reserve is a slow drive allowing for frequent photo stops to pull over and get a better view of the many species of birds and interesting marshlands.

We parked at Cruickshank trail (halfway point for the 7 mile trail) and went for a nice walk out in nature-although I might warn others from being quite so carefree-as we later spotted some aligators, so…be aware of your surroundings if you stray from the paths   It was fun though….a nice slow pace, lots of nature, birds, fresh air, blue skies..

Then there was another trail, called L Pond, a much narrower trail, which was a one way dirt road, surrounded by steep ditches and marshes on either side.  This was a little more nerve racking particularly when a car or truck going the wrong direction wanted to squeeze past us…thus forcing us off the road when there wasn’t much of any shoulder to speak of.  I can not imagine trying to drive a large a vehicle down L Pond trail.

We saw a few fisherman out and about.  It was a nice day for it.

After leaving the trails, wee stopped in at the visitor’s center. We particularly enjoyed seeing the turtles-both in the pond and the ones in the acquariums.