Charlotte Harbor Preserve Nature Walk — Local services in Punta Gorda

Great dog friendly park. You can expect the trails to be flooded during the rainy season, but if you bring your boots it's a great hike through the different environments. Most trails are a little over a mile long, with the option to connect one after the other to make it a longer hike. Gate closes at 4:00 but you can hike in until dark. Winter time: beautiful mostly shady trails running through several different environments. Summertime: can be lots of mosquitoes and very wet. Getting past that is the price of admission. There's a museum that's open part of the year, and they have several events planned over the course of the year for the public. Good chance of seeing alligators, armadillos, snakes and a great...

My Partner & I walk at CHP a few times a week. The trails are mostly shaded with natural growth. Trails are marked well, some spots on trail could use a signs but you figure your way around. There are animals all over the area. We've seen several hogs, armadillos, tortoises, birds, squirrels, butterfly, Alligators, ect. If you arrive later in the day, like 2p. I recommend parking outside the gates. THE GATE DOES CLOSE AT 4P. If your not an expert hiker, it will take you longer than you think to hike on even one trail. In total there is roughly 7.8 miles that can be hiked here. If you want a quick easy hike try the Eagle Nest Overlook. All trails are kid & dog friendly....

Really nice, rugged environmental park.... no place for flip flops... you might make sure to wear sneakers at least high top and you girls might want to wear long pants instead of short shorts lol.. the mosquito population out here is about 10,000 to everyone human.. lots of wildlife to see, lots of nature to take in.. Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center does pretty good with their money and they try to take care of the place.. if you want to spend a day walking around checking out nature learning a few things about it come on out here and check it out I stop here and rest every so often while I'm driving.. I've checked it out once...