Walking Tour, Eastern Lake Trail to Old Historic Bridge Remains in Lake

Pictures from my walk in May, 2009 of the Eastern Lake / Cassine Trail in South Walton of Walton County, Florida, leading to the old historic Eastern Lake Bridge and a bygone road to the beach. This is the bridge and road Bob Swinford talks about in my "Moon-dreaming" blog. This walk probably rates in the top 10 things I've done in my life. Beautiful day, beautiful scenery. The environment and scenery was very much like it was many years ago when Bob and Mickey were "Moon-dreaming." A bonus was my childhood Eastern Lake beach area girlfriend from Atlanta was in SoWal and we took this walk together. She is a birding and plant aficionado and added so much to the journey. We used to ride her horses around Eastern Lake beach.

I'll add pictures in the order taken on our walk. Additional commentary will also be added later.


We started our tour at the trail that begins on Scenic 30A across the street from the Eastern Lake Nursery. There are a few other trails that will get you to the Old Historic Eastern Lake Bridge, but this is quick and easy.


You will be walking through a Florida State Forest. Pt. Washington State Forest in Northwest Florida adds to the beauty and value of this historic and environmentally unique place. The Florida State Parks that surround many of the globally rare coastal dune lakes in South Walton of Walton County are a must see. The Florida State Park system sets a good example with natural trails. Less is better. Parking lots and lighting are also often built with nature in mind.


The Trail begins.

It was quite cool and comfortable on this May day morning (about 9 a.m. CST)

Excellent and abundant specimens of Deer Moss.




You'll come to a more open and sandy part of the trail. We were walking and had no trouble. My friend said she struggled a little bit on this part of the trail with her bike on an earlier trip.








Decision time. A fork in the trail. We go right. Soon we'll be joining the Cassine Trail and the path is marked with an occasional blue paint mark on a tree.




We come to a very shady, slightly damp place on the trail that is just "hopping" with little frogs. We have to step lightly and make a little noise to get them to scurry off the trail.


A beautiful damselfly greets us at this point. There were a few more mosquitos around here. Prepare accordingly. I had put on a little bug spray. My friend had on lightweight pants. I'll let you know what this is when my friend emails me. She said, "The "butterfly" is probably one of the pond Damselflies, since we were in a boggy area with the frogs (note the dragonfly body, but folded wings). " http://www.giffbeaton.com/ponddamsels.htm


We saw several types of ferns. Ferns: Cinnamon and Royal (the Osmunda fiber is used to grow orchids), Bracken, Resurrection. Thanks for the identifications, JJJ2!


Right before the first foot bridge, you come up on some POISON IVY. Be careful. There is just a little, but steer clear.


This foot bridge is sturdier than it looks. My friend offered to go across first!


Another foot bridge across a beautiful gurgling creek. Interesting and different plants in this more damp part of the trail.


We can see the north end of Eastern Lake now through the trees.


And, Ta Dah! We come to the Old Historic Bridge on Eastern Lake. It is out more now than in years past. Don't know why some of the reeds aren't as thick now. But, you can see a lot more of the bridge than in recent years. Think about moon-dreamer Bob Swinford in 1938, the Wesley Family walking down to their Eastern Lake homestead in the 1890s and early 1900s, and other Walton County, Florida residents in earlier days walking or driving across this bridge. I can also imagine Bob and Edgar having to make several attempts to get up the steep sandy road on the other side.


Mickey Wesley was the youngest of the nine children of William and Katie Wesley (They built the Wesley House, now part of Eden State Gardens in Pt. Washington, Florida). Bob Swinford, her husband, told me of Mickey telling him of remembering holding her brother or mother's hand when she was a very little girl as they walked down to the beach at Eastern Lake. Mickey's mother was a Strickland, known to be in the Pt. Washington area before the Wesleys.


A few days earlier, my Atlanta friend and I had rowed my john boat up to the bridge from the lake direction you can see in the upper lefthand part of the picture. Suggest you take a quiet kayak, canoe or john boat so you can hear all the birds and animals and notice plants.


There is a picnic bench just north of the bridge. Several of the Eastern Lake trails come to this picnic bench. We spotted an unusual bird or two for this area. From JJJ2 "And of course the Summer Tanager at the picnic table along with the Great Crested Flycatcher on the road across the bridge."




Just north of the picnic bench is a sand road. This is the same type road Bob Swinford came down in my "Moon-dreaming" blog. My dad also would come down to the beach on similar roads for many years. His sister told me she remembers them staying at the Wesley House in Pt. Washington. The Anderson family lived next door to Florida Governor Catt's DeFuniak Springs home.


On the way back we saw this cute "fence" lizard. Our hike/walk there and back again took us about a leisurely hour and a half. In this challenging economy, it is wonderful to have such a fantastic off beach venue that is FREE, healthy, historic and beautiful.

Additional trail notes from JJJ2.
ps. I went back the next day: I should also have had Netted Chain fern and I can't believe I missed a big patch of Jack-in-the Pulpit right next to the first bridge plus the 15' native azalea towering over the bridge.

And if you get a chance to go left instead of right, back toward Cassine Gardens, there are two small bald cypress swamps complete with some pretty big trees with the flaring bases in the water. Very cool.