The nature center is a nice addition to see and learn a little about animals. My 6 and 11 y.o. Enjoyed it. We just walked through before our hike. Lots of trails to enjoy at various levels. read more

Beautiful place I can only imagine how it would look in the spring Can't wait A nice incline. Wear good hiking shoes. So glad I made the choice to wear my Hokas. Dirt Trail so be careful when walking a lot of tree roots. Make sure not to go alone. There are people around but still a little bit isolated. I also love that the trees were marked with the colors of the trail this made it easy to follow and not get lost. I'm hoping to go back to do the lake loop. read more

This review is for the Chicopee Woods Nature Preserve, which is part of the Elachee Nature Science Center property. Chicopee Woods is a large preserve with miles of excellent dirt trails to hike. I hiked the longest - the East-West Lake loop trail(s) running from near the nature center to the lake and back. This loop can also be hiked starting from the lake. The East-West trailhead is off the overflow lot at the nature center entrance. Just bear right into the gravel lot at the main entrance sign instead of going left to the center. Alternatively, you can park at the center and take one of the shorter trails from there to connect with the E-W. And, as mentioned above, you can also start from the other end at the lake, where there's a large parking lot. Unlike a lot of private hiking spots, and some public ones, the trails at Chicopee are well marked and easy to follow. There are periodic trail signposts, periodic colored markers on trees, trail maps with 'you are here' marked at every intersection and mile markers at quarter mile intervals. Even the mile markers are color coded according to which trail they apply to. I'm impressed. Which is not to give the impression that the trails are manicured paths hardly removed from civilization. That's not the case at all. The East-West trail in particular will quickly take you into a wonderful forest where you'll have little sign of human presence other than the occasional wooden stream bridges (and the trail markers). It's a pretty fabulous hike and one that I think is best enjoyed in winter when the trees have shed their leaves, opening the views up considerably. The path itself provides mostly decent footing - there is a stretch where schist rock outcrops require some care and there are lots of sections where tree roots are prevalent, but nothing that requires sturdy hiking boots. Expect moderate elevation change. If you hike as I did from the nature center and back, you'll go mostly downhill to the lake and then back up. The E-W is 4.5 miles long, with the West trail being somewhat longer than the East. You'll actually have to hike a bit longer than 4.5 miles because the East trail ends near, but not at, the nature center. A quarter mile or so of additional trail will take you back to the parking lot. I saw very few people - only one deep into the E-W - on a Monday morning. The nature center overflow lot had but one car and the lake lot was completely empty. Perhaps there are more people on the weekend but this looks like a good place for solitude. Parking is $1 (suggested donation). Highly recommended. read more

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If I am going to rate this nature center purely on its hiking trails, I will give it 4 stars. The trails are well maintained and marked well. It loses 1 star for a $5 parking fee when there is literally nothing to do there at this moment except hike or bike the trails. There are separate trails for bikers. Also there are NO bathrooms open which makes it tricky if you want to hike for any length of time. My friend and I had to turn around (there was a woman at the entrance when we arrived today to collect the $5 - $5 exact cash or credit/debit card accepted) and drive to a gas station to first use restrooms (we have driven 30 minutes to get here). When we returned the woman was no longer there but there was instructions to leave the cash in the box and take a parking receipt. We made it to the trailhead to hike the bridge loop and then continue on to the lake loop. The trails are marked nicely, the trails are also well traveled but beware that there are some gradual inclines and declines and lots and lots of tree roots in the middle of the trails. It is about 2+ miles to the lake and, again, no bathrooms are available near the lake area either. When we finished and returned to the parking lot we had done about 4.5 miles round trip. There are some areas on the trails with benches so you are able to take a break if needed. We did not encounter many people on the trails but when we did, they were considerate of social distancing. We then drove over to the science center area and did the Dodd loop. The bridge/lake loop is mostly through heavily treed and wooded areas where as the Dodd loop goes along a creek for part of the distance and has sunny areas periodically through the trees. It's not as shaded as the other trails but still definitely out of direct sunlight. It is about 1 mile around the loop unless you decide to do some of the off trails from the loop. By this time we were getting hungry and needed to use a restroom so we decided to end our hiking day. It was enjoyable but it seems like they could be waiving the $5 parking fee during this time. We did notice that there seems to be a separate fee to use the actual science center of $5/adult and $3/child. That seems a bit pricey for a family with a $5 parking fee in addition to that but maybe they have a really nice program offered. I cannot comment on that since the only thing open today was the trails. I am not sure my friend and I would return to hike here again. We did appreciate that the trails were marked nicely which made it easy for us to navigate and know where we were. read more

