- Distance ≈5 mi loop
- Time 1.5–2 hrs with stops
- Difficulty Easy
- Surface Paved paths + hard dirt trails
- Best time Morning, when wildlife is active
Opens in the Google Maps app with every stop as a waypoint — navigate right from your phone.
You'll roll past lagoons where alligators sun themselves on the banks, pause at a Native American shell ring that's been here for roughly four thousand years, and finish at the ivy-wrapped ruins of an antebellum plantation. Keep a respectful distance from the gators, stay on the trails, and take your time.
The ride, stop by stop
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Lawton Stables (Preserve entrance)
Start here at the edge of the 605-acre Forest Preserve. Park the car, meet the miniature donkeys, and pick up the trail.
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Boggy Gut lagoon
The preserve's wetland heart and your best shot at spotting alligators sunning on the banks. Watch from the trail — never approach.
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Indian Shell Ring
A ring of oyster shells left by Native people roughly 4,000 years ago — one of the oldest human traces on the island.
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Stoney-Baynard Ruins
The tabby foundations of an early-1800s plantation house, now wrapped in oaks and moss. A quiet, striking place to end.
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Good to know
Respect the alligators
They're wild and they're everywhere in the lagoons. Keep well back, never feed them, and keep kids and pets close. A feeding alligator loses its fear of people — and that's when they become dangerous.
Go in the morning
Wildlife is most active early, the light through the oaks is best, and you'll beat the afternoon heat on the dirt sections.
A cruiser handles it
The preserve trails are hard-packed dirt, flat and easy. Any standard rental bike is fine — no e-bikes in Sea Pines, and you won't miss one here.
Grab your bikes and go
Compare shops, check the tide, and ride. Book direct with a local shop.
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