There are so many springs in Florida I've been wanting to visit. I finally made the time to check…read moreout Ichetucknee in Fort White, FL. This spring was one hour 45 minutes from Jacksonville. My friend and I traveled to Alachua Friday after work and stayed in a new Hampton Inn. I didn't want to get up early Saturday to drive nearly two hours and Alachua was roughly 20 minutes from the park. Lake City, the same distance as Alachua, had higher priced hotels. No thanks! I reserved our tubes and paid for the tram ride online a few days prior. We arrived at the park about 8:45 AM, with a 9 AM reservation for the tubes. There was a bit of a wait to enter the park. I suggest having $6 cash (park entry fee) ready as this will shorten your wait time. They do accept credit cards too. Parking was open so we found a shaded spot. We checked in at the wooden canapy and were given wrist bands and a key tag and advised to get in line to drop off my car key (they will hold for $3). You don't want to lose your key in the river;) We were also given a paper to pick up our tubes. Be sure to pick up a water proof pouch for your phone prior to arrival. I found one at Walmart for $5. And bring a metal cup if you want water while floating down the river or checking out any of the springs as they DO NOT allow plastic water bottles. Lastly we picked up our tubes which was pretty quick. Then we followed the path to the river entry. There was a park employee there checking bags including our water proof phone pouch (we had to show both sides). Check the website for items you are not permitted to take on the river. The tube ride was roughly 45 minutes to an hour. We saw birds, turtles and fish. Thankfully we saw no snakes or alligators, but they are around as it's a 2,000 acre park. The ride was relaxing as well as nature's sounds! Highly recommend! Once at the end, we hopped off our tubes and walked to the tram pickup spot. If you don't want to pay for the tram there is a walking trail leading back to the parking lot. No thanks lol! You can ride as many times as you want. We only did it once as we wanted to check out the Blue Hole. We had to leave the south entrance of the park and drive 10 minutes to the north entrance. One park entry fee allows you to access both park entrances. We walked a 10 minute shaded trail back to the Blue Hole. I slowly entered the 72 degree water via metal stairs. I swam for a short period as it was cold lol. But gorgeous blue water with a strong current due to the underwater caves. I suggest bringing snorkeling gear so you can see the caves below. There was also a bigger area of springs you could relax and swim a short walk from the parking lot. It was a fabulous day at the springs. I look forward to going back again!

Beautiful, special place!! Just wish we had the time to see MORE!!…read more Not that there's anything wrong with all the beautiful (but at times EXTREMELY overcrowded/commercialized...) beaches of Florida, and if theme parks are your thing, FL is your place, but this park, in this wonderful, semi-undiscovered (by most travelers from up north, and even other Floridians, it seems...) part of the state is where I hope to return again and again!! Yes, I hear it gets MUCH more crowded on weekends/summer season, but if you plan well and/or get lucky on an "off" day, you'll have as WONDERFUL an experience as my friend and I did during a recent visit, and get busy planning your NEXT visit before you've even left the exit!! We arrived early to tube. The park's website was not quite as user-friendly as it could have been, but we figured it out, and reserved for an early tubing trip down the river. After a quick-ish hike with our tubes on a path through the woods (I think you can also take the tram...) we launched off the dock and took a BEAUTIFUL, peaceful ride down the river. Since we were there on a weekday, crowds were not bad at all, and we had a wonderful, leisurely float down the river, passing kayaks, other tubers, and paddle boards, along with MANY turtles, beautiful birds, and even a stealthy manatee!!

This place is not only has a dog park, but also walking trails, softball fields, disc golfing. This…read morereview is for the dog park. The dog park is split into 3 parts by fence: small dog area, all dog area, and a dog run. There are some agility courses (or playground) for the dogs as well. There were poop bags and a running water fountain. Overall, a great space for the dogs.

We were here for a baseball tournament..... this park is really clean and the parks play ground…read morearea is really nice for the kids. They have tons of things for the kids to play on, swing on and climb on. The bathrooms were air conditioned as well.

