Find the top rated dog walking trails in Gainesville, whether you're looking for an easy short dog walking trail or a long dog walking trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a dog walking trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
Wife, special needs adult son & I had been in Jacksonville all week for a law enforcement conference in nearby Atlantic Beach. We were planning to leave Jacksonville on Friday afternoon, overnight in Savannah, before getting back to our home in NC. Found this rail trail while searching bike trails around Jacksonville. Sounded promising, especially the part describing fair amount of shade available, as this would make Mid July a bit more bearable. Started out at west end point & we rode to east end in Baldwin. Discovered the "everyone welcome restaurant" where we grabbed a nice relaxing lunch. Good food & friendly folks. Wife & son hung out in Baldwin, while I made return trip to our vehicle. Weather was hot, but beautiful scenery more than made up for it. Saw a big turtle on the trail, near the west end. A good day's ride, would recommend highly & would definitely ride again if back in town. A nice conclusion to our Florida trip.
We had a great day on this path, it’s a little confusing to get to but well worth the effort.
We started at Felburn Park, very nice with plenty of parking. Only 1 road crossing. Not much for shade but a nice view of the channel alongside the trail. Some bumps near the park. We did the trail twice. We would do this trail again.
Parked in the park on the South side of the bridge and started the trail from there. Road approximately 11 miles to Hastings. Turned right on Main Street and went about 2 blocks and ate lunch at Norma D’s. Great little local restaurant and the sandwiches were fantastic. Headed back the way we came. We had beautiful weather, 78 degrees and a slight breeze. Great ride!
Rode the WST for first time today. Started at the Owensboro trail head and rode 23 miles up to Floral City. So peaceful & quiet especially compared to Suncoast that we did earlier in the week. Was a very nice ride even though we did run into a couple of scary situations. Right where the good neighbor trail intersects with the WST there was a rattle snake on the pavement. Very thankful to the rider that came off the GNT and stopped and pointed it out to us. Without his heads up I likely would have ran over it. The 2nd scary event was coming back to the trailhead we had started at. Somewhere between mile 1 & 2 there were 2 large black dogs that came out of the woods and started going after my wife. Fortunately, I heard her screaming and looked back. 2 dogs chasing her and 1 of them was at her ankles. She got away by having to hit the throttle on the e-bike. Be aware.
I was visiting my friend and Palakta is her home. I started trail at Hitchcock’s grocery store because best place to park to get right on trail. From this location it was 19.3 miles to end of trail. There is one restroom along the way and it’s about 16 miles. There is the town of Hastings that has restaurants etc. and it’s about 8 miles from Palakta. Once at the end of trail, it just ends and you will see the railroad track and that’s it. You are not in the city of St. Augustine. There is no bench or anything.
I rode the southernmost 15 miles which starts in Owensboro, near Dade City. There’s a dirt parking lot there, but no restroom. The trail is smooth asphalt about six feet wide. Beyond that there are trees on both sides. At some points you can see thru the trees and see some ranch like land until you get into the Withlachoochee State forest. About 5 miles into the ride there is a restroom stop. At about 11.4 miles the asphalt gets older and a bit rougher but still is good- no tree roots or potholes. There is limited shade. At mile 15 we got off the trail and had lunch at Brees Riverside cafe. shade
Parked at Bobby Sheppard ball park in Hampton and road 18 miles to Putnam Hall then back. Nice parking at the park, the trail is paved, smooth and has a lot of shade. Road ebikes. Not much bike or ped traffic on trail. Stopped in Keystone Heights at Pangborn Ice Cream!!!
I rode from Larry Carroll park in Baldwin at the western end to the eastern end at the Amazon distribution center. I did pass by a snake on the trail. Be sure to take your own water and snacks. There are no facilities between these 2 points. The park in Baldwin has no facilities. There was a bathroom at the eastern endpoint by the Amazon place. Otherwise a nice, quiet, smooth ride for most wheeled creations.
We rode about 13 miles of the trail starting at the Chamber of Commerce in Chiefland then traveled West at Wilcox Junction past the Suwannee River where we turned around to our starting point. The trail was wide, paved and easily navigated. Very smooth and the parts we traveled had little to no road noise. Reason for a 4 out of a 5 rating. The trail is absolutely straight with pretty much the same vegetation the whole length. Not real exciting but it is one of those trails you can lay down some uninterrupted miles. Next time in the area we will do additional sections.
Easy straight path, wooden boardwalk, and near a lot of coffee shops/stores in Fleming Island.
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