On 15 Dec 2009 I spent a morning and an afternoon at Merritt Island FL. It was like going to a sort of lost world without the great savage beasts. It is true Florida wilderness and Florida wildness. I took 2 drive through trails. The most commonly used is the Black Point Wildlife Drive. There were other cars on the drive besides mine. It was dreary, wet and windy day. It took about 2 hours and I got 2 life birds, the Louisiana Heron and the Reddish Egret. The drive is smooth and paved. It's an easy drive.
I met a guy who lives in the area and he said I should check out Peacocks Pocket Road. This I did and another life bird turned up, a pied billed grebe. Peacocks Pocket Road is a mean, rough road. It's narrow and is uneven. One side falls off into the bay and the other side is a huge marshy area. It took about 3 hours and it was impossible to drive more than 10 mph due to the roughness of the road. Mine was the only vehicle on this lesser known drive.
A large map is available at the park office and bears close scrutiny. Black Point Wildlife Drive is easy to locate and is well marked. I didn't see any sign indicating the location of Peacocks Pocket Road but it is on the map.
BTW, the scenery is fantastic Florida wilderness. Granted there are no towering cliffs, waterfalls, waves crashing against a rugged coast or anything like that. However the average person would be sorely pressed to walk through most of the terrain. It's a pretty rough place. Check out my Merritt Island images at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80431173@N00/
Note that there are two Merritt Island links, one for animals and one for scenery.