At Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, the Prairie Creek Boardwalk is the least known of its trails, but provides a scenic stroll along the creek that drains the prairie.
We’ve biked to the Prairie Creek Boardwalk from two different directions along the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail, using it as a rest stop and our turnaround point. To hike here, however, you’ll want to start somewhere closer than the bike path trailheads at Rochelle and La Chua Trail.
The nearest access point to the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail is Kate’s Fish Camp. It’s a great place to rent canoes and kayaks, or to grab your bait for fishing on Newnan’s Lake, but not somewhere to just casually park. A worn path leads from the fish camp along Prairie Creek up to the paved bike trail.
To access this short boardwalk on foot, plan a 1.4-mile round-trip from a small unpaved parking area for the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail off SR 24 at SE 30th Street.
Resources
Overview
Location: Gainesville
Length: 1.4 mile round-trip
Trailhead: 29.612284, -82.253994
Fees / Permits: None
Restroom: None along the trail, but nearby at Earl Powers Park
Land Manager: Florida State Parks
Phone: 352-466-3397
Open 8 AM until sunset. Leashed dogs permitted. Although it is along the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail, the boardwalk portion of this hike is not open to bicycles. Park your bike in the provided bike rack.
The trail is wheelchair accessible, including the paved bike path and boardwalk. However, the parking area where you start following this route is unpaved.
Directions
From the park’s main entrance on US 441 north of Micanopy, drive south to the light in Micanopy. Turn left onto SR 234. Continue 7 miles north to the T intersection in Rochelle, right past the trail crossing of the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail. Make a left onto CR 2082. The trailhead here can be used as an alternative access point, but it’s a much longer walk out and back to Prairie Creek (a 3.4-mile round-trip).
Where CR 2082 emerges at SR 20, turn left. Keep in the left lane. Soon after you cross the bridge over Prairie Creek and see the sign on the right for Kates Fish Camp, keep alert for the left onto SE 30th Street. Turn left across the eastbound lanes of SR 20 and look for the tiny dirt parking area on the right just before the bike path crossing.
Hike
On foot, you’ll spend more time walking to and from the boardwalk than actually on the boardwalk, but that’s just fine. This portion of the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail is flat and nicely canopied by the forest surrounding it.
Crossing Prairie Creek on the bike path bridge, you can see it flowing out under SR 20 from Newnans Lake. The cypress-lined lake to the north is where ancient dugout canoes were found buried in the lake mud.
Undoubtedly those early peoples followed this clear, swiftly flowing stream towards what is now called Paynes Prairie, a massive grassy savanna where hunting would have been superb.
After a half mile walk, just past the bike path bridge, you’ll see the bike rack and sign for the Prairie Creek Boardwalk. It’s not well known other than to locals and to the cyclists who whiz by it.
It’s not a long boardwalk – just a quarter mile out and back – but it weaves its way along the sand-bottomed creek, providing a variety of views from different angles.
Look down as well as up. On our first visit, we saw a snake below and a barred owl above.
The boardwalk ends at an observation deck with a locked gate for park ranger access to the creek, which flows from here along neighboring Prairie Creek Preserve before reaching Paynes Prairie.
Turn around and retrace your walk back up the boardwalk to the bike path. Head west along the bike path to return to the trailhead, completing a 1.4-mile round-trip.
Trail Map
Explore More
Exploring Paynes Prairie
Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park
Protecting a massive natural basin of prairie between Micanopy and Gainesville, Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park combines panoramic views with wildlife watching along its trails
More trails in Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park
Bolens Bluff Trail
Walk along a bluff where early explorers and native peoples once looked out over vastness of Paynes Prairie to discover a panorama that invites you to immerse in it
Chacala Trail
For the longest loop hike in Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, tackle the Chacala Trail for a 6.2-mile circuit that brings you to a view of Chacala Pond
Cones Dike Trail
To fully immerse in the vastness of Paynes Prairie, follow the Cones Dike Trail, the longest of the footpaths that leads out into the prairie
Ecopassage Observation Boardwalk
Providing the easiest-to-reach panorama of Paynes Prairie, the Ecopassage Observation Boardwalk encourages you to stop and take it all in
Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail
One of North Florida’s oldest bike paths, the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail provides a mostly shaded rural ride
La Chua Trail
There are a handful of places that stand out as excellent locations for wildlife watching in Florida, but the best place to see alligators is in the home of the Gators, Gainesville
Lake Trail
Along the Lake Trail at Paynes Prairie Preserve, Lake Wauberg and the wildlife that lives in it is the star attraction
Wacahoota Trail
Savor the view from five stories up as you scan the horizon for wild horses from the observation tower on the south rim of Paynes Prairie
Nearby Trails
Other trails worth exploring while you’re in this area.
Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail
One of North Florida’s oldest bike paths, the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail provides a mostly shaded rural ride
Sweetwater Wetlands Park
A gem for Gainesville, Sweetwater Wetlands Park offers a unique perspective on Paynes Prairie
Prairie Creek Preserve
In the deep shade of the floodplain of Prairie Creek near Gainesville, Prairie Creek Preserve is a beauty spot provided to the public by the Alachua Conservation Trust
Morningside Nature Center
Since 1970, Morningside Nature Center has been Gainesville’s flagship nature park, protecting the largest stand of longleaf pine savanna remaining within city limits.
Official Website