By Doug Alderson, Outreach & Advocacy Director
Torreya State Park has always been special and unique, where hiking any of the park’s trails can cause a rapid acceleration of one’s heart rate due to a terrain of steep-sided ravines and river bluffs. Plus, there are rare plants such as the torreya tree to behold, a species found nowhere else in the world. That’s why it was so heartbreaking when Hurricane Michael slammed into the park and devastated much of the forest canopy. Most of the hiking trails were closed due to downed trees, so for a long time, the park mainly offered tours of the Gregory House, which survived the storm surprisingly intact.
When the park closed for several weeks due to the Covid 19 pandemic, an outside chainsaw crew came in to help park personnel open up the trails. And what a yeoman’s job they did! All of the 16 miles of trails in Torreya State Park are now open! Not only did they cut hundreds of downed trees, but many of the trails had to be cleared with weed eaters due to the thick undergrowth that sprang up from the increased sunlight.
Not surprisingly, the forests along many of the trails are much more open than before and many young trees are sprouting. But the iconic Roman-style stone bridge along one trail, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, is still a beautiful, largely shaded spot with a golden creek flowing beneath it. Some rare torreya trees survived the storm and it waits to be seen how they will do with the increased amount of sunlight. So, if you venture out to the park this summer to hike the trails, go early before it heats up, and bring bug repellent and sunscreen. And keep an eye out for an Apalachicola Riverkeeper guided outing to the park sometime this fall.
