Quarry Walls Walk

Quarry Walls Walk is the red loop around Windley Quarry at Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park. The official figure is 1/8 mile for the loop itself. Starting from the visitor-center end of the mapped connector and retracing it after the circuit makes the complete walk about 0.16 mile. Allow roughly 20 minutes if you want to stop and study the rock. This is a brief geology stop, not a long hike; come for the reef exposed by quarrying.

The cut limestone walls rise as high as eight feet and expose cross-sections of ancient coral. Numbered trail markers correspond to the park guide; it points out coral forms and smooth holes left by an ancient mussel. Pick up the guide at the education center before setting out. For a photo, move in close to one cross-section: the coral pattern is the memorable part, more than another wide shot of the quarry floor.

This is fossilized Key Largo limestone from a reef formed nearly 125,000 years ago. The Florida East Coast Railway bought Windley Key land for $852.80 in 1908, and quarry stone went into the Overseas Railroad's bed and bridge approaches. Later, polished decorative stone from the quarry was sold as keystone; quarrying continued into the 1960s. A short circuit here brings both the geology and the railroad story into view.

Park at the main visitor-center area and follow the red markers to the loop behind the Alison Fahrer Environmental Education Center. Stay with the red Quarry Walls Walk: the park has several nearby trails, and longer descriptions that combine this circuit with the separate Windley Trail refer to a different route. The park offers a powered Action Trackchair for its trails and quarries at no extra cost with park entry; ask the education center whether it suits this route. Pet access is limited to designated areas, and the park material does not say whether this loop is one of them, so check before bringing a dog.