Prairie Pines Preserve — Attraction in North Fort Myers

Extremely small loop, but beautiful with plenty of shade trees. I take my dogs here whenever I can. They have bathrooms that are extremely well kept, a water fountain, and someone even leaves a small bowl for dogs to drink from. (Bless you, whoever you are!) There is a blind you can sit in to watch the wildlife and several benches throughout the trail. There’s a boardwalk as well. The trail is mostly gravel, so I couldn’t imagine taking it in a standard stroller or wheelchair, but it is extremely well maintained and clean. There are much longer trails here, too, but I haven’t spent much time on them, so I can’t really expound on any experiences with those. I stay on the short trail. The only thing that makes me want to avoid this place are the creepy guys that hang around sometimes. One man was sitting on the picnic tables when I arrived, and said something to me as I entered the trail. Next thing I knew, he was right behind me and moving slowly. I stepped aside into the blind for a couple moments, giving him time to pass, but when I backtracked and tried to beat him back to the parking lot, he was already there when I arrived! He had to have sped up considerably to get all the way around the loop before me. I left as quickly as I could. If there isn’t already, I would love to see some security cameras installed, at least in the parking lot. Overall, this is my favorite local place to take in nature and I appreciate it a lot. Yellow Fever pales in comparison because it...

First time hiking this preserve on such a beautiful February morning. Took about 45 minutes to get here from Lehigh and met my mom for a morning hike. We ventured from the parking lot and took a right off on the yellow trail for the 1.8 mile trek to the bridge and continued on to the silver trail for a short hike to the red trail and did a small loop back around to the yellow trail and back to the parking lot. In total about 4.8 miles. Nice big trails so you can walk side by side, nice to have some shade from the pine trees, but mostly open scrub area. Nice to see such a large area being preserved and there are plenty of trails to hike in there.

There is also a nice small maybe .5 mile path that you can walk your dog, just be aware of wildlife and of course pickup after your dog does its business, bags are provided at the entry area for the dog path. There are clean bathrooms on site and plenty of parking spots. Great area to bird watch, saw a cardinal, warbler and white heron, several squirrels on the ground and areas that wildlife use as a paths. Nice to be out in nature on such a beautiful day. Will definitely go back and do some more trails, just make sure you have plenty of water as it can get hot out there in the open. Wear sunscreen, glasses, hat and hiking boots as it can get wet during certain times. Not too bad when we were there, most the mud had dried up. Love that this area has been preserved to enjoy a nice...

A nice walk with your dogs tucked in between trailer parks in North Fort Myers. Designed with a water marsh for birds,, dry during non rainy season, with a bird observation hut and board walk in some areas... and plenty of wild hogs tracks and rut holes.... but usually only seen on occasion in the front section... Most of the back property is for horse back riding and conditioned trail walkers, and if we are in rainy season,, don't even attempt the back by walking unless you know what you are doing, horses and hogs keep the ground torn up and huge mud holes are plenty... There are nice rest rooms, and very well kept Preserve.. This Preserve has a lot of potential to grow.. it would be nice to have the dog walk and nature trail to be added to into a figure eight to keep it interesting.. right now it is a circle and can be boring if the birds are hiding in the middle of the day... But, always well worth a...