Lake Wales Ridge
The Lake Wales Ridge, sometimes referred to as the Mid-Florida Ridge, is a sand ridge running for about south to north in Central Florida. Clearly viewable from satellite, the white sands of the ridge are located in Highlands County and Polk County, and also extend north into Osceola, Orange, and Lake Counties. It is named for the city of Lake Wales, roughly at the midpoint of the ridge. The highest point of the ridge is Sugarloaf Mountain, which at is also the highest natural point in peninsular Florida. (The highest point of land, at , is a manmade mining tank west of Bartow.) Iron Mountain, the location of Bok Tower, marks another well known high point on the ridge, attaining an elevation of . A northern unconnected extension of the Lake Wales Ridge exists in western Putnam County near the town of Grandin. Origins Florida's ancient sand islands stretch for over down the middle of central Florida. Glacial changes and the rising and falling of the oceans caused dramatic transformations on the Florida peninsula. Covered almost completely by water two million years ago, only a series of small islands existed. It is the remnants of those islands that make up