Ding Darling's Front Door Reopens This Fall, and the Indigo Trail Comes With It
For four years, a walk on the Indigo Trail started at a fee booth. You parked at the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge, walked past the Visitor & Education Center, and went down Wildlife Drive to the booth. Only there could you turn left onto the trail. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service trails page still gives those directions. It says the boardwalk from the center to the fee booth is closed and that walkers should turn left at the booth.
That detour is the one Hurricane Ian left behind. Getting rid of it is the main event of the refuge's 2026-27 season. The "Ding" Darling Wildlife Society, the refuge's friends group, calls the season "Wings of Renewal," and the name fits what is being repaired. The work brings back the connections between pieces of the refuge that were already standing, more than any single new attraction.
The Society set the ribbon cutting for the renovated Indigo Trail Boardwalk for noon on Wednesday, October 21, the 150th birthday of Jay Norwood "Ding" Darling. The ceremony was set for the area next to The Roost. The Society's event page says the boardwalk "reconnects the Visitor & Education Center with Wildlife Drive" and notes it "has been missing for four years."
The Indigo Trail is a 4-mile round trip from the Visitor & Education Center parking lot to the Cross Dike, which branches off Wildlife Drive. Three-tenths of a mile out from the center, the trail reaches the Wildlife and Education Boardwalk. This stretch explains animal scat and tracks, and its two-story observation pavilion looks over freshwater where alligators and, in season, nesting birds can be seen. With the connecting boardwalk back, that first stretch of the walk starts at the building with the restrooms, water bottle filling stations and information desk.
Because the federal trails page still describes the old detour, check it before your first walk of the season.
The boardwalk is the most visible piece of a longer project. Visitors have mostly seen its results without seeing the work. In a February status report published by the Island Reporter, Islander and Current, Refuge Project Leader Kevin Godsea listed work already done at the Visitor & Education Center. It included air-conditioning, a roof replacement, an ADA lift, electrical upgrades, new doors, impact windows and a new ceiling. The ramp archway was finished in January 2025.
The center closed on July 27 so crews could build a new entrance ramp. During that time the auditorium also got new AV equipment, acoustic wall panels, carpet, lighting, seating, an art-hanging system and better access for people who are hard of hearing. The Santiva Chronicle reported that the shutdown also closed the Refuge Nature Store, the restrooms and the main parking lot. Work also started on new Society offices to replace the ones Ian destroyed.
The reopening date moved a few times. The Society first projected October 1. WGCU reported in August that the center was expected back in early October. The refuge's homepage later set the reopening for Saturday, October 17, 2026, after the ramp was rebuilt.
Ann-Marie Wildman, the Society's executive director, described the mood in July to the Santiva Chronicle:
"The excitement at 'Ding' has been steadily building these past couple of years as it comes back better and more impressive than ever. Now that the end is in sight, we can hardly contain the anticipation of our renewal."
Several repairs were scheduled to finish within weeks of each other, so the refuge is coming back in stages. The table below shows the most recent official or reported status for each piece.
Piece of the refuge | Most recent status |
|---|---|
Visitor & Education Center | Reopening set by FWS for Saturday, October 17, 2026 |
Indigo Trail Boardwalk | Ribbon cutting scheduled for October 21, 2026 |
Bailey Tract boardwalk | Construction projected complete by July 31, 2026 |
Mangrove Overlook | Projected to open by late September 2026 |
Calusa Shell Mound Trail | Closed; construction anticipated in fiscal year 2028 |
Wildlife Drive | Open daily except Fridays |
The Calusa Shell Mound Trail is the one stop near the end of Wildlife Drive that stays closed. It's a one-third-mile accessible boardwalk loop through a hardwood hammock that grew on top of an ancient Calusa shell mound. Interpretive panels along the way describe the Indigenous people who built it. The refuge also calls it an excellent place to spot warblers and other songbirds during spring and fall migration.
The trail runs on a different schedule from the other boardwalks because a different agency manages it. According to Godsea's February report, the Federal Highways Administration handles the Shell Mound boardwalk under the Emergency Relief for Federal-Owned Roads program. Design is underway, and construction is expected in fiscal year 2028, after tribal consultation and permitting. So for at least the next season, the fall songbird stop on the north end of the drive isn't available. The interior wetland at Bailey Tract is the nearest alternative.
Once the front door is open, the routine depends on a short list of rules. They haven't changed through the recovery:
Bailey Tract sits off Tarpon Bay Road, three miles from the Visitor & Education Center. It's a 100-acre freshwater wetland open to walkers and cyclists from sunrise to sunset. Alligators and turtles are common, and the refuge says a lucky visitor might see a bobcat or otter.
On the water, the refuge works through its official concessionaire. Tarpon Bay Explorers checks in tram tours at 900 Tarpon Bay Road and says it's open every day. Rentals run 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the gift store is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Federal passes are sold there as well as at the fee booth, which helps if your Drive pass is up for renewal.
The current rate sheet lists these prices, plus tax:
Kayak and tram tours need at least four people and cruises need six, so booking ahead is recommended. Stand-up paddleboard tours, the touch tanks and breakfast cruises are listed as unavailable for now.
The renovated auditorium is the other half of the reconnection, and its calendar is filling up. The Society's Art in the Wild schedule put seven-time Federal Duck Stamp winner Jim Hautman in the newly renovated auditorium on October 20. The next dates, as listed by the Society and the Islander's October 13 update, are below.
The program calendar lines up with the birds. The Society's fact sheet says bird numbers at the refuge peak in winter, in January and February. Roseate spoonbills and white ibis are on its list of year-round species. The free winter programs begin January 5, just ahead of those peak months.
The refuge is part of why the island feels the way it does, and our team is glad to see "Ding" whole again. If you'd like to talk about life near Wildlife Drive, or anything else on Sanibel, McMurray and Members is happy to compare notes. Let's Talk.
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