RVing in Florida
Paynes Prairie State Park
Campground Review

Home Reviews Side Trips Blog Wildlife Links

Paynes Prairie State Park
100 Savannah Blvd.
Micanopy, Fl 32667

Phone: 352-466-3397
Fax: contact park
Park Website

Photo Gallery

This is one of our favorite Florida State parks and offers outstanding hiking and wildlife viewing opportunities. Located 10 miles South of Gainesville on US 441, the park is bordered to the North by Paynes Prairie and to the West by Lake Wauberg. The park also has a Northern entrance for hiking and has wildlife viewing points on US 441.

The park campsites are shaded and private. Fishing and boating (no gasoline engines) are permitted on Lake Wauberg, but no swimming. This is alligator country. The park does not rent canoes. A small museum and a 50 foot observation tower overlook the prairie. Free ranging buffalo, cattle and wild horses can be seen in the park, as well as deer, wild turkeys, alligators and birds.

The character of the park changes with the seasons. In the springtime you can see young alligators and if you're lucky, baby buffalos. During the fall, you can hike on the Chula trail when the water levels are lower.

Nearby attractions include the Devil’s Millhopper Geological Site, Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, Marjorie Rawlings State Historical Site, the Florida State Museum of Natural History that includes the Butterfly Gardens.

Our most recent visits to this park were in November 2005, March and October, 2006, October 2007. and January 2008.

PHOTO GALLERY
Home Reviews Side Trips Blog Wildlife Links