Jacksonville Arboretum & Gardens

A success story in reclaiming an industrial site, the beauty of the Jacksonville Arboretum & Gardens belies its past.

This 120 acres of woodlands within earshot of Interstate 275 is now a lush urban forest, but it was a titanium mine between 1944 and 1961, which may be why the terrain is so rugged.

The two-acre lake in the middle of the arboretum is a former borrow pit

Centered on Lake Ray in the middle, where planted gardens are located, interpretive trails extend into an unexpectedly diverse array of habitats.

In this one carefully managed preserve, you’ll see a rosemary scrub, a pitcher plant bog, the edge of the estuary along the St. Johns, alluvial streams, and the National Champion loblolly bay tree.

Along the edge of the rosemary scrub on the high ground of the arboretum

Along all of the trails, plants, trees, and entire habitats are neatly identified by both interpretive signage and simple tags.

Small brown signs provide information on the length and difficulty of each trail.

Simple interpretive tags help you identify and recognize native plants in their native habitats

There is confirmation signage along the trails and at each intersection, and sometimes logs or branches lining the footpath where you might stray off it.

The signage makes it very clear where you should and shouldn’t go.

At the end of a spur trail along a depression marsh

While the land is city-owned, the Jacksonville Arboretum & Gardens is managed by a nonprofit whose volunteers care for the preserve.

It’s obvious a lot of effort and passion for natural habitats goes into keeping this a beauty
spot.

The nonprofit also engages cultural interaction with the landscape, offering art classes, gardening workshops, and more.

Native American inspired art at lake — Public art displayed along the Lake Loop Trail

Resources

Resources for exploring the area around the Jacksonville Arboretum

North Florida Panhandle Explorers Guide book cover

Hikers Guide to the Sunshine State book cover

Disclosure: As authors and affiliates, we receive earnings when you buy these through our links. This helps us provide public information on this website.

Overview

Location: Jacksonville
Length: 3.8 mile loop
Trailhead: 30.3462, -81.5395
Address: 1445 Millcoe Road, Jacksonville
Fees: Free, but suggested $3 donation if you are able
Restroom: Adjoining the handicapped parking
Land manager: Jacksonville Arboretum & Gardens
Phone: 904-318-4342

Open 8 AM to 5 PM. Bicycles are not allowed. A bike rack adjoins a water fountain and water bottle filling station at the entrance. A picnic area is provided along the Lake Loop Trail.

Leashed pets welcome but are excluded from some trails because of fragile habitats. Mind those signs as you encounter them and pick up after your pet.

The arboretum has several venues that make a nice place for an outdoor wedding, including a stone pavilion on the pond. Call them for details.

A portion of the Lake Loop Trail is accessible, but most trails are natural surface and some are steeply sloped. There are many benches along the trail system. An additional accessible South Loop is under construction.

Directions

From Interstate 295 exit 47 just east of Arlington and 4.4 miles north of Beach Blvd (US 90), exit east on Monument Rd and get in the left lane immediately to make the left onto Millcoe Rd. The road leads you up to a self-storage place and the Arboretum parking area is hidden behind that, a quarter mile from Monument Rd.

Hike

The route we describe and show on the map is one of many possible along the named trail network that radiates across the arboretum.

All hikes start from the trailhead, where a large kiosk has a map of the preserve and often has maps you can take with you. It helps to have one.

Stopping at the kiosk just inside the entrance

The Lake Loop Trail is the first trail you encounter, and the one you need to do at a bare minimum to get a feel for the arboretum.

It’s a quarter-mile loop where cultivated gardens and thematic groupings of trees showcase the many uses of plants.

The Lake Loop also provides several overlooks on the lake

At the picnic area, turn off the Lake Loop onto the Live Oak Trail. It winds through upland habitats heavy on laurel oak and live oak.

Along it are restoration areas for longleaf pine sandhill and turkey oak barren, as well as wet pine flatwoods and flatwood swale.

One of many restoration areas bringing back native habitats

Pines tower overhead with saw palmetto and cinnamon fern at their bases.

Interpretive signs pointed out less easy-to-recognize understory plants like coastal doghobble.

Around one bend, a clearing where a tree had fallen had a chainsaw art turtle occupying the large oak stump. The trail loses elevation soon after.

Under the pines on the Live Oak Trail

The habitats shifts and becomes more scrubby like a xeric hammock with a dense understory. Mats of sphagnum moss outline the footpath.

Meeting a connector to Rosemary Ridge after 0.4 mile, turn left. This one mile loop has an outstanding spectrum of habitat diversity along it.

Crossing the bridge to the Sand Ridge Trail

Cross a bridge over a tributary feeding Jones Creek. Turn left at the bottom of the Sand Ridge Trail loop. The trail threads its way uphill through the tightly-knit xeric hammock.

Passing the Deer Moss Trail and Rosemary Trail intersections, continue around Rosemary Ridge to where the trail opens up into a depression marsh, an unexpected find at 0.7 mile.

Depression marsh in the pines, reminiscent of the pocosins we’ve seen in North Carolina

We poked down a couple of side trails that led off the ridge and downhill, but each one ended: the first at a sign, the next at a waterway.

At the northernmost point in the loop, still in the xeric hammock, you pick up the scent of a salt marsh.

The trail surprises again with a side trail down to the edge of an estuary, with a bench overlooking the view.

A surprise view of the Jones Creek Estuary

Soon after this side trail there is a gate into Rosemary Ridge at 1 mile. Please do not bring dogs in here and stay on the path.

