Home of the University of Florida, Gainesville is full of small urban parks with trails and surrounded by larger natural lands. Alachua County has done an excellent job setting aside lands just outside city limits for preservation.
Alfred A. Ring Park - I came here in search of a garden, and found a park. Having read that a small wildflower garden was tucked within this 22 acre park in northern Gainesville, I figured it was worth visiting [...]
Barr Hammock Preserve - Encompassing more than 5,700 acres, Barr Hammock Preserve includes an expansive wetland area, the Levy Prairie, that is the centerpiece of the Levy Loop Trail. Literally. Entirely atop a set of levees, the Levy Loop [...]
Cellon Oak Park - In our North Florida explorations, one goal of mine was to visit the Cellon Oak, Florida’s largest live oak (in terms of crown spread) and the current cover photo of Big Trees: The Florida Register, [...]
Cofrin Nature Park - A 30-acre tract within the city of Gainesville, this patch of preserve is the legacy of Mrs. Gladys Cofrin, an active environmentalist who had a horse farm and family homestead on this site. Thankfully, she [...]
Davenport Landing Trail - The most obscure interpretive trail in the Ocala National Forest is well off the beaten path along the Ocklawaha River, accessed via a narrow dirt road. Why here? Location, location, location—in the 1800s, Florida’s rivers [...]
Devil’s Millhopper State Park - On the northern edge of Gainesville, Devil’s Millhopper Geologic State Park showcases a geologic formation known to generations of visitors to the area. You’d think you were in the Amazon, or Hawaii, when you hear [...]
Dudley Farm Historic State Park - For a ramble through a preserved Florida pioneer homestead, visit Dudley Farm Historic Site State Park, where rangers in period costume take you through a day in the life of a turn-of-the-20th-century Florida farmer. The [...]
Florida Trail, Buckman Lock to SR 20 - Connecting the Ocala National Forest and the northern end of the Cross Florida Greenway with Rice Creek Conservation Area, the Florida Trail between Buckman Lock and SR 20 west of Palatka is a 7.4-mile ramble [...]
Florida Trail, Gold Head Branch State Park - One of Florida’s oldest state parks, the Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park opened in the 1930s, its facilities built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. It is one of the few state parks that [...]
Goethe State Forest – Buck Island Pond Trail - Looping around a cypress-lined pond in the midst of pine flatwoods, the Buck Island Pond Trail at Goethe State Forest has quite a few interesting features going for it. For one, a great little boardwalk [...]
Gold Head Branch State Park – Ridge and Ravine Trails - The steephead ravine that forms Gold Head Branch is a riot of green: deep green needle palms, ferns of every shape and size, water trickling, merging, and flowing downstream, and the canopy of native trees [...]
Hogtown Creek Greenway - Ever since I went to the Hogtown Medieval Faire for the first time, I’ve wondered about old Hogtown. I’ve seen the signs for Hogtown Creek—poor thing, encased in concrete culverts and shunted beneath lanes and [...]
John Mahon Nature Park - Ten acres isn’t a lot of land for a nature park, but in this urban setting along one of the busiest thoroughfares in Gainesville, it’s plenty for a quick, refreshing walk in the woods. Established [...]
Mill Creek Preserve - North of Gainesville, the northern forests make their southern stand. Mill Creek Preserve, north of Alachua and part of the Alachua County Forever registry, encompasses nearly 1,200 acres of unexpected delights in an area well-known [...]
Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park – La Chua Trail - There are a handful of places that stand out as excellent locations for wildlife watching in Florida – Circle B Bar, the Anhinga Trail, Shark Valley, Green Cay Wetlands, Orlando Wetlands Park – but the [...]
Poe Springs Park - With a nature trail showcasing Florida’s weird karst geology and a cypress swamp along the Santa Fe River near High Springs, Poe Springs Park provides a glimpse into Florida’s fossilized past. A second-magnitude spring, Poe [...]
San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park – Moonshine Creek Trails - Throughout Gainesville, creeks vanish into the ground, becoming part of the Floridan Aquifer. Along the two short but rugged trails that comprise this loop – the Moonshine Creek Trail and the Creek Sink Trail – [...]
Sweetwater Preserve - Two different faces, two different spaces: the 125-acre Sweetwater Preserve, acquired in 2006, is a unique natural land in the city of Gainesville. It provides a buffer and wildlife corridor on the northern rim of [...]
UF NATL Nature Trails - Tucked behind the Florida Museum of Natural History and the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, the University of Florida Natural Area Teaching Laboratory is an outdoor classroom for students and visitors to [...]
Watermelon Pond WEA - On the westernmost edge of Alachua County, Watermelon Pond is a sprawling prairie complex that was once a massive lake, a haven for wading birds. Unfortunately, the dewatering effects of continued development in the region [...]
