Sleeping Turtles Preserve North, Where Silence Sharpens the Senses

Nature is not a place. It’s a system reset - Iru

Most people know the Sarasota area for its beaches. Far fewer realize that this county protects over 50,000 acres of natural land, one of the highest totals in the state of Florida. This has been possible through the Environmentally Sensitive Lands Protection Program (ESLPP). Among the largest and most accessible preserves near the city are:

• Jelks Preserve (614 acres; along the Myakka River)

• Manasota Scrub Preserve (154 acres; rare pine-scrub habitat)

• Curry Creek Preserve (80 acres; mangroves and waterways)

• Old Miakka Preserve (129 acres; hiking and solitude)

These are just a few of the 30+ preserves that make Sarasota County one of the most ecologically protected regions in Florida.

I came across all of this while researching Sleeping Turtles Preserve North, one of the last major preserves within a short drive from Sarasota that I hadn’t explored. As an introvert, I seek out quiet places, natural spaces, untouched by traffic, voices, or distraction. That’s why, out of all the preserves I’ve experienced around Sarasota, this one quietly became my favorite. That abundance of green space, in my experience, is rare and extraordinary. Those walks in nature for me are active meditation. The kind that doesn’t require stillness, only presence.

This Monday, I spent nearly three hours walking the trails alone and didn’t see a single person. If it weren’t for a few benches along the way, I might have believed I was deep in the wild.

All-natural preserves carry the energy of purity and harmony, with a familiar Florida palette of pines, palms, oaks, and still waters. But why am I writing about the Sleeping Turtles North? It was different not in what it showed, but in what it didn’t. Walking through and not seeing anyone was quite a unique experience; I never recall experiencing it before.

Here, I didn’t feel like a park visitor. I felt like I had vanished.

At one point, I looked up and saw a deer, a full-grown buck, still and watching me. I stopped. We stared at each other for at least ten minutes, neither of us moving. It was one of those strange, perfect moments you can’t plan, the kind of silent communion that can never happen behind glass or fences.

It’s one thing to see wildlife in a zoo. It’s something else entirely to walk alone in the forest and unexpectedly meet a creature unmediated, wild, equal.

You don’t “capture” those moments. You absorb them.

Most of us live inside a blur. Days stacked with tasks, errands, feeds, content, children, clients, updates, distractions.

It’s not chaos. It’s oversaturation.

We don’t stop because we don’t know how to stop. We’re wired for input, running on alerts and obligations, like batteries plugged into a grid, always charging, never resting. And in that blur, we lose something vital: our sensitivity, the literal ability to perceive detail. To notice beauty. To register nuance. To pause.

That’s why nature matters. Not because it’s beautiful. Not because it’s calming. But because it doesn’t perform. It doesn’t care what you want. It doesn’t shape itself around you.

Which is why your nervous system finally begins to soften.

Nature is the only space left that asks nothing of you, and that is precisely what makes it medicinal.

Sleeping Turtles Preserve North is part of Sarasota County’s Environmentally Sensitive Lands Protection Program. Its name comes from a 1845 military map that marked the area as “Sleeping Turtles.” The land was protected in 2003 and 2004, forming a 207-acre sanctuary of mixed hardwood hammocks, seasonal wetlands, and floodplain forest along the Myakka River.

The preserve contains over five miles of unpaved trails, numbered and minimally marked. During the rainy season, some areas may flood. There are no facilities. No noise. And if you’re lucky, no one is around.

If you look closely, you’ll notice the epiphytes, overhead air plants that live without soil, feeding only on rain and minerals collected from tree bark. They thrive by simply being still.

This area is also renowned for its diverse wildlife, including gopher tortoises, swallowtail butterflies, otters, and a variety of songbirds. You might see manatees during the colder months. And yes, alligators sometimes, though I didn’t meet any that day. Just that one deer. And that was more than enough.

If you want to visit:

Sleeping Turtles Preserve North

3462 Border Road, Venice, FL 34292

Open daily: sunrise to sunset

Free admission

5+ miles of trails

Part of the Myakka River Basin

Wildlife includes otters, deer, tortoises, butterflies, and manatees in winter.

Dogs are allowed on the north side only

Bring water, closed shoes, and time.  

Photos: iruphotos.com