Paynes Prairie in Gainesville is drying up. With the extended drought and dropping water levels, the alligators are getting more and more concentrated into the bodies of water that are remaining. This is not a time to be roaming about without caution on North Florida’s most vast prairie, but it is a good time to see gators by the hundreds up at the north end of the prairie, where it drains into the aquifer, at Alachua Sink.
The La Chua Trail starts south of Boulware Springs Park off the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail and a back entrance to the preserve, open weekdays only, to lead you out into the panorama of prairie and waterways. I was glad to see a boardwalk added a few years ago, for safety’s sake and accessibility.
Explore Ochlockonee River State Park
La Chua Trail – overrated, overstated, anemic and too civilized. They should remove the signs that caution the potentiality for encounters with wildlife – unless they’re talking about the buzzards, hawks and fire ants. The boardwalk eliminated the “wild” from wilderness and the fact that are barely any gators there means the only ones to be seen are more than a hundred yards in the distance, nothing more than an attraction now, one absent animals. An utter disappointment, even when taking into account the overblown advertising, certainly not worth a 2 ½ hour drive.
Did you venture beyond the boardwalk? The trail continues for another mile out into the prairie along a berm to an observation tower. It was in the half mile after the boardwalk that I saw significant wildlife, including alligators mating – a first for wild encounters! – and roseate spoonbills feeding on the mud flats. While it was more fun when the whole trail was wild, the boardwalk makes it possible for people with disabilities to enjoy wildlife watching. Best time to visit is winter and spring, when migratory birds are in the area. I’ve seen hundreds of white pelicans on the prairie, and whooping cranes as well.