When I first heard of Tree Tops Park, I imagined a public park with treehouses and tree walkways to give visitors a bird’s-eye view among the branches and canopy. In reality, the only thing to climb is an observation tower — otherwise, visitors keep their feet on the ground and look upward. No matter how you look at them, though, the trees at Tree Tops Park are tops.

Located in Davie, FL, the park surrounds Pine Island Ridge, which is — at a little over 29 feet — the highest natural land formation in Broward County. As the Everglades formed some 7,000 years ago, the ridge became a natural and ideal place for native peoples to live. For the Seminole Indians, the site remains sacred.

Over the years, the land has been used for raising cattle, farming, and a citrus grove. Remnants of the grove still remain (above). In 1989, Florida purchased the land, and it has been allowed to become what it is today, an oasis in Broward County’s rapidly encroaching urban jungle.

I used the panorama option to get this fallen trunk, which looked to me like a dinosaur bone. Although fallen, the tree is still very much alive.

The view from the observation tower.

Ferns and bromeliads sharing a massive limb.

The photos for this post were all taken with my new iPhone 6S. (Yes, I know the iPhone is into double-digit territory now — but as much as I like toys, I can’t bring myself to purchase the newest model when it will be obsolete within a week after I purchase it.) Normally, I use a Canon digital camera, but I was curious to see how the iPhone, very convenient to carry along, would translate to the blog.