Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park

Several weeks ago, I planned this trip not anticipating the heavy rains that Florida has been experiencing. Well, I decided to go anyway. I had some early luck getting breaks in the rain or just sprinkles – but as the trip went on the weather got worse. On the 10th I started out at Indian Lake State Forest Hiking on the Bear-N-Oak Trail a 1.4-mile loop circling Indian Lake, a major karst (dissolving bedrock caused sinkhole) feature in the Ocala Limestone and through mossy live oaks. The lake is directly connected to the Floridan Aquifer.

Moving on to Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, encompassing a 21,000-acre
savanna in Alachua County, Florida lying between Micanopy and Gainesville. It
is also a U.S. National Natural Landmark.

Paynes Prairie is unique in many
ways. Nowhere else in Florida can visitors
experience wild-roaming bison and horses. Nearly 300 species of birds also
frequent the park along with alligators, deer and many other animals. We
visited this park two years ago and did not see any horses or bison – this time
very close to horses but only a long distant view of the bison.

Started out at the visitors center and hiked the Wacahoota trail (.8 miles) to a viewing platform overlooking the savanna.

After a break in the rain, I headed to the Bolen Bluff Trail (2.6 mile) trek through an oak hammock and on to the savanna – where you could see other wildlife such as bobcats (no), white tailed deer (yes – but not fast enough with the camera) and wild turkeys (no). Halfway through the hike a monsoon came through and I took my second full shower of the day — more will come.

The rain stopped and the sun peaked through, so I headed to north end of Paynes Prairie, and the La Chua Trail an excellent wildlife watching site, with an elevated boardwalk and lengthy dike out to an observation tower.

Early start on the 11th, heavy rains greeted me but I headed to Newnans Lake SF to hike the West Lake and Sparrows trails. With rain lightening up I went out sans’ camera – smart move about a mile in the rain went from sprinkles to heavy down pour — fortunately only about 8/10 of a mile back to the car.

½ hour drive to my next stop – Goethe State Forest. The rain started to moderate along the way and I dried out some while driving. Good news – when I arrived at the trailhead the rain stopped and there were some breaks in the clouds. The Buck Island Pond trail (1.8 miles) circles the pond, starting at an oak hammock changing to pines and the cypresses along with their knees making footing precarious on the wet trail. Must have been a while since another hiker passed through, I needed to dodge many spiders web along the way.

Off to my last stop – Ross Prairie SF and its Holly Hammock trail – not to be, the rains came back more ferocious than at any time in the last two days. I decided to give it 20 minutes at the trailhead to see if the rains stopped or at least drop to a sprinkle – didn’t happen so I left for home – Any way it was a fun but wet trip.

Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park is a Florida State Park, encompassing a 21,000-acre savanna in Alachua County, Florida lying between Micanopy and Gainesville. It is also a U.S. National Natural Landmark. Paynes Prairie is unique in many ways. Nowhere else in Florida can visitors experience wild-roaming bison (all we saw were bison chips) and horses. Nearly 300 species of birds also frequent the park along with alligators, deer and many other animals. The day started out rainy and chilly but improved throughout the day. We started the day with umbrellas in hand on the Lake Wauberg trail – just .8 miles with views of the lake and the savanna. Then on to the Bolen Bluff Trail a 2.5 mile loop with a spur trail into the savanna with an observation tower which gave us a good view of this expansive park. Finally the 3 mile La Chula Trail which is a mix of boardwalks and a grassy trail around the Alachua Sink with sightings of alligators and many birds.