Exploring Central Florida: Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park

Sunday (11/8) was a beautiful day for hiking, and we spent the day at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park near Gainesville. We recently learned of the preserve, and were looking forward to seeing a wide variety of wildlife during the hike. We started the day at the Visitor's Center. The center itself is a very interesting design, and is staffed and well done. A short walk from the center is a 50-foot high observation tower. Although we did not see much this particular morning, it provided a great view. We were told that at times the bison and / or horses will come close enough to get a good look.

There are numerous trails throughout the park, several of which allow pets, bicycles, and / or horses. We randomly chose the Jackson's Gap trail to walk first. This was a nice hike through shady hammock and pine flatwoods. It was a short hike of only about 2.5 - 3 miles round trip from the visitor's center parking area. We then drove to the Lake Wauberg area, had our picnic lunch, and took the short walk to the boardwalk over Sawgrass Pond. Here we spent an incredible hour or so amazed at the amount of wildlife in such a relatively small spot. We observed 3 grown alligators, a group of about 10 alligator hatchlings, several snakes, turtles, multiple water birds, and more. You also have a nice view here of the University of Florida facilities across Lake Wauberg, and this day there was several sailboats and canoes on the lake. The park has a boat ramp for non-motorized boats only. Most of the pictured below were taken from the boardwalk. This area alone was worth the trip.

We has also heard from other park visitors that we should visit the La Chua Trail, which required leaving the park and driving about 11 miles in toward Gainesville (the visitor's center provides excellent printed directions). This 3 mile round-trip trail takes you past the Alachua Sink and to the center of the prairie marsh. There were more gators than you could easily count, many of which were as large as we have seen anywhere. At the end of the trail, there is an observation platform at the end of the trail providing a nice panoramic view of the basin. Here we saw many birds, as well as a long distance glimpse of some of the wild horses. There were also this day many beautiful wild flowers in bloom across the prairie.

All in all, another great day at one of Florida's many excellent state parks. Admission is now $6 per vehicle, but there was no charge to park at the La Chua Trail area. Also, we found nearby the trail head for a 16 mile paved bike trail, the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail, that we look forward to trying very soon. More information available at http://www.floridastateparks.org/ and http://www.prairiefriends.org/.