Most visitors come to Kelly Park for the best natural water park in Florida, a narrow gushing channel pouring out of Rock Springs through a subtropical setting.
A gift to the people of Apopka by Dr. Howard Atwood Kelly, one of the founders of Johns Hopkins Hospital, Kelly Park dates to 1927.
Rock SpringsIt’s always been a popular swimming hole, and it has a very nice campground in its uplands. But the trails of Kelly Park are worth your time, too.
Making a circuit of the high points surrounding Rock Springs, the Kelly Loop Trail shows off the best features of this park.
Access point to Rock Springs RunResources
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Overview
Location: Apopka
Length: 2.6 mile loop
Trailhead: 28.757290, -81.500509
Address: 400 E Kelly Park Rd, Apopka 32712
Fees: $3 per carload for 1 or 2 passengers, $5 for 3-8 passengers
Restroom: flush toilets at swimming area
Land Manager: Orange County Parks & Recreation
Phone: 407-254-1902
Dogs are not permitted. Open 8-8 summer, 8-6 winter (daylight savings time).
Mosquitoes can be troublesome along the park trails, especially near the spring run. Bring repellent if you plan to hike.
The campground is an excellent family getaway, especially when paired with the outdoor recreation opportunities of the park.
Directions
From Interstate 4 in Altamonte Springs, follow SR 436 (Semoran Blvd) to Apopka, where it joins into US 441. Turn north (right) onto Rock Springs Road (CR 435). Drive 5.8 miles to Kelly Park Road. You’ll see a tubing rental place on the corner. Turn right. Follow the road around less than a half mile to the park entrance on the right. Pay your entrance fee at the ranger station and continue down the park entrance road to the main parking area. Park near the swimming area.
Hike
From the Dr. Howard Kelly monument above the concession stand, follow the walk upstream along Rock Springs Run.
It’s an easy start. Tens of thousands of visitors do it each year as they carry tubes up to the source of the run for a cool ride downstream.
Visitors enjoying the waterfrontA boardwalk zigzags downhill to the edge of the run, passing access points almost dream-like.
Rimmed with ferns, limestone slabs adjoin turquoise-tinted waters flowing above sparkling sands.
Rock Springs RunA bridge crosses the run in front of Rock Springs, its waters pouring from a cavern in the hillside.
An average of 26,000 gallons of pure spring water gush past per minute beneath this bridge.
Bridge over Rock Springs RunCrossing the bridge, walk uphill. After a quarter mile is the first “Kelly Loop Trail” sign.
Make a right at the fork. At the next intersection, go straight across to the next “Kelly Loop Trail” sign. Look for yellow blazes on the trees to confirm the route.
Trail markerAlong the broad path through the upland hammock, pass the first of many slash pines with a catface where the tree was tapped for turpentine.
Climb past a bench. One of the joys of this hike is its changes of elevation on topography shaped by the karst from which Rock Springs Run rises.
Upland hammockCross the park road and continue along a bark chip path in the median towards the front entrance.
Follow the median along a series of green posts paralleling the campground road.
Kiosk near park entranceMeander through an open understory beneath pines and oaks. The landscape drops off along a sinkhole at a half mile, with a bench overlooking it.
Round more sinkholes in quick succession, likely openings into the same underground stream. Cross the entrance road to the campground.
Above the sinkholesEven though the sand has both the tracks of deer and ATVs, this is the right trail. Watch for yellow blazes on the ascent into the sandhills.
Pass the next bench, and the canopy begins to open up, with tall longleaf pine on the hillside. The trail descends.
Well worn pathJust shy of a mile is a 4-way junction at the base of the sandhills. Continue straight on the sandy track into a lush, dense hardwood hammock.
Saw palmetto surrounds the footpath. Deer’s-tongue and blazing star blooms in fall.
Deer crossing the pathPassing a bench on the left, the trail twists and winds through the hammock. At a fork in the trail is a “Kelly Park” sign. Keep left to walk down to Third Landing.
The view across Rock Springs Run is spectacular, although Third Landing it is no longer used as a take out.
Third LandingLeaving this beauty spot, reach a T intersection. Turn left to follow the yellow blaze. Walking around a gate, cross under a power line.
Watch for posts with yellow tips as trail markers. Beyond a bench, join a nice corridor in the woods under a shady canopy of oaks where bromeliads drape from the trees.
Trail markerYoung cabbage palms crowd the understory, a new generation of palm hammock rising from moist ground.
At 1.5 miles, emerge from the hammock to the spring run. There are picnic pavilions here and horseshoe pits near the swimming area.
Clear waters in the swimming areaAt Pavilion 3, turn right to follow the shoreline along the beach. Cross the bridge and walk out along the peninsula dividing the tubing run in two.
At the T intersection, turn left for a short side trail to Second Landing, now the permanent take out for all swimmers and tubers.
The peninsulaThe view down Rock Springs Run is worth the side trip. Return past a strange structure with benches around it, like a covered horseshoe pit.
The next bench is at a fork. Keep right, and you’ll see the next blaze ahead as you walk through the bluff forest above the spring run.
Downstream from Second LandingTake the left fork at the next trail junction to continue uphill. At the fork after that, keep right. A blaze soon confirms the route.
Slash pines tower above, another bearing a catface scar. We spotted both turkey and deer in this part of the forest.
Catface on a pineTwo miles in, a bench is just before the trail goes over a rise. Continue downhill under a canopy of hickories, oaks, and southern magnolias, steadily losing elevation.
The next intersection of trails completes the loop. Take the right-hand trail, descending through the lush forest to Rock Springs.
Rock SpringsAfter crossing the bridge, take the boardwalk on the left. It lets you get right in front of the cavern mouth to peer into the spring.
The cavern is gated so no one can crawl into it, but you can look in and see the water flowing out.
Barred caveRetrace your steps back up the boardwalk to the main swimming and concession area.
Return to the parking lot via the Dr. Kelly monument, wrapping a 2.6 mile hike.
Monument to Dr. KellyTrail Map
Explore More!
To add more miles, tackle Kelly Park’s Western Addition Trails across from the main entrance.
Kelly Park Western Addition Trails Along the Oakhill and Prairie Lake Trails at Kelly Park, explore the Western Addition to walk around anomalous habitats persisting where a spring-fed lake flourished long ago.Slideshow
See our photos from this hike
Nearby Adventures
Lake Lucie Conservation Area A shaded loop trail winding through mesic hammocks borders a marsh that was once known as Lake Lucie. 
Trimble Park A superb family destination for its playground and campground, Trimble Park boasts a showy nature trail looping over a mile between two lakefronts.
Lake Apopka North Shore Across two counties and along the entire north rim of Florida's fourth-largest lake, this 20,000 acre conservation area is a sweep of wildlife-rich marshes. 
Wekiwa Springs State Park A massive wilderness area on the edge of the Orlando metro, Wekiwa Springs State Park is centered on a first-magnitude spring that pours forth a river lined with jungle-like vegetation.
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