Santa Fe River Preserve Gracy Trail: Mosquitos And Boardwalks, Oh My!

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While I mainly wanted to see the north part of Santa Fe River Preserve, I saw the Gracy Trail and figured we might as well see that, too!

This trail is at the main parking area just south of the north parking area on 121.

There is more parking here, an actual dirt parking lot, than at the north area.

We went in the morning and were the only ones there, not too early, not too late.

This is another lollipop loop trail but it doesn’t take you near the river, it’s just in the woods, but the woods were beautiful here.

The trail is mostly packed dirt but there are quite a few little bridge crossings which are always fun.

We started out going right when we got to the fork in the trail. It’s pretty easy to follow, but there are red trail markers along the way.

The trail winds through the woods with boardwalks over wet, damp, and/or soggy areas.

We saw some nice little flowers, but I’m not sure what exactly they were.

I want to say some kind of honeysuckle for the white/pink one but I don’t know why I think that. Whatever they were, I loved them all.

Eventually you’ll come to a beautiful light brown creek, similar to plenty of others throughout the state.

As the trail looped back around and we were headed back toward the parking area, the mosquitos got SO bad.

I told my parents they could stop if or take their time if they wanted, but I was making a solid break back for the car.

Mosquitos love me so I was not hanging around any longer than I needed to.

At one point you do cross the creek on an actual little bridge but I don’t remember if it was before or after the bugs.

Soon I was back at the stick part of the lollipop and the bugs weren’t quite as bad (they weren’t bad on the way in) but I continued at a brisk pace.

So, while I spent half of this hike running from mosquitos, I did still really like it, and I really loved the first half.

It’s similar to most hikes in the area, but it also seemed different and I’m not really sure why.

It kind of reminded me of the Loblolly Woods trail which I also really loved.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this trail if you want a beautiful, quiet woodsy hike near Alachua and High Springs.

Travel Services I Recommend:
AllTrails – This is my favorite hike tracking app.
America the Beautiful – The national park pass is essential.
Booking.com – This is great for finding and booking hotels.
Get Your Guide – I recommend Get Your Guide for booking tours.
National Park Obsessed – This is the best national park planner.
Skyscanner – Skyscanner is great for finding and booking flights.
Enterprise – This is my rental car recommendation.
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