This park is nice but a few things to keep in consideration…read more One. It isn't a crazy park for scooters now as a scooter rider it is a little annoying. Two. Some stuff is cool while others are lame. Three. There are a lot of snakes like a lot and if you're trying to ride and go with the nice flow of this park a kid coming on a bike or scooter that isn't being looked after bu parents can ruin your time. Four. It's crowded. Would recommend though.

What an interestingly shaped skate bowl. I think the skate…read morepark is very small for a skate park, not as small as the old UF skate park but this park is not as large as a skate park should be. ESPECIALLY the bowl. This park is always crowded because all the skaters are always trying to do tricks and it results in no room for people who aren't regulars to become regulars. The actual park part is cool, full of children which can be weird. This park is okay. Terrifying to those with social anxiety and very intimidating to new skaters. Busy every single day, poor park never gets a break.

If this were any other day, I'm sure I'd rate this park higher, but please be aware that this…read morereview is based on my experience from Independence Day. That being said, we went for the holiday celebrations, and well, this was packed more than a can of sardines. We were only there the last hour of the festivities, but it felt like an eternity. Lines, lines everywhere, with lots of disorganization as there were minimal lights and a lot of staff that were directing people to park in places further when there was parking up front. Ugh. Definitely a place to come early for a special day because it's hard to get a decent spot otherwise. The lines, lines everywhere continued everywhere honestly. The food trucks, the finding a good spot, the entering and leaving the park. Sigh. At least the fireworks were pretty. Will have to return on a regular day to see if I can actually enjoy this park rather than just think of all the stress it brought us.

New park discovery of a Tallahasee gem for running and hiking …read more This 255-acre park with 3 1 mile mountain bike trail was named in 1977 after a Leon High coach (1944 to 1946) Thomas Irwin Brown .Tom Brown was also a Babe Ruth League coach for 20 years and a Leon County Commisioner for 14 years. His love of sports was the blueprint for establishing these beautiful and well-kept trails and park. I love to find new places to run and hike while traveling and was surprised at how many baseball, softball fields, and tennis / pickle board courts this park offers. You can hear the peck of woodpeckers on trees and many different types of birds such as cardinals and swallow tailed kite as you hike on their asphalt paths or dirt trails. A nice change from the normal sounds of Houston traffic. Check out this park while in Tally .

What a beautiful addition to the Killearn Lakes neighborhood! My son and I went to check out this…read morenew dog park a couple of hours after we finished eating our Thanksgiving meal. We do not currently have a dog, but we both love dogs and enjoy petting them and watching them play. The parking lot was full so we parked across the street where some other cars were parked. Its quite a small parking lot. There is a very nice double gate so that dogs cannot escape easily. We got to pet a few dogs, but they were mostly running around and playing which is why they were there! We followed a path around the lake and were impressed with the size of the park. A few dogs were playing in the water as well. We saw some neighbors and stopped to chat a bit. Other people were getting to know each other because their dogs were playing together. What a great way for neighbors and their dogs to connect with each other! We really enjoyed ourselves and will return soon for sure.

Brand new dog park that was created out of a holding pond. It's not your typical park where it's…read morejust an open fenced in area. This park is circular with mini ponds in between and slopes down in some areas. It could use a few more shelters and water stations. It's a beautiful park with a very small parking lot.

I've been traveling cross country and people don't realize how precious good dog parks are. This…read morehas a separation for small and large dogs, water, balls and a bath tub. And a parking lot right next to it. Wonderful!

I love coming to Tom Brown Dog Park. It is so relaxing to see all of the dogs, running around and…read moreplaying together. It is a great place to meet new people.

We really enjoyed our visit to Forest Park! The fenced dog area was perfect for some off-leash…read moretime, and it was exactly what Valkyrie Spice needed. The park is beautiful, with lots of shade, water fountains, and benches, plus amenities like tennis, basketball, and a soccer field. I chose this park because it's known to be less crowded--great for dogs who are shy or don't always play well with others--and for the most part, it was peaceful. As we were leaving, another dog ran up to Valkyrie after being let off-leash, which was stressful given her fear and leash aggression. Thankfully, I was able to manage the situation quickly. Overall, it was a lovely spring break visit, and I'd definitely return. A great spot for both dogs and their humans!

