o'leno state park

We happened upon this state park when driving in the little towns outside of Gainesville. There is camping areas available but we just stopped in for a couple hours. There were beautiful hiking trails, a suspension bridge and great access to the Santa Fe River. We hiked for 2 hours, just enjoying the scenery and getting lost in the woods. The state park is also preserving an old mill town on the river, there is history exhibits and a great playground for the kiddies to expend their energy on for a quiet ride home. There is tons of picnic tables for lunch or dinner. The park is a real gem!

We've been regular visitors to this park for many years. It is well maintained without losing the natural beauty of Florida's woodlands. The Santa Fe river goes under ground and resurfaces over a mile away. Very cool to see this phenomenon in person. There is also a great wooden suspension bridge across the river. There is a nature center where live animal presentations occur regularly. Check the online calendar. As with most woodland areas free from pesticide, plan to protect yourself from ticks and mosquitoes. We highly recommend a visit to this park.

This was our first visit to O'Leno and it was well worth the drive.What a beautiful serene setting. One could sit by the river all day and soak in the surrounding nature. Awesome! To top it off our family was camping there so that was an added bonus.

We went hiking on a beautiful Sunday morning. We spent some time at the playground with my 15 month old and then did the River Trail (yellow). We saw a ton of turtles and a few jumping fish but that was about it as far as animals are concerned.The trail was in good shape but a little narrow. My one annoyance was that we started out on a trail and it ended up just pittering out. There were no markings or anything so I don't know if it was actually a trail or not.Watch for ticks!

This a fairly nice park. If you are camping with others, make your reservation together. There are two loops. One is dogwood and the other is magnolia. They are just a bit over two miles apart. We camped with five groups and it made it difficult to stay together. So you need to be in same loop. Be prepared for many ticks. You are in the deep woods. Bathrooms fairly clean but only one per loop, so it is quite a walk. Lots of trees, heard one camper with big outfit could not fit in, he kept getting hit with trees hanging down. He left angry. Hope this helps.

We went for the day for hiking, did not look into the camping there. The trails are well kept, and you can get a map as you go in the park (when you pay your $5 for the entire carload). We had a lot of fun walking the River trail to see where the Santa Fe river goes underground. There were lots of turtles and even an alligator near the sink. Everything we well marked and we had a good time wandering around the trail.We also participated in an activity from the ranger - they had a little lesson on how to use a compass. My kids enjoyed learning how to follow the compass and they even gave them a little trinket at the end. My older one didn't want to go on the way, and the younger one tends to have a short attention span. We easily spent 3 hours wandering around and everyone was happy. Great day!!

This is a nice park waaaaay out in the Florida woods....lots of wildlife, and hiking trails. Only problem we encountered was taking our Big Rig through some of those tight corners on the dirt path.....I just am happy my driver was expert at backing that big rig and successfully maneuvering in the dark. Recommend for smaller rigs.....

Very nice spot to camp. Quite pretty and secluded.Staff was extremely helpful and friendly!Magnolia campground had the nicer sites of the 2 loops.

My friend, G. Kent and I hiked as research for his next book. I would highly recommend this park. It was clean and well maintained. The trails were established and beautiful. I shot over a hundred pictures along the way. We spent the better part of the day hiking and I thoroughly enjoyed each step.

we were pleasantly surprised with this park when we went it was $5 a car the trails are what caught our attention they are kept up so hiking was a breeze there is swimming the water is not clear though so be safe and don't swim alone

Spent last weekend in a tent at O'Leno. Excellent care is taken in the bath house facilities. We had a group of adults and kids from age 7 to 50. We all enjoyed the trails, the bridge, the views of the water, the history, the animals. We will be back!!

We hiked the River Trail (1.44 mi.) and Paraners Branch (3.69 mi) in March of 2013 shortly after a controlled burn. The trails were beautiful. We saw pinxter azaleas and flowering Florida dogwood. We saw an anhinga in Ogden Lake. We saw a Diamondback rattler on Paraners Branch Trail, about 1 mile south of the trailhead, but because of the controlled burn we were able to make a wide sweep around the snake. The controlled burn had cleared the land around the Santa Fe Sink so that we got a clear view and very nice photos of it. (The Santa Fe Sink is were the Santa Fe River goes underground only to re-emerge three miles away at the Santa Fe Rise.) We saw gators, red-bellied turtles, and Peninsula cooters in the sink. Much flora and fauna--For the best experience, bring a long walking stick and cell phone for protection, and binoculars or a zoom lens for viewing wildlife in the sink.

Large/clean bathhouse, nice private campsites, the notice about ticks/mosquitoes was a bit "off-putting" but HEY information is power and it is camping, not the Ritz.

This is quite an educational attraction and very interesting. It is really cool to see where the Santa Fe River goes underground for 3-1/2 miles before resurfacing and going to the Suwannee River. It is also a great place to walk and then have a picnic lunch. Wonderful experience.

Heading back home from disney and stayed here 20 years before and was looking forward to the swimming but it was closed I don't think we will go back