This is my favorite place to hike in Lithia. You can also bike here. It has ten miles of trails and you can do a loop. The first part of the trail goes along a train track and is not shaded. The rest of the trail system is shaded. The place feels totally secluded, away from everything. If you want to be out in the wilderness, this is it. 🍊I especially enjoy this trail system because it has elevation. The trail is scenic and you won't run into many (if any) people. The bridge over the Alafia River is a great location to hang out. When you look put into the woods, there are lots of oranges. ↗️ The trails are marked, but if you are not an experienced hiker you could get turned around here/ lost. I highly, highly recommend bringing a fully charged phone with a backup battery and lots of extra water. If you get turned around, use your Google Maps and head toward a road. 🦌You have a lot of chances to see wildlife. I have seen lots of deer. Gopher Tortoises hang out here. There are wild boar, but you likely won't see them during the daylight hours. A common snake here is the Eastern indigo snakes, which is nonpoisonous but can grow pretty long.

Overall, a hidden gem. I grew up around here and didn't even realize they opened up more land to hike for a year (which might be a good thing because sadly more people means litter and disrespect to Nature). However, my mom and I got a little turned around despite being very familiar with this area because of an issue with a trail that is not on the map. I didn't see any other reviews mentioning this but I cross checked my google map tracking with the trail map and we cut through the red trail (despite not going off trail). Maybe we were tired or thirsty but it's rare we would both find ourselves turned around. Other than that, this is an amazing place to hike. We saw about 5 gopher tortoises (and many more of their holes which is important), a cottontail rabbit, birds, butterflies, bitter oranges, swamps, meadows, train tracks, a lake, so many wildflowers, and hardly any people once on the trail (though when we parked there were 10 cars already there). There is plenty of room to breathe and take the whole day to explore. The terrain is varied and there is some elevation which is a nice change from the usual here in Florida. Please respect this place and all other parks!!! Will definitely be going back regularly.

Beautiful Nature! Love seeing all the beautiful surroundings! Will definitely be back enjoyed the walk and picnic.

We camped at the Bobcat site. The hike was good, the scenery great. There were orange trees, plenty of shade, and lots of birds. The bridge was my favorite part... so serene.

Great trail. Plenty of elevation for locals seeking it. Several side trails to shorten or extend your hike. There is a clearing with a picnic table and fire pit near the body of water located toward the center of the area that would make for a good area to hang out at for awhile. Not sure if overnighting is allowed but I'd think it would make for a nice campsite. Will return to check out more of the side trails!

One of my favorite trails in the area. Lots of different terrain (for Florida) and elevation. Wildlife and rarely any people. The campsite is pretty legit... It's a wilderness site so no running water.

I was told that this was only a nine mile trail but I did 9.5 without including the smaller loop. This a great mostly grassy wide trail with beautiful spanish moss covered tree canopies. It was semi dry, but I could see it being challenging in the wet season. I saw deer, an alligator, and birds, There were lots of flowers which would explain the large number of butterflies .

Great trails with elevations and good distance.

You can spend all day hiking a number of trails and loops. There are some elevation changes that are very surprising. The trail to the Otter primitive camp makes you feel like your somewhere else.

Entrance was a little tight, but then opened up into beautiful landscape. Saw a wild boar run across the trail near the far loop

Beautiful trail. The first mile was a little muddy and several down trees you have to climb over and go under otherwise a fairly easy hike. Mostly shaded and very few people so perfect for a peaceful hike.

Great hiking trail. Wide path after initial entrance. Mix of sun and shade. There are multiple trails with up to 9 miles total. Peaceful and quiet. Few visitors. Take water!

Always see a lot of deer out there provided you get an early start. This trail system makes you feel like your in "prehistoric" Florida. You can make it a short hike or a ten mile adventure. Winter-Spring best time to get out here as it gets really sloppy during rainy season.

Love this preserve for a long hike. It also has plenty of elevation change for a nice challenge that we don't usually get in central Florida. The preserve land used to be a phosphate mine, and if you look closely, you can still see remnants!