The footpath guides you through the rosemary bald, a habitat that has vanished throughout Florida due to development on high ground in coastal areas.

Florida rosemary defines this desert-like scrub.

Atop the rosemary bald that the Rosemary Ridge Loop circles

Leaving the scrub habitat atop the ridge, use the Deer Moss Trail to return to the east side of the Sand Ridge Trail.

Where they meet, another overlook with a bench faces out into the Jones Creek estuary, here with a sawgrass marsh along its rim.

Sawgrass marsh on the estuary

Descending through the xeric hammock, the trail reaches the end of its loop.

Turn left and return to the junction with the Live Oak Loop. Make a left to head towards the Lake Loop.

This connector trail descends through switchbacks before emerging onto the much broader Lake Loop at 1.5 miles.

Turn left to continue, but meander to the right first to look around.

Blooms of the Chaste Tree in one of the gardens along the Lake Loop

Bamboo outlines some of the garden pathways in this area where plantings and natural habitats meld.

There are several places to look out over the lake, both from overlooks on the bluffs and at lake level.

After a walk through the gardens, continue clockwise on the Lake Loop to find the boardwalk on the left. It leads down to another treasure in this preserve.

A natural overlook from the bluffs to the lake

The boardwalk ends adjoining a very large tree with a double trunk rising from its base. When last measured six years ago, this trunk was a little over 12 feet in diameter.

The tree has a crown spread of 58 feet, and stood 117 feet tall, making it the National Champion of loblolly bay (Gordonia lasianthus) trees.

Boardwalk to National Champion loblolly bay

Boardwalk leading to the National Champion, which is the large tree on the left

You may be familiar with these trees sprouting small white flowers dotting their shiny green leaves in late spring and early summer. They tend to be an indicator of swamp forests, particularly the ones called bayheads.

Return back to the Lake Loop and turn left. A pavilion sits along the lakeshore, provide a nice view across Lake Ray.

Stone pavilion at Jacksonville Arboretum

The stone pavilion on the lake is used as a wedding venue

On the opposite side of it, a path leads through a stand of identified trees, including a weeping bald cypress and yellow anise.

Turn left at the T to start the Jones Creek Trail, a loop around Jones Creek. Parts of it are in the floodplain, so sand may be washed up over the footpath.

Jones Creek boardwalk — Part of a series of boardwalks and bridges along the Jones Creek Trail

A broad boardwalk into the bottomland forest along the creek leads to a narrow bridge at the base of a bald cypress.

The water of Jones Creek is stained with tannins, and flows quickly through the forest, showing its erosional power along the curves.

Looking down into Jones Creek

Ascending a bluff, the trail provides views down into the creek before crossing it again on another bridge in the bottomland forest at 2 miles.

A tributary riffles along the side of the trail behind a bench, and sometimes overflows onto the footpath.

A portion of the Jones Creek Loop that floods easily

After you pass a big rootball that looks like a giant squid splayed across the trail, watch for a sign for the Sugarberry Trail on the left. Turn left.

This short connector meets the Aralia Trail. Turn left. This hardwood hammock hosts many small pools of water, which in turn provide habitat for wildlife.

The squid-like roots of a partly fallen tree

At the next opportunity for a left turn, take the narrow path. It’s a short but worthwhile side trail that culminates in a small loop along Jones Creek.

It’s here you’ll find the steepest part of its ravine, close enough to the edge of the preserve that you can hear traffic. But it’s also home to another surprise.

A tiny natural cascade in Jones Creek

Peer over the cascade at 2.4 miles before continuing up the creek along the loop. A riot of ferns fills the understory.

On the return trip to the main Aralia Trail, the cinnamon ferns grow in large clusters. Look for false Solomon’s seal and other woodland wildflowers edging the footpath.

Walking along the edge of Jones Creek upstream from the cascade

The Aralia Trail is named for Aralia spinosa, better known as Devil’s Walkingstick. These sharp-thorned trees dominate the understory along part of the loop.

As the canopy becomes surprisingly high, look down at the leaves underfoot. They now include Liriodendron tulipifera, or tulip poplar. It is not a common tree in Florida, but it certainly is in the Appalachians.

Tulip poplars are a part of the canopy along the Aralia Trail

Finishing the Aralia Trail, walk back along the short Sugarberry Trail to rejoin the Jones Creek Loop. Turn left.

Pass the turnoff for the Upper Ravine Trail to visit the Lower Ravine Trail first. It’s a turnoff on the left after the next bridge.

Bridge over a tributary of Jones Creek

Cinnamon ferns and sweetleaf cluster around wetland ponds that form in the bottom of this ravine. Look for red maple and sweetgum along the edges as well.

Crystalline feeder streams next to shimmying fronds of sprouting bluestem palms provide a clue that springs are feeding the waterways which in turn feed Jones Creek.

Hooded pitcher plants rise out of the muckiest part of the bog

It’s another surprise of this preserve when the trail leads you to a pitcher plant bog. Star-rush and dahoon holly edge the bog.

As the trail begins its loop back towards the Jones Creek Trail, it is paralleled by a clear, shallow, sand bottomed stream.

Snapping turtle in the small stream in the steephead

By 3 miles, you finish the Lower Ravine Trail. Turn right and walk back past the start of that loop, and make a right onto the Upper Ravine Trail.

True to its name, it climbs, providing nice views down into the steephead you just walked through. Sunlight sparkles on the dark water between the trees.