Lochloosa Wildlife Conservation Area

Spanning over 11,000 acres, the Lochloosa Wildlife Conservation Area is a significant natural area surrounding Lochloosa Lake in southeastern Alachua County, Florida. The area consists mainly of pine forests (specifically maintained for commercial timber production) with ridges of both water and live oak, and provides essential habitat for a wide variety of plant and animal life.

Managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Lochloosa Wildlife Conservation Area plays a crucial role in protecting the region’s water quality and biodiversity. The preserve is a valuable natural resource offering a wide range of outdoor activities while providing a great place to experience the natural beauty of North Florida.

 

About the Ride

After parking our SUV in the lot at the eastern end of the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail, we readied our bikes for a ride around Lochloosa Lake within the Lochloosa Wildlife Conservation Area. Just over a mile on the paved trail led us to where we turned onto sand packed and gravel roads. We were loosely using a Ride with GPS route, but with an entirely different start/end location.

After airing down our tires we set out on the sandy and rocky road which was quite delightful. We managed to make our way across two water crossings, but the third left us scratching our heads because we couldn’t tell how deep the water was and there was no way around it. We turned to retrace our way back out, but found a side road that looked like it might lead to the lake. Unfortunately, it eventually lead to what appeared to be private property so we turned without seeing the lake.

Once back on the main sandy road we’d exited a mere 20 minutes earlier, the warm sun had dried out the sand making it sugary and much harder to ride on. After my rear tire slipped and I crashed while going at a snails pace, we aired down our tires some more for better traction, but still slipped and slid our way back to the paved trail. Once back on the trail, we explored some side single track trails that ran somewhat parallel to the main trail.

At the end of the single tracks we jumped back on the paved Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail and rode the ten miles east to where we’d parked.

 

Ride Overview
  • • Ride Name: Around Lochloosa Lake, Counter Clockwise
  • • Ride with GPS: Link to turn-by-turn navigation cue sheet
  • • Location: Lochloosa Wildlife Conservation Area
  • • Course Type: 2 out and backs
  • • Course Surface: packed sand/gravel with some paved
  • • Bike: Salsa Warbird
  • • Distance: 30.81 miles
  • • Time: 2:45:22
  • • Average Speed: 11.2 MPH
  • • Maximum Speed: 18.4 MPH
  • • Elevation Gain: 328 feet
  • • Elevation Range: 87 to 217 feet
  • • Weather: 69° and mostly cloudy, climbing to 79° and sunny
  • • Date of ride: February 4, 2025
  • • Ride with GPS Course Map:

 

In Search of Lochloosa Lake

Damp from the overnight air, the sand road gave us no problem as we started our ride.

 

We were able to either ride or push our bikes around the first and second two places where water was standing in the road without any problem (I didn’t take a picture of the first place where water was in the road).

 

Groves of beautiful pine trees lined much of the road, but occasionally we’d pass swampy areas that looked like the perfect place for an alligator to be lurking.

 

An hour into our ride, we came upon water crossing the road and flowing into brush on both sides. There was no way around it and the soft sand would have made it impossible to stay upright riding through. Not wanting to walk through the water, we had no choice but to turn around.

 

As we made our way back to the paved trail we made one more attempt to ride to the lake, but had to turn after about a third of a mile when it appeared we were on a private road. Once back on the main sand road leading to the trail our bikes started fishtailing in what had once been packed sand, but was now sugary after the sun had dried it out. After I lost control and wrecked, my husband aired down the tires some more in both of our bikes.

 

Settling for Plan B

With visiting Lochloosa Lake out of the question, we rode west on the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail until we came to the Susan Wright Trail trailhead. It was a single track running parallel to the main trail and at first I was apprehensive about riding it since I didn’t know what might be lurking in the surrounding tall grasses.

 

Once on the Susan Wright Trail, narrow bridges covered swampy areas, roots popped up when least expected, and occasionally squatty palms brightened each side of the trail. My husband dismounted on one of the bridges to take a picture. Had I tried that I would have panicked and fallen headfirst into the water below.

 

We eventually come to a lovely clearing where the trail turned to a wide mowed grassy section.

 

We stopped to explore a very short side trail and while stopped I played around with getting a fun picture of my bike.

 

The trail turned once again, this time from grassy to double track and with a plethora of small and large palms lining it.

 

It wasn’t until we were exiting, that we noticed that at some point during this ride on the 1.3-mile side trail, the named had changed to the Julia Reiskind Trail.

 

Back on the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail, we had a ten-mile straight shot back to where we were parked. Along the way we saw wild turkeys and some cows.

 

Garmin Stats

Post-ride Garmin…

 

Garmin map and elevation graph…

 

Final Thoughts on the Ride

Although during a few moments of this ride I wasn’t necessarily enjoying myself, the ride overall was a lot of fun. I’m not a fan of getting sand on me so I kind of freaked out when I crashed and landed in… wait for it… sand. I was very apprehensive about taking the single track trails because I was nervous we’d run into an alligator without a wide berth for getting around it, but ended up loving that section of our ride.

 

Questions
  • • Have you been to Lochloosa Lake or Hawthorne, Florida? ~ We didn’t make it to Lochloosa Lake until the following day as we left Florida to return home.
  • • Do you have many conservation areas or preserves near you? ~ several
  • • Do you stop and relax occasionally to fuel or take pictures, or barrel on through when on a long run or ride? ~ pictures, always pictures, unless I’m racing

 

I’m linking up with Zenaida of The Running Teacher and Jenn from Runs with Pugs for Tuesday topics Link-Up. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but those of the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!