Whenever we go to Fort Myers for some reason I notice a sign for the Prairie Pines Preserve on the north side of town just past Del Prado Blvd.  I never had the time to stop off so decided to take a trip to see what was there.  I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the property (2700 acres) and the facilities.  I didn’t have a lot of time so I limited myself the the area within a mile of the parking lot.  Recent rains also made a lot of the trails pretty swampy which was another limiting factor.

It was also mid afternoon and there wasn’t a lot of activity.  The preserve is very handicap accessible with a hard shell path from the parking lot that runs in a loop around a marsh.  The Great Egret above was seen from the path.  There is a boardwalk over the marshy area and an observation blind just past the boardwalk.  Unfortunately, that was closed due to a swarm of bees on the day I was there.   I found a small alligator in the pond on the north side of the parking lot and a lot of wildflowers in bloom.  Here is a small sample.