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 for the sake of my botanical research. And the park I found surprised me. For such a small swath of land, it gives the perfect illusion that you’re wrapped in the embrace of a deep, dark upland forest, the kind that once blanketed these hillsides north of Paynes Prairie.
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Overview
Location: Gainesville
Length: 1.4 miles
Lat-Long: 29.674283, -82.347019
Type: round-trip and loop
Fees / Permits: none
Difficulty: easy to moderate
Bug factor: moderate
Restroom: Yes
There is a restroom, picnic shelter, and playground adjoining the small formal garden.
Directions
From the corner of University Avenue and US 441, drive north on US 441 to Glen Springs Rd (NW 23rd Ave). Follow it to the entrance for Alfred A. Ring Park on the left, entered through the Elks Lodge parking lot.
Hike Details
You enter the park on a broad bridge that’s built with heavy steel girders—my guess is to withstand flash floods that might roar down the ravine. At the trail junction, turn left. The footpath quickly comes to a small clearing with a restroom, picnic shelter, and playground. Continue along the trail, and you’ll notice you’re headed downhill. Fast. In spring, you’ll see smooth Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum biflorum) in bloom. I’m familiar with these from the Appalachian Mountains, and have never seen them further south of this point.
The trail forks; keep to the left to parallel the creek, and soon a side trail leads off to a boardwalk and overlook above where the tributary meets Hogtown Creek. Continue along the main trail to a spot where you can relax on a bench overlooking the creek and a perched marsh in the floodplain forest. Loblolly pines rise tall overhead, and needle palms bask in the cool shadows. A boardwalk follows the winding path of the creek to a view of a lazy horseshoe bend in the waterway, and keeps on going.
Hogtown Creek cuts sinuous channels through the layers of sand that make up these hills, and the trail does its best, via boardwalk and footpath, to mimic those curves from above. A fallen tree is cut into chunks. You’ll pass more needle palms, and a rather large patch of poison ivy. The shaggy-barked trees you see are bluff oaks, a species that only grows on limestone bluffs.
You start to see the backyards of houses, and emerge onto a walk-in (no parking) trailhead along NW 16th Ave. Turn around and start the trek back uphill, enjoying the cool shade. At the first fork, keep left. This section of the trail leads you up to the Emily S. Ring Wildflower Garden, a lovely little treasure tucked beneath the oaks. Azalea and camellia were in bloom when I visited, and numerous other plants are identified throughout the garden, from white false indigo to coontie and century plant. Two pergolas provide a place to sit and meditate. The garden opens up onto the playground area. Walk through it, and turn left to exit.
