Owen Illinois Park is a little further out from the city of Gainesville and is surrounded by several forests, so the sounds of traffic are far away and it’s even quieter when you get on the trail. The trail is mostly flat in elevation, looping through low-lands of cypress by the lake and into pine habitat. When we went hiking, a few sections of the trail were submerged in water. Half of the trail is a little bit more rocky, like a horse trail, but is still easy to hike.
This trail is not accessible for all people, but the rest of the park’s facilities have been built with all people in mind. There are sidewalks leading to the restroom facilities, playground, and to the Pavilion. There's also not a great lake view while you were on the trail: it's a couple hundred feet away when you are in the cypress low-lands section.
One of the fun activities on the trail I always enjoy is tracking animals and looking for signs of their activity. This park is full of recent animal activity - there’s lots of deer tracks and we tracked several pairs of does and fawns across the park’s trail. Remember that in North Florida, there’s wildlife like bears in our woods, and Owen Illinois Park would be a prime spot to see a larger predator: Always keep your eyes out for snakes, alligators, and the other animals you might encounter while hiking in the wild.
The nicest overall feature of the park is the peaceful lakefront grounds and the sun filtering through the Cypress swamp. If you happen to visit the park in the late afternoon, because you were on the east side of the lake you can watch the sunset over the water to the West through the cypress trees as you end your visit.
Definitely include Owen Illinois Park on your bucket list for North Florida - it’s a true gem of natural Florida.
Check out photos of the 3.4-mile trail and lakefront park:
Most of the Northside of the trail is like this - broad, even, and well-maintained.
Fields of these little lichens were scattered in the damp areas of the forest.
This plant was so vibrant - not sure what this is - do you know?
A feather was found on the trail.
A deer track! We found several tracks that day that were very fresh.
A flooded section of the trail.
A small creek where we had to jump the bank to cross.
The peaceful lakefront grounds where you can picnic or just relax.
The well-maintained playground area and pavilion under the shady Oaks.
The boat ramp has good concrete and a gentle slope.
The sun setting over the water was so pretty!