Hiking Clearwater Lake Recreation Area

Most hikers headed for Clearwater Lake Recreation Area in the Ocala National Forest are looking for the Florida Trail, which starts its northbound journey of 70 unbroken miles from a trailhead along the entrance road.

But the lesser-known original piece of the Florida Trail built by Florida Trail Association founder Jim Kern and his first work crew in October 1966 was first blazed on the opposite side of the Clearwater Lake.

It is now part of the Clearwater Lake Nature Trail, a gentle 1.3-mile hike through pine forests and scrub around the lake, which has a swimming area and access for paddlers as part of its day use area.

Following the nature trail around the lake

Cyclists, bring your off-road bikes to access the Paisley Woods Bicycle Trail, which starts 0.4 mile south of the recreation area off the entrance road.

Campers will appreciate the long-standing campground that edges the east side of the lake and offers deep shade on the majority of its campsites. Day users can relax by the beach and picnic area.

Day use beach at Clearwater Lake

Resources

Resources for exploring the area

Central Florida Orlando Explorers Guide book cover

The Hiking Trails of Floridas National Forests Parks Preserves book cover

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Overview

Location: Paisley
Length: 1.3 mile loop
Trailhead: 28.978510, -81.553909
Address: 24511 CR 42, Paisley
Fees: $8 day use. $31/night camping.
Restroom: At the day use area
Land manager: National Forests in Florida
Phone: 352-669-0078 (front gate) 1-877-444-6777 (camping reservations)

Day use 8 AM – 6 PM, although some hikers report being asked to leave by 4 PM.

Dogs are not permitted. The campsite and grounds are managed by a concessionaire, Adventure Ocala. Walk-up sites are not available.

Hikers wanting to leave a car behind the gates while backpacking pay $7/night, well worth the peace of mind. The Florida Trail trailhead is 0.4 mile south of the gate.

Directions

From DeLand, follow SR 44 west across the St. Johns River and make the first right onto CR 42 at the traffic light. Drive 12 miles into and through the community of Paisley. As the road curves, you see a Florida Trail sign. The turnoff for the recreation area is on the right immediately after that sign, and the gate into Clearwater Lake is a half mile up the entrance road, past a small trailhead for the Florida Trail and Paisley Woods Trail on the right. Pay your entrance fee and continue through the gate to the day use area, the first turn on your left. Drive down to the day use area and park near the lake.

Situated at the southern edge of the Ocala National Forest, Clearwater Lake Recreation Area offers a very pleasant campground with sites well-shaded by the sandhill forest on the east side of the lake.

Tent campers may gravitate to sites close to the water, while small RVs and campers will enjoy the very natural setting of the 42 sites within the forest.

A family camping with their Casita

The day use area, consisting of a beach, picnic area, and the hiking trail circling the lake, is on your left after the first set of tent sites inside the park gates.

Start your hike or your paddling trip here with a walk down to the lake.

Parking area with picnic tables and lake

Starting point for the hike at the day use area

Hike

The Clearwater Lake Nature Trail is a gentle, level trail that just misses the mark of wheelchair accessibility due to a few stretches of soft sand.

There are many benches along the walk for you to sit and savor the view, sketch a tree, or watch for birds. The benches make this an ideal stroll for persons with limited mobility.

Beach at Clearwater Lake

Start your hike by walking down to the beach along Clearwater Lake. It is sand spread along what would otherwise be a marshy shoreline of a flatwoods pond, but it provides access for swimmers.

Turn left and walk along the edge of the beach. If you don’t see a mowed path through the marsh grasses and sundew plants along the dried edge of the marsh, move inland a little.

If the mowed path is flooded, move uphill

A corridor beneath the pines slips behind a few of the campsites at the far south end of the campground. The mowed path narrows and leads you up there.

Yellow blazes mark the path, but it’s obvious and broad beneath the live oak canopy, edged by saw palmetto.

Wooded corridor meets lakeside path

The trail parallels the park road briefly, getting further away from the lake and into the pines.

Dipping in and out of shade and sun, the trail meanders back and forth across the ecotone between oak hammock and pine flatwoods.

Yellow blazes mark the route

After a quarter mile, there is a bench in a clearing. The pines are well-spaced and the understory open, so you can see the lake.

As the trail winds around the south end of the lake, it draws closer to SR 42—you can hear traffic, but the understory screens it from view.

Dense understory on the southwest side of the loop

At the next bench, a track leads away from it towards the highway, which made us wonder if this spot was the original starting point of the Florida Trail.

The trail continues to curve along the lake, with tall longleaf pines overhead, passing another bench.

Bench beneath the pines

After a half mile, the trail reaches a bench with a pretty view of the lake—a good spot to stop, relax, and reflect.

Through the open understory, the swimming area is visible on the far shore.

View of the swimming area from the west side of the lake

As the trail curves north, it makes a sharp turn away from the lake to head into a patch of scrubby flatwoods.

Young sand live oaks shade the route. A pond is obvious in the distance through the forest.

Trail in the scrub forest

There’s a bench in the saw palmetto as the trail meets the pond and a T in the footpath. Turn right to continue along the loop, walking through more scrubby flatwoods.

Reach a boardwalk after a mile. It traverses a small arm of a prairie extending off the lake.

Wet prairie along the lake

Continue straight ahead when leaving the boardwalk and look for the next yellow blaze soon after. The trail drops to the water’s edge at a bench.

Turn left and continue along the lakeshore, ignoring the little side trails to the right and left created by campers.

A catfaced pine, notched for turpentine tapping

Rising from the saw palmetto on the left, there’s a longleaf pine with an obvious v-notch in its trunk from turpentine tapping decades ago. A bench sits at the base of a tall pine.

Cross the next boardwalk at 1.1 miles, campers on their campsites obvious up ahead.

Boardwalk along the loop

The trail curves to continue along the lakeshore behind the backs of the campsites.

Passing picnic tables, walk under the shade of the oaks with the panorama of the lake stretching out to your right.

Walking along the edge of the campground

After one last bench on the left, you reach the swimming beach.

Walk up through the gap in the saw palmettos to return to the day use parking area after 1.3 miles.

A group of hikers at the day use picnic area

Trail Map

Explore More!

Learn more about the Ocala National Forest

Ocala National Forest

Established in 1908 as the first National Forest east of the Mississippi, the Ocala National Forest is a mecca for hikers and campers, and the birthplace of the Florida Trail

The southernmost piece of the Florida Trail in the Ocala National Forest starts at a trailhead off the entrance road into Clearwater Lake Recreation Area.

Florida Trail, Clearwater Lake to Alexander Springs

10.5 miles. Hike the original miles blazed by Florida Trail Association trailblazers in 1966 along one of the most beautiful sections of the Florida Trail in the Ocala National Forest