Find the top rated walking trails in Gainesville, whether you're looking for an easy short walking trail or a long walking trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a walking trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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.
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.
The trail has now been paved from Hampton to Keystone, adding at least 7 more miles to the rail trail. A new parking lot was just finished near that trailhead at Bobby Sheppard Ballpark, and it has a water fountain and restrooms. This new section of the trail is shaded by trees, has smooth pavement, and goes through a cypress swamp and behind several farms, and it is separated enough from the highway that it is a really nice ride. You can see where they are starting to pave the next section to the west, which will eventually connect to lake butler.
On a recent trip, I jogged the first two miles up and two miles back of the eastern end at Imeson Road. Was a joy as the trail there is straight, no curves, and no elevation changes. Have to occasionally stop for street crossings. The only thing wrong is there are no benches other than at the trailhead.
We rode from Croom to the south end of this amazing trail. Smooth asphalt, shaded by a canopy of trees it was a quiet place to enjoy a Sunday afternoon.
Today I rode about half of the Jacksonville-Baldwin trail in NE Florida. The weather was in the low 70’s and mostly sunny. Much better than my home in Ohio right now.
I was very impressed with the trail. The path is asphalt paved, and appears to be 8 - 10 ft wide. It’s flat enough to calibrate against—not really, but my elevation varied less than 50 ft.
The trail runs beneath a canopy of mostly pine. The air has a wonderful scent. It was pretty busy for a weekday afternoon—if felt like a safe, secure place.
The parking facilities at the Jacksonville trail head were in good shape. There is even a rooster who acts as parking lot attendant—greeting (or perhaps shaking down) each cyclist. All in all a great experience. I’ll ride it again the next time we pass through.
I just wanted to provide an update to individuals that have used the trail. Construction to pave the trail west from Hampton has started on January 1st from the CSX railroad crossing west across Highway 301 continuing on the former historic Southern Railway / NS right of way.
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