Fox Pen Preserve, Alachua Conservation Trust - Orange Trail

Dogs Leashed

Features Birding · Lake · Views · Wildlife

Free parking. No restrooms. Bring water. It's relatively new and underused still. Fairly quiet.

Mostly flat. It was overgrown in some places, and we moved several fallen branches.

There is a fenced parking area. Nice trail, with well-marked orange and white blazes in the trees, orange-topped posts where there aren't trees. We went on the left fork (clockwise), which is good if you want to do a short hike to the lake and turn back. After the lake we ran into a few places where it was hard to see the next 4x4 marker post -- some areas had overgrown quickly this summer. Easy to drift into the private property near that southeast loop. Prepare and check for ticks and mosquitoes! I want to go back in cooler weather. Grateful to ACT for acquiring and maintaining this cool place.

Deer, squirrels, birds, toads, lizards, ticks, mosquitoes, Golden orb weaver spiders, young forest, sandy/grassy sections.