Mosquito Attack On the Idylwild Trail At Serenola Forest Preserve

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In my Google Map scrolling one day I came across the Idylwild Trail in Gainesville, not far from where we lived at the time.

So you know what that means! I obviously had to go see what it was, and we did!

This is a short trail in the Serenola Forest Preserve in southwest Gainesville near Idylwild Elementary School.

We parked at the school as there was no parking at the trailhead (feel free to let me know if that has changed at all).

It was kind of a cloudy day when we went and it was extremely buggy! Like, couldn’t really stop without being accosted.

The trail is wide packed dirt in good ol’ Florida woods. We didn’t see any super exciting plants but there were a few mushrooms!

The first small loop is actually made of two different short trails that add up to 0.2 miles, and there’s another 0.7 mile loop on the back of that.

It was a nice hike (bugs aside) but I wouldn’t say it was anything super notable.

This is a really straightforward loop trail but it’s great for seeing local Florida plants, if that’s something you enjoy.

But, again, you can find those all over the area. It’s a nice trail but I would probably mostly recommend it if you want to hike as many trails in the area as you can.

Or if you live nearby and want a short and most likely quiet walk.

It’s definitely not a bad trail but I wouldn’t say it’s something everyone HAS to do if they’re in the Gainesville area.

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.
See all my resources here.

Where is the Serenola Forest Preserve Idylwild Trailhead?

The main Idylwild Trailhead is on SW 20th Terrace, right by Idylwild Elementary School.

It’s in southwest Gainesville, and we parked in the school parking lot (we went on a weekend).

With the school to your back, it will be across the street to your left.

It’s about 10 minutes from downtown Gainesville, 15 minutes from Micanopy, and 40 minutes from Ocala.

How long is the Serenola Forest Preserve trail?

I believe the little loop we did was just 0.2 miles but there is another 0.7 mile loop attached to the back half of the smaller loop.

If it was less buggy I would have loved to do the bigger loop too, but it wasn’t meant to be this time!

Is the Serenola Forest Preserve Idylwild Trail hard?

Nope! It’s a nice typical flat wooded forest loop. The worst part of this was all the mosquitos. They made stopping for any pictures very unpleasant.

Is the Serenola Forest Preserve worth it?

I think so. It wasn’t super exciting and it was extremely buggy but it’s a nice wooded trail.

If you want a short trail without a ton of foot traffic I’d say it’s a good choice but there are also better choices (Blues Creek Ravine, Tuscawilla in Micanopy, Orange Lake Overlook).