Anyone driving past Gainesville on I-75 will be familiar with Paynes Prairie, the huge savannah north of Micanopy that offers a panoramic break from the surrounding forests. But the state park that includes Paynes Prairie and lies just south of the University of Florida is worth a closer look. Beyond providing a sanctuary for gators and birds, it is home to some of the last freely roaming horses and bison in Florida.
Spanning more than 21,000 acres, Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park is home to the Paynes Prairie Basin, a huge lake-size depression in the underlying limestone layer that fills with water during wet periods that then drains through the Alachua Sink, a large sinkhole at the bottom of the prairie. In the second half of the 19th century, the sink became blocked by sediment and debris, and Paynes Prairie contained a lake so deep that it was plied by steam-powered paddle boats. Much of its water has since been diverted through 20th century canals, although efforts to restore much of the natural flow have been underway since Paynes Prairie was acquired by the state of Florida in 1970 and became the state’s first state preserve.
Paynes Prairie has a rich history. Having been the home to Native Americans for centuries, Spaniards who first arrived in the 1600s established La Florida’s largest cattle ranch nearby. After the ranch was abandoned in the early 1700s, Paynes Prairie was the home to the Alachua band of the Seminole Indians, who established the town of Cuscowilla just south of Paynes Prairie near Micanopy. The prairie was visited in 1774 by William Bartram, perhaps the best-known naturalist of the American colonial period. Later arriving Americans built Forts Tarver and Crane at Paynes Prairie during the Second Seminole War, and by 1871, a paddleboat port delivered goods from a nearby rail line before the lake drained in 1891.
Paynes Prairie is now home to a state park accessible from multiple entry points containing several scenic overlooks and interpretive centers and more than 30 miles of trails. The park’s main entrance off State Road 441 south of Gainesville provides access to the visitors’ center and a 50-foot observation tower, which both sit on a rise overlooking the prairie, as well as the main campground near the eastern shore of Lake Wauberg. (The other side of Lake Wauberg is a recreation area reserved for University of Florida students—I sailed there when I was an undergrad.) The northern section of the state park is more easily accessed southeast of Gainesville and provides access to the 16-mile Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail, a rails-to-trails route popular with cyclists.
Paynes Prairie also has several notable hiking trails. One of my two favorites is the Cones Dike Trail, a four-mile out-and-back trail that skirts the elevated edge of the prairie before dropping into the prairie crossing it on an arrow straight dike. My other favorite is the 6.5-mile Chacala Trail, which marches through a majestic forest of pines and moss-covered live oaks and contains the park’s primitive campsite.
Perhaps the greatest treat at Paynes Prairie is the wildlife, including some of Florida’s only free-roaming horses and bison. Having been herded by Seminoles for hundreds of years after their ancestors were brought over by the Spaniards, wild “Florida Cracker” horses now roam freely throughout the park—my family and I came across a group commandeering the Cones Dike Trail when we visited last winter. Paynes Prairie also has a small herd of plains bison that were reintroduced there in 1975. And perhaps not surprisingly given its proximity to the University of Florida, Paynes Prairie is a great place to see alligators—I’ve been uncomfortably close to several on the Cone’s Dike Trail.
With the University of Florida being the main draw for most visitors, Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park is often overlooked by students and tourists. But it is a great place to stop to see local flora and fauna in one of Florida’s more unique geological locations.
RobRogersWriter.com 
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