Donated by the Van Zant family, Ronnie Van Zant Memorial Park has typical community park features such as ballfields, basketball courts, picnic pavilions, and playgrounds.
Across 90 acres, there is also an extensive disc golf course, and a stocked pond where geese gather and fishing is welcome.
But the real delight for hikers are the natural habitats beyond the pond, where a loop hike guides you through a cypress swamp, pine flatwoods, and sandhills.
Playgrounds and picnic pavilionsResources
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Overview
Location: Middleburg
Length: 1.2 miles
Trailhead: 30.04897, -81.796007
Address: 2760 Sandridge Rd, Lake Asbury
Fees: Free
Restroom: At the trailhead
Land Manager: Clay County
Phone: 904-284-6378
Open sunrise to sunset. Leashed dogs welcome. Multiple playgrounds make this a great destination for families.
Directions
From Interstate 295 West in Jacksonville, take SR 21 south towards Middleburg. After 6.8 miles, turn left on Knight Boxx Rd. Continue 1.2 miles to CR 220. Make a right and follow it west 1.1 mile to Henley Rd. Turn left and drive 3.5 miles to Sandridge Rd (CR 739B). Continue 0.8 mile and make a left at the crosswalk into the entrance to the playground, before the park’s main signposted entrance. Follow the park road along the fenceline. It makes a sharp turn and continues 0.2 mile to a parking circle adjoining the pond. If it’s parked up, use the playground lot (30.046682, -81.796315) or the main parking lot (30.046968, -81.79882) by the ballfields as alternatives, extending your hike up to a half mile.
Hike
Facing the picnic pavilion along the pond, enter the gap in the fence. Turn left and walk along the pond, diverting away from it towards the entrance road.
Look for a gap between the pines at treeline. The narrow footpath meets a broader path at a T. To the left, traffic on Sandridge Rd is visible in the distance. Turn right.
Make a left facing the pondCovered in soft pine needles and crunchy live oak leaves, the path makes for an easy walk. Pass a side trail leading towards the pond, curving to parallel a narrow creek in the forest.
Another opening reveals the grassy surroundings of the pond beyond the trees ahead. Turn left.
Pleasant pathwayA boardwalk carries the trail over the creek and its cypress floodplain. Cypress knees jut beneath young cypress trees and clumps of cinnamon adjoin the rooty footpath.
Gaining a little elevation, emerge in an opening in the forest along the edge of a marsh. Transition into pine flatwoods, reaching a trail junction at 0.4 mile.
Boardwalk across cypress swampContinue straight ahead on the narrower path. Slash pines reach for the sky above a curve in the path adjoined by a furrow where water may collect.
The furrow becomes the footpath as the trail corridor tightens. When the pathway broadens, water puddles in low spots.
Puddle in the pathWork your way around a large puddle that often forms within sight of the park’s back fence. Step into an open area at the fenceline and follow the fence to the right under the trees.
Meet the next trail junction, a Y splitting off from the fenceline path. Veer right under a large live oak. This pleasant pine duff path follows the edge of the slash pines in sandhill habitat.
Ecotone along the sandhillsYoung slash pines and turkey oaks rise from grassy areas between clumps of saw palmetto. Meet a T junction at 0.7 mile.
To the left, stations on the disc golf course are threaded through the sandhills. Turn right, walking through a broad grassy area along the pines.
Approaching Station 31Pass by Station 31 on the course, adjoined by a sheltered bench. Reaching a trail to the right, leave the disc golf area for a trail through the majestic stand of pines.
After a tenth of a mile, complete this lower loop at a familiar T intersection. Turn left.
Connector for lower loopFollow the linear path past the marsh and over the boardwalk in the cypress swamp. Make a left at the next trail junction to walk out of the woods to the pond.
A deck for fishing looks out across the placid water. Stocked for catch-and-release fishing by FWC, the pond has a berm around it that serves as a loop trail.
Fishing pondLeaving the deck, turn right for a clockwise walk. The water is generally clear enough you can see fish and turtles underwater near the shore.
Pass a second deck over the pond before crossing over culverts for the outflow of this impoundment into the cypress swamp below.
Follow the grassy berm around the pondThe pathway dropping off the levee into the pines interconnects with the trails leading to the disc golf stations. Continue past it towards the picnic pavilion to the next deck.
Passing the pier, you’re back at the picnic pavilion at the start of this hike. Exit to the parking area to complete a 1.2 mile walk.
Woods near the parking area and restroomsTrail Map
Explore More!
Video
Hiking Ronnie Van Zandt Memorial Park
Slideshow
See our photos from Ronnie Van Zandt Memorial Park
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