Windley Trail

Windley Trail is a roughly one-third-mile loop at Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park. It starts on the rock ledge behind the Alison Fahrer Education Center, follows the wooded edge where tropical hammock meets mangroves, drops into the former Windley Quarry, and returns to the same trailhead. The walk is short, but the open quarry and fossil-rich walls make it more than a simple forest stroll. Allow about 15 to 20 minutes, plus time for the interpretive stops.

The marked trail begins near the antique channeling machine on the rock ledge behind the education center, where visitors can pick up the trail booklet. Follow the Windley Trail markers at the signed junctions; the Hammock Trail, Flagler Quarry Trail and Quarry Walls Walk are separate routes. The wooded stretch follows the north-shore ecotone and has exposed roots and occasional rocks underfoot. About 0.2 mile in, turn left down the ramp into the quarry, then left along the near wall.

Red mangrove roots reach through cuts in the ancient fossil reef. Numbered markers and the booklet help identify coral preserved in the Key Largo Limestone, including finger, star and brain coral. The loop curves around the open quarry floor past cut slabs, boulders and preserved machinery. Stay on the marked route rather than exploring off-trail areas.

Henry Flagler bought Windley Key land from the Russel family in 1908 for the railroad extension through the Keys. Quarry stone supplied fill for the rail bed and bridge approaches; the quarry later produced decorative keystone and operated into the 1960s. The park preserves the channeling equipment used to cut large limestone blocks, so the trail connects the fossil reef to the work that reshaped it.

Enter the state park at 84900 Overseas Highway, near mile marker 85.5, and use the visitor parking area before walking to the education center. Restrooms and a water fountain are at the center; picnic tables are elsewhere in the park, not on the loop. Mosquitoes are a recurring park-wide complaint, so repellent is useful. Poisonwood grows in the surrounding tropical forest; stay on marked paths. Pets are allowed only in designated park areas, and the park does not identify whether this trail is one of them, so confirm before bringing a dog.