Find the top rated bike trails in Hawthorne, whether you're looking for an easy short bike trail or a long bike trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a bike trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
This 46 mile trail has a little of everything. Parts have nice shade, some areas are rural and some areas go through small towns. There are multiple access points. Highlights for us were Floral City near the midway point, Ft. Cooper State Park access, and Inverness where the trail skirts the water. There aren't many difficult road crossings and not many climbs to get over high intersection bridges. As of our last ride in 2025, the trail was in good shape. Not terribly crowded. An outstanding ride.
Awesome trail. Great place to bike and enjoy the sites. Just needs more critters 🐿¿.
I ride this trail 3-5 times a week. It’s smooth and has shade and bathrooms and great parking.
We got to the trailhead on Colbert Lane today and as we drove by the entrance to the trail it was all blocked off. When we got to the trailhead where we would park our cars, there was no indication that the trailhead was closed or where you could go to get on it. There’s also no indication as to how long this would be closed. I understand the bridge is out.
There really wasn't any good parking at the north end of this trail so I went down to the south end where is a nice park and hiking trails. The bike trail starts out good, looks newer, wide and smooth. However in the 5 miles I road north, there not only is construction going on at most of the intersections, the intersections are 4-6 lanes and not always do the buttons to get the walk signal worked. Not real safe. I don't recomment it, at least starting from the south trailhead. Mayby at the north going south is better....
Beautiful April day in Florida. Drove to this trail and the park the description says to park at was closed today (?) so I parked across the Kingsley on a side street, about 3 blocks from the trail.
The trail is a nice with rolling rise and falls, almost exactly 4.5 miles to the end where the road makes a right. There are alot of side strets that T into the road next to the trail but they it was not busy at all. Not a terribly long ride but a nice one!
We parked at Lake Townsen Park, had some lunch at Bree’s Provisions (They close at 2:00) and rode north, out and back for about an hour. The trail is well maintained and goes through beautiful farm country.
This is a terrific ride on paved trail through shaded natural landscapes. Pine and live oak uplands and cypress swamps. The trail bed is in very good condition except for some minor root bumps here and there. Enjoyed the challenge of some long but gentle hills near the Gainesville end. We rode hybrid bikes so medium narrow tires and did nearly the entire trail and back again in two and a half hours of actual riding.
We rode the trail from the Florahome trailhead to the Keystone Heights trailhead. This section of the trail is paved, smooth, and well maintained. The keystone Heights trailhead is a little off as it’s basically in between a Wendy’s and a CVS store in the dude of a major highway. Before Keystone Heights, the trail goes primarily through trees and wetlands. There is spotty shade in some spots but otherwise full sun. It’s not a trail for summer time.
We ride the entire trail, and it was beautiful. We went later in the afternoon and saw armadillos, alligators, and assorted birds. The trail is great on a bike, and was a lot of fun in addition to the great wildlife. We will ride it again the next time thru the area. We parked at Central Park (free) and road from there.
I am an inline speed skater and a road bike cyclist. I have been skating and biking in over 10 states. This is so far the best trail I have ever been — over 90% distance is shaded, 10 feet wide, most times is very clean, and not hilly at all.
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