On the Florida Department of Transportation's map of finished trail projects, the paved path through Savannas Preserve State Park is complete. FDOT lists the Walton Road to Kitterman Road connection as "Completed 2025" and the Savannas Recreation Area connection as "Completed 2026." The park itself says something else. The Savannas Preserve State Park page still reports that the Savannas Sun Trail "is not open to the public due to ongoing construction and repairs" and that its anticipated opening "has been delayed."

That gap is only one of three things standing between Tesoro and the part of the preserve closest to home. The Walton Road main entrance at 2541 S.E. Walton Road is closed for a building renovation. The dirt road that led to its hiking trails is closed for a separate reason, high water. Each closure will lift on its own condition, and neither notice gives a date.

The preserve is still open, just from other entrances this season. Here is how the closures fit together and where to walk and paddle in the meantime.

Eight miles of trail behind a closed road

Even before this fall, the main entrance was running on a workaround. Since June 6, 2024, construction at the Walton Road entrance has meant the only trails reachable from that side are the White Trail at 5 miles, the Yellow Trail at 1 mile and the Blue Trail at 2 miles. Visitors got to them by driving 0.7 miles down the unpaved Canoe Launch Road, which sits on the left inside the main gate, and parking at the canoe launch.

That road now has its own notice:

"Effective Sept. 19, 2026: Canoe Launch Road at Savannas Preserve State Park is closed to vehicle traffic until water levels recede and road conditions improve."

So roughly 8 miles of marked trail on the Walton Road side now sit past a road you can't drive. The park's notice says nothing about whether you can walk in, so call the park at (772) 398-2779 before you go.

The road closure is also recent. In November 2025, the Friends of Savannas Preserve State Park posted that the Education Center and Walton Road entrance were closed until further notice, and that the Boat Launch Road "remains open," with a porta-potty at the launch parking lot. For most of the past year, the side trails worked even with the building shut. The September notice ended that.

What the construction is for

The building work is a renovation. Park manager David Dearth's message on the Florida State Parks site describes the main-entrance projects as "a refurbished visitor center, a wide, paved non-motorized pathway bordering and passing through our scenic park, and increased opportunities for volunteers to give back."

The visitor center is the Education Center. According to the Friends group, it opened in 2002 and houses exhibits, a 3-D park map and learning spaces. In its latest update, dated Aug. 20, 2026, the Friends group wrote that the Education Center and Walton Road entrance "remain closed at this time," with renovations still being finished and exhibits being returned to their places. The update gives no reopening date.

The same update put the preserve's guided kayak tours on hold. None are being offered or scheduled, and the Friends group says it will reconsider resuming them once the Education Center and surrounding grounds reopen. One reopening is tied to the next. Guided paddles depend on the building, and the building has no date.

The paved trail that's finished but not open

The "wide, paved non-motorized pathway" is the Savannas stretch of the East Coast Greenway, which FDOT's SUN Trail program funded in two pieces.

The first segment includes 8-foot-wide elevated boardwalks over wetlands, with equalizer culverts under the trail so water keeps flowing naturally. The second, according to FDOT's SUN Trail completed-projects map, adds a midblock crossing of Easy Street and County Road 712/Midway Road with a push-button flashing beacon. It also "completes the 2016 proposal" for 12 miles of trail from Walton Road to the Savannas Recreation Area.

FDOT's own dates don't quite match. Its District 4 project page gives Feb. 26, 2026 as the completion date for the 4.2-mile segment, while its July 2026 fact sheet says March 2026. Neither one announces a public opening. The opening TCPalm covered in its January 2022 photo gallery, "First section of SUN trail opens", was for a separate trail at the Indian Hills Recreation Area in Fort Pierce. Until the park changes its notice, the trail is closed to visitors.

The one new path near Tesoro you can use now

One new piece of walkable pavement on Walton Road is open. St. Lucie County built a 5,000-foot multi-use sidewalk along Walton Road between Lennard Road and Green River Parkway, and the County Commission accepted the finished project on May 19, 2026. A 2025 county update described it as complementing the FDOT SUN Trail on Walton Road. It's a separate project, which is why it opened while the trail beside it waits.

It won't take you into the basin marsh, but it covers the same corridor the greenway is meant to serve, and it is open today.

Where the preserve opens this November

The preserve's other entrances are open, and the park lists them by name: the Jensen Beach Boulevard day-use area, Hawk's Bluff trail and Evans Creek Canoe Launch. The park is open 8 a.m. to sunset every day of the year. Entry is $3 per vehicle and cashless, paid online by scanning the QR code on the entry sign.

None of these trails is as long as the White Trail. They are shorter trips with a specific payoff.

1. Jensen Beach Boulevard, south entrance. The Lookout Trail runs less than a mile one way through pine flatwoods to an observation platform over the southern basin marsh. The Friends group notes a nesting eagle pair there, and the trailhead has a pavilion and bathrooms. Look for the entrance on Jensen Beach Boulevard east of Green River Parkway.
2. Hawk's Bluff, north entrance. Hawk's Bluff is about a one-mile loop off County Line Road and Savannah Road. It reaches Lake Eden and climbs an Atlantic Coastal Scrub Ridge that the Friends group says rises to about 40 feet, high ground for this part of Florida. The group lists scrub jays, wading birds and gopher tortoises among the wildlife. Parking is a sandy pull-off by the park sign.
3. Evans Creek, on the river. Evans Creek is a bring-your-own canoe and kayak launch on the North Fork of the St. Lucie River, reached from U.S. 1 southbound between Village Green Drive and Walton Road. A paved access road leads to a picnic table, and from the launch you can paddle north or south to reach 11 county-owned riverfront preserves. The park manager describes the launch as ADA accessible, with detailed river maps on site.

At the far north end of the closed greenway, St. Lucie County's Savannas Recreation Area at 1400 E. Midway Road in Fort Pierce runs its own nature trails, open daily from sunrise to sunset.

With guided Savannas paddles on hold, Evans Creek is where the North Fork connects to a guided outing this month. One of the 11 riverfront preserves it links to is Spruce Bluff Preserve, which has two self-guided interpretive trails and canoe access from the North Fork. St. Lucie County has scheduled a guided Spruce Bluff walk for Saturday, Nov. 14, from 9 to 11 a.m., focused on the preserve's varied natural systems. County hikes are free, but reservations are required and space is limited.

Evenings on the same river

The North Fork is also where Port St. Lucie's free evening events happen this season. The city's River Nights series is held on the Event Lawn at The Port District, 2454 SE Westmoreland Blvd., on the second Thursday of every month from October through April. The next one is Thursday, Nov. 12, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., with live music and food trucks.

The Port District hosts the city's Noche Buena celebration on Friday, Dec. 18, from 5 to 9 p.m. The free evening includes music, dancing and Latin food trucks, and the city suggests arriving early to walk through the PSLinLights holiday display.

A full Saturday on the river can start at Spruce Bluff on Nov. 14, and a Thursday can end on the Event Lawn two days earlier. Both stay close to home while the Walton Road gate is closed. When the Education Center does reopen, the park's Know Before You Go notice is where the update will appear, and it's worth checking before each trip until then.

Living near the Savannas is part of the Tesoro story, and when a home there goes on the market, details like these are what buyers want to hear about. If you're thinking about how to present your Tesoro home, from the paved greenway still waiting to open to the Lookout Trail platform over the marsh, Beachfront Brooke Team can tell that local story with professional photography and careful marketing. Schedule Your White‑Glove Listing Consultation.