We just left Elachee Nature center for snake day. My father who is in a local nursing home was interested in this event. I was very worried about his accommodations there, especially with the volume of people that were there. They shuttle bused us to the nature center and they called a second van to get my father to the door. Dad walked with his cane for a good hour. The snake exhibits were awesome. I was very pleased with the volunteers who were at every corner allowing you to touch different snakes. Dad had a wonderful time but grew tired and had to sit Down. The manager that came to check on him offered a wheel chair and pointed us to a ramp on the side of the building. I can say that I'm super pleased with the service that we received during this event. I highly recommend Elachee nature center! read more

Elachee Nature Science Center - Snake day 2019 - Parks Near Me - Gainesville, Georgia

This used to be an excellent nature preserve. Until all the RULES instituted for the trails. The sign lists at least 15 things you cannot do, as well as a new parking fee for each entrance. That is accompanied by a towing sign saying a fee if 150.00 if you park. No bathrooms on the lake side either. So unwelcoming. Not visiting here ags (A couple of months later) I bought the yearly parking pass. So. I think it has cut down on the number of people using the trails, so a nice quiet walk. Maybe the fees were necessary. I've learned to bring my dogs on the weekend. I do love the trails. I learned to go with the flow. read more

Great kids summer camp. Lots of activities and fun like swimming all the while having fun in the great outdoors and learning from the experience. Well run, well staffed and about as much fun as can possibly be packed into a week of six hour days. read more

Beautiful park , huge and vast $5 for what though? The parking? You can bring your dog only Saturday and Sunday ? Why? Because there are even more people on the weekend? Tons and tons of rules and regulations with huge signs. Sorry but there are so many areas to go hike around here that this seems like a joke , no thank you ! read more

Elachee Nature Science Center is AWESOME! The Naturalists were awesome also, they really helped us with our group and they were very knowledgeable about the area and about all of the creatures and plants. Really enjoyed taking our group out there today. The kids REALLY enjoyed themselves!! Great place to go for the young kids and experienced adults...great hiking trails. read more

Just attended a wedding here and I have to say the place was beautiful the wedding went great no interruptions from people visiting or camps just smooth sailing. Me and my wife decided to walk around the facilities and I found the hawks and the bee exhibit which was awesome so all in all had a great time read more

Beautiful setting. Trails are great. Like the variety of programs offered through the Science Center, but didn't attend one. The Nature Center was $5/person and was interactive for young children, but the exhibits were not worth that for older youth and adults. There were no interpreters for live animal interactions. Still a good cause and glad we could support it. Would have given four stars if the admission fee had been less or the exhibits were more enaging for a wider audience range. read more

We brought our camp for kids with special needs here this past week and we loved it. Ms. Peacock was our guide and she was amazing with the kids. She was so patient and so accommodating to our needs! The center itself is a great place for kids and we had an amazing time. read more

Went here for a long hike last year. My friend and I took a wrong turn and ended up lost, but still a beautiful place. I will definitely visit again. read more

Ok, I didn't go into the Nature Center, but i've heard great things about it, and the people there are really nice - but the hiking trails here are great. not so far from the city, Very close to the highway. Hardly any people. 6+ miles of trails, very scenic. This is a great place. read more

Had my wedding here. The lady that helped to book everything was awful. For children and hiking this has always been nice, but DO NOT book a formal occasion just because of that snotty woman. She lied, changed prices and even at point threatened to not let us use the facility with less then a month to the wedding. Awful, awful service. Was a beautiful area though, the photos turned out beautifully. read more