Canaveral Marshes is located in west Brevard County near Titusville, Florida.
The trail head on State Road 50 is about 3 miles west of Interstate 95. It's directly across the road from the St. Johns National Wildlife Refuge entrance.
The trail head in the Great Outdoors area can be reached by traveling one mile west on State Road 50 from Interstate 95. Turn left at the entrance to the Great Outdoors. Stop at the guard shack and tell the guard you want to hike the nature trail. You will be given a visitors pass and directions to the trail head. Follow the road for about another mile until you a see the Cafe and Grocery Store on your right. Drive to the rear of this building towards the large propane gas tank. To the right, you should see a narrow grassy road cutting through some bushes. Follow it until you reach the trailhead parking area.
According to the Florida Trail website, there's suppose to be a campsite about 0.6 miles east of the trailhead on State Road 50. I have not been able to confirm this.
Canaveral Marshes has over 5.0 miles of trails available for hiking, biking and horse back riding. These trails are maintained by the Florida Trail Association.
Trail section along Addison Canal offers terrific views of the marshes along the St. Johns River.
Two foot bridges are available for crossing the Addison Canal.
Don't be surprised if you come across dead cows lying on the trail. They seem to be quite common here for some reason.
It's a little bit off the beaten trail, but you can find this beautiful manmade lake in the northeast corner of Canaveral Marshes next to State Road 50. Used to be an old borrow pit at one time. Not too many people can get to it, so it's very clean and unspoiled.
The Addison Canal (also known as the Ellis Canal) was dug in the early 1910's by the Titusville Fruit and Farmland Company. No one is sure why the canal was created. Some say it was meant to be a waterway connecting the St. Johns River with the Indian River. Others believe its purpose was to drain off the marshlands in order to make way for agriculture and land development. Luckily, for the environments sake, the canal was never finished. Equipment failures and very dense coquina rock forced the company to abandon the project.
Color infrared aerial map of Canaveral Marshes showing hiking trails and roads.
An interactive topographical map of Canaveral Marshes from TopoZone. The entrance to Canaveral Marshes is marked with a red +.
An interactive aerial map of Canaveral Marshes from TerraServer. Shows State Road 50 to the north and the St. Johns River to the south-east.
File Formats Downloads Garmin MapSource trails.mps G7toWin trails.txt DeLorme Street Atlas USA trails.sa6
Spanish Bayonet, Rose-of-Plymouth and Coastal Mock Vervain.
Helmet Skullcap, Canadian Toadflax and Lyreleaf Sage.
Last updated on 11-Jan-2007 at 8:51 P.M.
