Hobe Mountain Tower Trail – Jonathan Dickinson

Distance: 0.5 miles Elevation Gain: 80 ft Difficulty: Easy Type: Out-and-Back Surface: Packed sand, wooden steps Activity: Hiking Best Season: Year-round Typical Time: 0:25 Fee: $6/vehicle Dogs: Yes, on leash Permit: No

The Hobe Mountain Tower Trail climbs to the 86-foot summit of Hobe Mountain—the highest natural point in southeastern Florida and one of the highest points in peninsular Florida south of the Lake Wales Ridge. Despite the modest absolute elevation, the summit observation tower delivers a genuinely expansive panorama across the Loxahatchee River watershed, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the scrub-covered interior of Jonathan Dickinson State Park stretching west and north.

Hobe Mountain is an ancient coastal dune, one of a series of Pleistocene-era sand ridges that form the Atlantic Coastal Ridge. The trail climbs through Florida scrub dominated by sand live oak, Chapman oak, and rosemary, with scattered saw palmetto. Florida scrub-jays are resident on the slope, and red-tailed hawks and ospreys soar on thermals from the summit tower. On clear days the view encompasses Jupiter Inlet to the south and Stuart to the north. The tower itself is a classic Civilian Conservation Corps structure—similar to fire lookout towers built across the South in the 1930s. The combined elevation gain of 80 feet makes this the most mountainous experience accessible in South Florida.