Paynes Prairie (History Hike)

 
Yes, we also do occasional hikes! This one--usually under the title, "Lore & History of the Great Savanna," is, by far, our most popular.

 

Paynes Prairie is about 15 minutes south of Gainesville.

This is an easy, 2 - 3 mile stroll out into the center of Paynes Prairie (by way of La Chua trail) and back.

 

The cost for this one is $20.  This includes you park entry fee

For tour dates, please check our calendar at - www.adventureoutpost.net

 

 

Description

 

Before we start on the hike, I'll spend about 10 - 15 minutes giving you a brief overview of the Prairie's early history (12,000 years of history in 15 minutes - I'll talk fast!). Then we'll set of into the Prairie. When we reach the observation deck in the center of the Prairie, we'll see what animals we can spot. There, surrounded by the sights, sounds and scents of the Prairie, I'll spend another 10 - 15 minutes giving some of the more recent history.

 

The "natural wonders" we see when hiking on Paynes Prairie begin as soon as we stroll onto the forested trail toward the basin and immediately enter the shade of a massive live oak tree.

 

It's appearance alone--wide, grey trunk, expansive canopy and massive limbs adorned with green, species-rich thickets of resurrection fern and other small plants--would be enough to bring me up short. But, more than anything, it's this trees setting that fires my imagination. Perched on a bluff over Alachua Sink, with a wide view across the Prairie, I wonder what events this ancient sentinel has witnessed? How many times did Don Thomas Menendez, whose La Chua ranch house stood on this bluff in the 1600's, stand in this same shade and gaze across the Prairie? Did pirates rest here after raiding the ranch? How many Indians, explorers, settlers, soldiers, missionaries, ranchers, cowboys, toe-headed school boys has this tree comforted with its cool shade? How many weary travelers tied their horses to it? Bartram? Cowkeeper? Who leaned against it to steady their rifles? binoculars? scopes? How many people hid behind it? From whom? How many people waited here for someone to arrive in their canoe? steamboat? powerboat? How many people have stood here in awe?

 

The time I've spent gazing up at this giant oak, watching the interactions of wildlife and conjuring scenes from the past, must certainly run into the hours. But, as far as the tree is concerned, I'm just another of the countless human specks that have blown across it's roots over the centuries. Dreamers and schemers have come and gone, but this grand sentinel remains.

Here are some interesting historic photos of the Prairie, Alachua Sink and area: http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/alachua/voa3.html

 

Wildlife

After passing the oak tree, the path descends the bluff and skirts the north and western lip of Alachua Sink where we enter onto the open Prairie basin. From here, the view is as variable as the Prairie itself. Shorter cycles, like time of day and season of the year, dictate what animals you might see and what plants will be blooming. All of these depend on a much bigger cycle that makes the Prairie so unique and such a Mecca for wildlife--the flood cycle.

 

With every phase of the flood cycle, the dominant plant and animal species change. Some years, a hike along La Chua Trail carries us past open marshes of pickerelweed, pennywort, frogs bit, smartweed and the dreaded exotic (but beautiful) water hyacinth. Other years, those same areas will be a field of dog fennel and broom sedge (grass). On years when the ground has just dried after a flood period, the trail might be flanked by towering Amaranth plants.

The animals we see changes accordingly. Open, wet conditions we'll see a wide variety of water birds including American coots, common gallinules, ibis (white and the occasional glossy), pied-billed grebes, wood storks, anhingas, double-crested cormorants, American bittern, soras, various ducks and every heron and egret found in the region. In drier places, watch for sparrows, grackles, robins, red-winged blackbirds and more. Overhead, in all conditions, predators like northern harriers, osprey, red-tailed hawks, bald eagles and kestrels keep the ecosystem in balance. In the evening, that duty is picked up by representatives of all north Florida's owls species--screech and barred owls primarily closer to the forested edges and great-horned and barn owls out over the open prairie.