The longest paved trail here in Gainesville, the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail alone is 16 miles long; the trail also connects with the Depot Avenue Trail, the Waldo Road Greenway and the Gainesville-Downtown Connector to make 22 miles of continuous car-free trails.

Starting from Gainesville’s Boulware Springs Trail-head the bike route winds through a mesic hammock forest that borders Paynes Prairie. The trail has a fair bit of twists and turns during the Gainesville sector along with a fair bit of elevation changes. Most of climbing and descending is very short and is due to numerous sinkholes in the trails corridor. During the being sections of the trail there are also a few overlooks of Payne’s Prairie and the La Chua Trail-head. The overlooks are worth a stop by; you might even get to see Gainesville’s very own heard of wild Buffalo and horses! After the sinks there is one ‘major’ hill that might catch a few people off guard…it lasts for a several hundred meters and climbs close to 100ft. The rest of the route is mostly flat with a few slight undulations in grade. There are several high-speed road crossings along with several bridge crossings(BE CAREFUL AND STOP AT THE CROSSINGS). The trail provides benches along the length of the route and water is available at both the Gainesville and Hawthorne trail-heads. If you ride the full length of the trail you are likely to see a variety of wild creatures including: deers, rabbits, snakes, buffalo, horses, wild turkey, and all sorts of other little critters. All and all this is a very peaceful place to bike in Gainesville.

Hawthorne Map

Directions
The Gainesville-Hawthorne bike route can be accessed from various points of entry.

-From Gainesville I recommend starting the trail near the University of Florida Campus. On the weekends a great place to park is Norman Hall… there is a parking garage and several ground level spots generally open and free. From Norman Hall I recommend following SW 8th Ave east until it Ts with SW 9th St in which you will bare right until it connects to Depot Ave.
The bike route parallels Depot Ave and can be accessed immediately at the intersection of SW 9th St and Depot. Follow the rail trail, it will intersect SW 6th St and SW Main in less than a few miles. The next major intersection will be SE 4th St, there is a bike memorial right before the intersection, do not miss it! You do NOT want to cross SE 4th(it is the Waldo rail trail), rather you want to take a right and follow SE 4th for about 3/4 of a mile. On the left will be the continuation of the Hawthorne trail. No more directions… just follow the trail now!

-The main entrance for the Hawthorne Trail is at Boulware Springs and can be reached via Hawthorne road and taking a right onto SE 15th st. (see map)

-From Hawthorne look for signs on 301 and the trailhead is located at 300 SW 2nd Avenue.

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Cellon Creek Loop
This 4.5 mile loop, geared to intermediate riders, also starting at the bike trail head parking lot, winds east along the south side of Cellon Creek to a powerline, turns north across the creek and then dives back into the hammock and west along the north side of the creek. There are some small elevation changes that add to the experience. The trail comes out of the hammock along the northern boundary of the park and back along the fence line to the bathrooms and picnic pavilion.
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The Santos 12 hour race was pure craziness. The race loop consisted of the Vortex Trail to Dogbone to Twister back to the Vortex trail. The loop was about 9 miles and have roughly 850ft of climbing per lap. Team Super Cool Bike Shop completed 108miles in the 12 hours on a two man team, it was brutal.
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Thanks for checking out our Super Cool Bike Shop Gainesville Bike Trails Section. Here we will post comments on the local places to ride, both on road and off. We will discuss and review Gainesville Bike Trails, group rides and other Gainesville FL happenings. As a Gainesville Bike Shop it is important for us to remain in touch with and active in the Gainesville community. There are plenty of great places around to bike Gainesville, including Loblolly, San Felasco and Santos to name a few. We will have info and pictures for all Gainesville Bike Trails shortly, Thanks and stay tuned or drop us your email address and we will keep you informed of our new editions.

The Creekside trails start behind Calico Jacks in the Creekside Plaza and twist and turn behind a series of neighborhoods and travel all the way to 62nd Blvd next to Oaks Mall. The trail ranges from tight twisty single track to double track dikes that tower above the surroundings. Creekside trail gives an awesome perspective of natural Florida and it is right in our backyard! The trail in mainly a beginner level with a few sections of intermediate riding(mainly due to roots!.) The trail is a great way to commute from 20th Ave to University and 34th without the fuss of auto traffic. Ride it.
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Loblolly from Super Cool Biker on Vimeo.

These trails are very near and dear to our hearts as it’s the closest dirt trail to the Super Cool Bike Shop. The trail itself features all sorts of craziness…there are elevated wooden bridges, deep sugar sand, and even creek crossings! In other words: the trail contains all things good for mountain biking. There are two separate sections of this trail system, the Loblolly Woods Nature Park and the 8th Ave Trails. The most difficult sections of the trails are on the 8th Ave portion, it has sketchy bridges and 1 to 3(rained lately?) foot deep creek crossings! If you are looking for a short ride that lets you go fast and challenges your riding skill this is the place, on top of that it is located just north-west of the University of Florida campus! Riding skill varies between intermediate and advanced.

GPS Map of the Trails:

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