Best Kept Secret on Sanibel

The other day we went for a walk. I didn't really want to do the beach or the bike path since they are terribly crowded these days. So we decided to head down Bailey Road to Bay Road. Bay Rd. is very wooded and you can always see wildlife. But before we got to Bay Road, we discovered the Pond Apple Park Trail and decided to take it. I had heard about it but had never walked down it, even though it is about a half mile from our house.

These were the first two signs we saw.

The trail was beautiful. We didn't see any wildlife but I'm sure they were out there.

If we had known, we could have taken a picnic lunch with us.

Eventually the trail came to an open area and we spotted this sign.

The open area turned out to be two huge water reclaimation ponds which you could walk around.

As the trail continued on around the ponds we saw flowers, lots and lots of birds and yes, even an alligator.

You can take a bike down the trail but it is kind of sandy. Walking is much better. If you have a car, you can park at the Chamber of Commerce and take the trail from there. The sign says that it is 1.6 miles long. I'm assuming that this is roundtrip. We only saw 2 other people on the whole trail. You can hear traffic noise from Periwinkle Way once in awhile but it's not bad. It sure beats the crowds fighting for space on the beaches, the bike paths or the streets. As I said, I really think this is the best kept secret on Sanibel.

BTW, Tootie, it is practically in your backyard.