The park is clean and also has a play area for children swings, etc. and there is a 1/2-mile hiking…read moretrail, I take it as a local gathering park was seeing a lot of little tykes, roughly age 1-11 yr.

One of our top 5 favorite springs to visit, perfect for the family and great spot to visit when you…read moretrying to cool down from the sun. You can rent kayaks here and go down the Santa Fe. Lots of parking but sometimes can reach capacity on the weekends. No inflatable floats in the spring is kind of lame but you can bring noodles.

This is a small and very accessible park that has one swimming hole open currently. It was quite…read morewarm the day we were there and don't was pretty crowded. Water is a bit chilly but you get used to it. The blue hole (spring source) is about 20-25 feet down - a pretty easy snorkel. Not a lot of current. Shallow areas are good for kids and there is kayak/canoe rentals to paddle downstream to the Santa Fe River. Bathrooms were a bit disgusting. Smelled of raw sewage. A good place to spend a few hours.

I recently visited the Greenway for the first time to walk my dog somewhere new. It seems very well…read moremaintained and we stuck to the trail. Unfortunately we left shortly after starting our walk. Within 30 minutes I picked 12 ticks off my dog. Maybe it's just this time of year, but the hassle and stress of all the ticks wasn't worth the walk.

An excellent trailhead at Miccosukee Road and Fleischmann Road where there is parking for a dozen…read moreor so vehicles. The 12 mile long trail was a nice space, though I didn't follow it for long. The trails are shared use and the bikers I saw were giving right of way to the walkers, joggers and hikers. Nice to see and hear the "good afternoon" as I walked. Great trail! [Review 14082 overall, 1404 of 2020, number 1144 in Florida.]

Since my last review was over a decade ago, probably time for an update. I don't come to Ginnie as…read moreoften as other area springs but it's worth a visit now and then--on weekday mornings ideally if you want to freedive, swim, and miss the crowds of the weekend. It's a good camping destination, too. For me, the main draw however is freediving and there's plenty here to see. You cannot and should not by any means enter caves as a freediver--it's forbidden and even for highly-experienced freedivers, dangerous. If we freedivers don't want to wear out our proverbial welcome, yes, we need to behave. Cave-certified SCUBA divers are the only ones to enter caves. I want to address some things which came up between my own observations and what I've read in other reviews here. For one, the food. This isn't a good place to get good food. If you want something nice, get it "in town" in High Springs or bring something to cook if camping. For that matter, bring your snacks and gear because expectedly things are a bit overpriced at the merch store here. If you don't what the place to be loud, busy, and long lines then don't come on weekends and holidays. It's that simple. This is a business and they'll let in as many people as they safely can let in. As far as loud music and uneven enforcement of rules, I think this just comes down to different employees acting their own way. Most summer help is students, they're not going to have the discernment and acumen of a veteran police officer in dealing with people. Most are nice, some are lax, some overzealous. About the bath houses and other facilities. I think things are in pretty good shape--on par with bath houses at campgrounds in the Ocala National Forest, in example. Nothing was horribly dirty any time I was there but folks--this is camping. Remember that. I don't see the need for tram or shuttle, either. Maybe for disabled or infirm folks but most of us can simply walk between springs and should. Overall I feel Ginnie is well-run for what it is, with your normal business caveats like they'll charge what they can get away with in their store which is exactly why you want to buy stuff at Walmart or whatever prior to coming here. It's a great place to camp and unique, beautiful, springs you'll remember your entire lifetime.

Other springs you could visit in the state that are better:…read more1) Itchetucknee 2) Rainbow 3) Wekiwa 4) Gilchrist Blue 5) Kelly Rock 6) Silver Glen Purchased 3 day passes ahead of time and when the day came around there was a severe thunderstorm. Staff refuses to reimburse or move reservation for a different date. Paid $60 for absolutely nothing. Staff do not answer phone, ever. Born and raised in Florida and always heard Ginny was trash, now I know.